We watched 'A New Hope' again last night in preparation for Star Wars Day, May 4th.

Here is a song for Mark, who was at the White House yesterday!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbVFRN0kMDo

#MarkHamill #StarWars #May4th #starwarsday #filk

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Inspired by a discussion about whether Phil Ochs would be at the University protests for Palestine. Which included this blog post:
https://mondoweiss.net/2016/04/how-i-discovered-what-phil-ochs-thought-about-israel

#Israel #palestine #fromtherivertothesea

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May Day is associated with the 1886 strike of American workers for the right to an eight hour work day.

This song was written by Boston newspaper editor, Isaac Blanchard, in the 1860s. And was the song sung by the striking workers at the May 1 demonstrations in 1886.

Some background on the song here:
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/eight-hours

And detail of the Haymarket affair (1886 rally/strike/riot):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair

And a song by John Warner about the Eight-Hour Day, which has been lost for so many workers around the world:
https://unionsong.com/u053.html

#eighthourday #mayday #workers #iww

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April in Australia has shown that whatever is been done to stop men from killing women is not being done fast enough or well enough. Great that Anthony Albanese is marching tomorrow, but what action is going to be taken?

- Comprehensive training in schools, universities and workplaces
- Fix bail/release failings
- Fund safe houses and fix police protection systems
- Believe women

Statistics on bear attacks in North America:
https://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2011/may/16/black-bear-study-vindicates-mama-bears-surprises-experts/

US Statistics on Men killing women in 2020:
https://vpc.org/when-men-murder-women-appendix/

Story that prompted this song:
https://www.upworthy.com/women-asked-if-theyd-rather-be-trapped-with-bear-or-man

Photos from recent rallies in Australia:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-27/marches-against-violence-against-women-in-australia/103775840

The excellent work done by #CountingDeadWomen -
https://www.facebook.com/p/Counting-Dead-Women-Australia-100063733051461/

I absolutely love that Finland is sending a guy to #Eurovision whose YouTube videos from 17 years ago are still up.

Here is the official video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaIxsEPoS28

And the original channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@Windows95manofficial

Vote for Finland! Vote for Windows 95!

#windows95man #finland #eurovision2024

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This is the hymn that will be used at almost every #ANZAC day service across Australia today. It was written by Henry Francis Lyte in 1847:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abide_with_Me

At the dawn service here in Yass, the service included an over-produced choral recording of this song that no-one (I could hear) in the crowd sang along with, followed by a similar recorded version of the national anthem that almost no one sang along with. I remember 10-15 years ago that a local school student or singer would always lead the songs acapella and people sang along.

It is sad that communal singing seems to be sharply declining as part of our collective ceremonies.

Lest we Forget, the horrors of war and those who endured them for the sake of future generations.

#LestWeForget

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A song written for my Grandfather's older brother, Douglas George Therkelsen, who was a Trooper in the 2/4 Commando Squadron and died during the Tarakan operation in 1945, at the age of 19.

War memorial detail here:
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1698837

Text from this book about the Commandos (Double Diamonds):
https://archive.org/details/doublediamondsau0000jame

Dougie is buried at the Labuan War Cemetery:
https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/17000/labuan-war-cemetery/

Footage from the Tarakan invasion here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLP-8JirOyg

Interestingly Doug appears as Therkelsen, J. as KIA on the unit flag.

#Tarakan #Australia #ANZAC #WWII #Commando #Therkelsen

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I'm still working my way through Jim Bower's biography of Phil Ochs, but this imaginary conversation between Bob Dylan and Phil has been playing in my mind.

I wonder how many copyright claims this one will get!

#philochs #bobdylan

Photo is from the GAB Archive/Redferns.

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A friend (Rick) in the UK pointed me to this story from just up the road:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-16/man-turns-mammoth-400kg-pumpkin-into-a-canoe/103708438

Photo of Captain Adam from the Tumut Canoe Club is by John Stanfield.

#Tumut #Australia #pumpkin

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No spoilers for the new #Bluey extended episode that came out today, but this interesting Taoist story was included in the story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_old_man_lost_his_horse

Alan Watts may have been responsible for bringing this story into the Western consciousness, and there is a good chance that the hippy teachers who ran the Maleny pre-school in the 1970s (that the one Bluey goes to is clearly based on) had read his work or heard him speak:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Watts

Here is Alan telling the story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0GKB5aJT6c

My wife, who went to this preschool, recalls this story being read to them from a hand-made book.

Brilliant work on the episode @BlueyOfficialChannel you really had us worried!

#taoism #philosophy

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While singing some of the songs from my third Yass Valley album at the Murrumbateman village markets today, I realized that I've neglected to do any songs associated with the village (despite driving through it every day).

On searching Trove, I found this poem in the 27 September 1856 edition of the Goulburn Herald:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118313905

This un-named poet seems to be Scottish, based on this poem:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/263879017

The poet was active from 1855 until 1858.

It's obviously not Spring in Australia, but maybe my Northern Hemisphere will appreciate it.

#Murrumbateman #spring #sheep

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Rafe posted a snippet of this poem on the #filkhaven discord, during a discussion about engineers.

Here is the poem (and some analysis):
https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_martha.htm

Video is from this 1930 film, Danger Lights:
https://archive.org/details/danger_lights

Thumbnail is a painting by Georg Friedrich Stettner from around 1650.

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Thinking about it being 48 years since Phil Ochs died, 9th April 1976, aged 35.

I wonder what Phil would have thought about this AI stuff, this song certainly indicates what he thought about investment in the space program.

Here is Phil's version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSU25cQNm-Y&ab_channel=PhilOchs-Topic

Images all made by Gencraft, on Phil Ochs prompts (they look nothing like Phil).

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I am up to the Woody Guthrie chapter in Jim Bower's recent book about Phil Ochs:
https://www.amazon.com/That-Man-Gold-Lam%C3%A9-Suit-ebook/dp/B0CLKYF15N

Jim discusses Phil's sadness and anger at been excluded from the Woody Guthrie memorial concerts in 1968/1970. You can even listen to a snippet of Phil's own words here:
https://www.bear-family.com/various-bear-family-records-woody-guthrie-the-tribute-concerts-3-cd-deluxe-box-set.html

Phil thought himself one of Woody Guthrie's most faithful 'children', so the hurt caused by his exclusion is understandable.

What Guthrie song do you think Phil would have sung at the concert?

Here are the words for this song:
https://archive.org/details/woodyguthriesong00guth

Weird that the Guthrie estate is still trying to enforce copyright when Woody passed in 1967 and this was his view on copyright:

"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."

#PhilOchs #woodyguthrie #Folk

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After writing about the Israel/Palestine conflict a few days ago, it has been hard not to despair about humanity. Today this song was playing in my head, giving some hope.

The memory of @laurenoxfordmusic singing this to the full #OVFF audience in October last year (and everyone singing it back) is a treasured one. Recorded here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q0nc-Km95U

And of course @taliskimberley2711 who wrote this powerful and comforting song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyloNMHf8Dc

In addition to Talis' channel, there are also albums here:
https://taliskimberley.bandcamp.com/

Videos from pixabay.

Words and Lyrics are Copyright (c) Talis Kimberley 2017.

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The #Israel #Palestine conflict is just horror after horror, with no end in sight for another thousand years.

We are all the same humans, on the same planet. No-one is winning here.

While the death of those foreigners in the World Central Kitchen convoy has sparked a higher level of outrage in the West, it should have been outraged from the death of the first child.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-04/gaza-aid-convoy-air-strike-visual-analysis-photos-israel/103662942

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Someone posted the 'unofficial' Space Force song on Reddit, and I thought they deserve better.

Space Force:
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article/3163735/space-force-reveals-official-song-semper-supra/

#SpaceForce #Space #SemperSupra

Ours are the stars, ours is the sky,
We gaze into the endless night,
To hold the heavens for the fight,

Semper Supra, Always Above,
The Star Polaris guides our quest,
The Delta drives us to our best,
Semper Supra, Always Above.

Ours is the night, ours is the void,
Guardians of the nation’s force,
The power to keep on freedom’s course,

Ours is the dark, ours are the heights,
We fight beyond the planets rim,
United force to fight and win,

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I'm working on a nautical project that I can't share. So I've turned to Cicely Fox Smith again for something that I can share.

Here is the poem:
https://allpoetry.com/What-The-Old-Man-Said

Images are by Phil, Cicely's brother, and featured in a few of her books:
https://archive.org/details/sailor-town
https://archive.org/details/rovings-big
https://archive.org/details/sailortowndays00smituoft

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Having a go at this song by Phil Ochs about the assassination of John .F. Kennedy. I thought it would be suitable for Easter.

Here is a live version from Phil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIwbeEGXj5E

Some thoughts about Kennedy and Phil by Edward Curtin:
https://countercurrents.org/2018/11/phil-ochs-and-the-crucifixion-of-president-john-f-kennedy/

Photos from Pixabay.

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#Easter #PhilOchs #JFK #Kennedy

Today marks the end of Éirí Amach na Cásca, 107 years ago. And yet Ireland remains a broken country:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising

This song appears in Ethna's book of poetry, 'The four winds of Eirinn', published after her untimely death:
https://archive.org/details/fourwindsofeirin00macm

The thumbnail photo includes Ethna, in a play called 'St Patrick at Tara' from 1894, I can't find a better image than this one, where it was sold at auction for 300 pounds in 2015:
https://www.adams.ie/7038-lot-667-ST-PATRICK-AT-TARA-An-original-mounted-photographic-print-captioned-in-Seumas?Itemid=

#EthnaCarbery #ireland #EasterRising #irishbouzouki

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Happy Tolkien Reading Day 2024!

I was reminded by Malcolm's (@MalcolmGuitespell ) upload:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIj4PolfLNQ

I couldn't get the original lyrics to fit, but you can listen to Tolkien reading the original words himself here:
https://youtu.be/KEyTewlN47M

#TolkienSociety #TolkienReadingDay #Tolkien #Lyre

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Full song here:
https://youtu.be/oIUYUYujvW8

I have had the chance to sing Colin Dryden's 'Factory Lad' a few times over the past month, at the Canberra Irish Club St. Patrick's day celebration and also during the Song Swap with @PiersCawley this weekend.

(You can watch the video of the song swap for a few weeks here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/502TMa2Adk4 )

I found a comment by @LioraC that this song, Hughie the Graham was in Colin's repertoire. Mostly likely the version that Ewan MacColl and June Tabor do:
https://youtu.be/ujdj25BAz0o

Here is the MainlyNorfolk discussion:
https://mainlynorfolk.info/june.tabor/songs/hughiegraeme.html

And a blog discussing the possible origins:
http://walterscott.eu/education/ballads/reiver-ballads/hughie-the-graeme/

Like many of these story ballads, it isn't clear if the story is about real people.

Clan Graham history:
http://www.scotlandinoils.com/clan/Clan-Graham.html

I am using the lyrics from this 1803 Water Scott collection: https://archive.org/details/bib_fict_4103475_3

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I have been reading through some of the poetry attributed to St Columba in this book by Robert Farren from 1943:
https://archive.org/details/thismanwasirelan0000unse

For this song I have used the words from the 1857 'Life of St. Columba':
https://archive.org/details/lifeofstcolumbaf0000adam

This poem appears in several translations in different verse orders, and may well have been written down long after Colm's death. The changes are just to give a rhyming structure.

I have a distance uncle, Wallace Clark, who was involved in the recreation of the exile journey of Columba from Derry to Iona around 563AD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB3_GWUUUZc

#Ireland #Orthodox #StColumba #Iona #Derry

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We lost Les Barker in January last year. I really miss his irreverent, insightful and slanted take on the world. It would be wonderful to have a fraction of his talent for parody.

I was thinking of Les when this monstrosity imposed itself on me today, while I was driving to play a set at the Irish Club in Canberra for St. Patrick's day (many thanks to the friendly crowd).

#LesBarker #Irish #StPatricks #PartingGlass #Ireland

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