SHOUT SONGS

SHOUT SONGS

Mar 9, 2025 | MUSIC, ROCK

Basically, the definition of shout songs refers to the Gospel genre: a strongly rhythmic religious song in the African-American folk tradition, characterised by chants or shouts of response between the leader and the congregation.

Shouts of invocation, we can say of a joyful kind.

However, when I think of shout songs, completely different songs immediately materialise in my mind.

Songs that are irresistible to me, in the sense that when I listen to them, I feel strongly involved and find myself singing with an unequivocally liberating emphasis.

Shouts that drag out a load of emotions.

What is the quintessential shout song in your opinion?

Wandering around the web in search of answers, the song mentioned the most left me somewhat perplexed.

It is actually one of the songs in the index of my Heron Formula, so it has a special meaning for me, but for my vision it does not exactly correspond to the idea of a shout song: Won’t Get Fooled Again – Roger Daltrey – The Who.

What do you think?

Going on a sort of statistics of the most quoted songs, I realised that a high percentage of them are in my index. 

A fluke? Definitely not: obviously it all comes down to my vision of music.

What do you prefer to sing instead?

I know, I should use the verb to listen, but shout songs provides an additional level of involvement.

Speaking of involvement, I also take this opportunity to talk about Emily Armstrong.

shout songs

Her singing screamed a huge responsibility: to get on stage with Linkin Park.

Surely no one considered the thought of a replacement: impossible, but still a huge perplexity remained.

That’s why I appreciated Mike Shinoda’s sentence: the voice of Chester Bennington is you.

We are the voice of those who have left us.

In contrast to the shouting, there are those who have chosen silence, no less than a thousand artists: 1,000 UK Artists. 

shout songs

These 1,000 UK Artists have released a 12-track album entitled Is that what we want?

Here are the titles:
1. The
2. British
3. Government
4. Must
5. Not
6. Legalise
7. Music
8. Theft
9. To
10. Benefit
11. AI
12. Companies

These tracks do not contain any of the thousands of entries among which we can mention Annie Lennox and Kate Bush and represent the artists’ protest against the proposed change in copyright law.

The amendment would allow artificial intelligence companies to create their own products using rights-protected work: music, lyrics, etc., without a licence, effectively favouring the so-called training of algorithms without providing any remuneration for authors.

Silence to communicate.

Shall we also add our voice?

Or perhaps I should say let us also add our shout …

THREE by Valérie Perrin

THREE by Valérie Perrin

Jan 11, 2025 | BOOKS, MUSIC

We had already chatted about Valérie Perrin about her previous book Fresh Water for Flowers. 

I have also read Three thanks to Valeria and her Mum.

As you know, I have a bit of a fixation on three, not by chance on the idea of three sides I imagined my Heron’s formula. 

And on the concept of three this book builds a real apotheosis.

You know I don’t like to reveal too much, but I want to tell you that there was a moment while reading when I felt terribly dumb for not having understood beforehand, so much so that I would have even gone back to look for the exact point where I was so blind.

However, it is no secret that Three by Valérie Perrin tells the story of three friends.

Friendship, the kind that survives suffering, the kind that heals disappointments, the kind that bridges loneliness, but above all Friendship of the kind that comes about quite naturally, because it cannot be otherwise.

Friendship almost as predestination and deeply felt choice at the same time.

Friendship as destiny and Friendship as salvation.

Friendship that lasts a lifetime.

Do you have friends who fit this description?

Or maybe you can describe your idea of Friendship even better.

The three protagonists get to know each other and grow up going through years that I experienced at about the same age myself.

Do your childhood friendships endure stoically under the blows of life or have the paths taken inexorably different directions?

Valérie Perrin very often quotes songs and song lyrics, which as you know I particularly love.

And so I discovered Indochine, which I did not know.

Here you can find a playlist with the songs mentioned in the book.

Another key element in the book is water. 

Even with reference to water, we can find Valérie Perrin’s ‘three’: pool, sea, lake.

A further metaphor for evolution: birth, life, death.

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

Nov 2, 2024 | BOOKS, MOVIES, BOOKS, MOVIES, MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Nirvana unplugged in New York, often known as MTV unplugged is first and foremost a high moment in music history to me.

For our very first chat here on the blog, almost five years ago now, I told you about the cardigan Kurt Cobain wore during the recording of this live show.

Then over time we talked a lot about music but never came back to what is really one of the most important memories for me.

First of all it is the memory of an emotion: the first time I listened to Come as you are without even getting to the end I was convinced that I would never like another song again.

Come as you are is perhaps the only one of Nirvana’s most popular songs, performed even during unplugged, I think precisely because of its characteristic intense intimacy.

But every single song performed during MTV unplugged is beautiful.

The cover of The Man Who Sold the World in my opinion beats even the White Duke.

Where did you sleep last night is poignant to the point of almost materialising Kurt’s suffering.

And then Dumb, About a Girl, Pennyroyal Tea … which is your favourite?

Sadly released posthumously Unplugged in New York with every listen reminds us of the pain and loss of an artist who would now be a grandfather, as his Frances Bean became mother to Ronin at the end of September.

Many tales and anecdotes about 18 November 1993 chase each other all over the place, but what we can all still see is Kurt arriving, and after a simple ‘Good evening’ he introduces About a girl by attacking his guitar ride.

The rest is magic, atmosphere, white flowers, candles, drapes and soft lights, like metaphorical arms that welcome us into an immersion of music and sensations, simplicity and depth at the same time, where everything else is stripped away, the whole world is outside, where all that counts is the lightness of a faint breath destined to fade away but which in reality can only remain engraved in the memory forever.

Extreme vulnerability yet disruptive power.

Nirvana Unplugged is one of the gifts I cherish, it is 30 years old today and yet I’m never tired of listening to it again.

I treasure it along with Kurt Cobain Diaries

Nirvana unplugged

and Montage of Heck, which I saw at the cinema earlier anyway.

Nirvana unplugged

On the off chance that you’ve missed something, I recommend catching up: I find it indispensable to understand the deep torment of a Soul torn between the love of music and the pain of life.

I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault

I’ll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame

I WANNA TAKE HUGH THERE

I WANNA TAKE HUGH THERE

Jul 27, 2024 | MOVIES, MOVIES, MUSIC, MUSIC

I wanna take Hugh there … pun inspired by the very famous lyrics of a song that needs no introduction:

When you call my name, it’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there

Impossibile to listen to this song without singing it, a universal song.

Just as Hugh is universally known.

Also this time I would like to talk about the non-original soundtrack.

Here it is.

I wanna take Hugh there.

What can I say?
A fantastic excursus into pop history.

I mention as an example You’re the One That I Want, itself the soundtrack to a film I have seen countless times in my life.

Grease was the first film with friends in the cinema in the place where I was born, obviously love at first sight.

A movie in which cars take on the role of status symbols for the guys, who process them, use them for drive-ins and also for their ‘dates.’

Lo and behold, even the Deadpool & Wolverine scene with the Grease song playing in the background takes place in a car … still a symbol if you will, but a lame one.

And ‘the encounter’ is still physical and related to friendship, but on the level that characterises the whole film: totally insane.

Friendship and madness mingle as elective affinities between this trio who manage to put together a series of crowd-pleasing situations, not to mention cameos.

The third element is Shawn Levy, who gave us that gem Stranger Things. 

Watch out for those other two: Hugh and Ryan interact like two opposite, colourful halves, just like in this little gadget.

I wanna take Hugh there.

They represent well the passing of time, with the desire to always remain themselves, superheroes or nerds, or both.

And at the first notes of Good Riddance you are left with nostalgia: something umpredictable but it in the end is right.

Would you like to tell me something related to any of the other songs?

You can find them directly on Spotify. 

In both cases the songs appear as per the tracklist on the Disney site which sells the two branded LPs.

There is actually more.

Impossible not to mention Hells Bells … I’ll let you imagine as soon as the first notes start.

And then there’s I wanna take Hugh there …
courtesy of Madonna.

It’s not like it’s a no-brainer.

Ryan Reynolds said in an interview that he didn’t know how to ask for it: ‘what do I do, call up and say hello this is Ryan?’

Apparently that’s exactly what happened, but luckily for him, Madonna’s kids like Marvel superheroes too.

I wanna take Hugh there.

How about you?

E PER LA GENTE CHE … AND FOR THE PEOPLE WHO

E PER LA GENTE CHE … AND FOR THE PEOPLE WHO

May 4, 2024 | ITALY, ITALY, MUSIC, MUSIC, SPORT, SPORT

And for people who
love only you
For all those kilometres I have travelled for you
International you must win!

I particularly like this ‘and for the people who.’ 

The people.
The people who, on Sunday 30 April, celebrated Inter’s second star when the championship is not yet over, after a year of great satisfaction that made up for loooooooong let’s say more unfortunate times.

But also people with a passion,
People who sing, cheer, smile, celebrate. Positive people, joyful people.

Supporters world is a varied galaxy that encompasses many types of people and undoubtedly part of if has many faults and criticisms.

Anyway Sunday was the day of those who prefer brotherhood to violence, of those who share and unite.

I’ll tell you a little episode that happened on the underground: a platform quite crowded with people waiting with flags, scarves, shirts and whatever else.

Four or five very young boys arrive from the opposite railway, see the fans and shout “Go Inter!”

Immediately the supporters dedicated to them a chorus.

A little girl with very long hair, up to that moment on the sidelines with her daddy, pulls out a flag bigger than her and starts waving it.

Joyful eyes, smiles.

And then the youngest of the kids in front exclaims ‘He’s a Milan fan though!’

General laughter.

Joy.

There, far from all the dynamics of the market, earnings, business, rivalry, rancour, danger, a small moment that we will always remember.

That’s what I like about soccer.

🎵And for the people who …🎵🎵

I think that listening to the Inter supporters singing this song in chorus is very evocative, not to mention when the voices are added to the lights of the mobile phones that create like a firmament in unison, in a word magic.

It happened that this chorus of lights in the stadium was followed by a lucky action, and someone attributed the phenomenon to the Love Frequency.

The famous 528Hz representing the DNA frequency as if the body knows how to tune in to this frequency. Have you ever heard of this?

In these contexts, the boundary between the spiritual sphere and the concrete part blends, but the theory rests on real grounds.

You can find an explanatory study here. 

Note that the test subjects were asked not to consume caffeine!

Crazy stuff … 🙂

Joking aside, oxytocin should go up, for example.

What do you think?

Are you a supporter?

What would be an appropriate song to create your Love Frequency?

DARK MATTER

DARK MATTER

Apr 27, 2024 | MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Dark matter … first of all can we say that we are immediately attracted by these words?

Not to mention that the first thing I read in it was the prosecution of that sort of thread left hanging after 72 seasons, or Memento mori … 

So even Pearl Jam tells us the obscure in some way … this we should mainly ask Luciana: the biggest Pearl Jam fan I know.

Lucy you will correct me if I’m wrong, right?

The first rumour I heard about Dark Matter concerns the illustrious name in the credits: Sean Penn.

His contribution would consist of the sound of a pool cue hitting the ball, recorded by Eddie Vedder on his mobile phone.

Cool.

Not to mention the fact that the thought of Eddie and Sean automatically leads to Into the wild. 

Wild was also the start of the recording, which started at Andrew Watt‘s house and then relocated due to rain flooding.

I would call Andrew a natural born fan if I tried to imagine his repertoire of Pearl Jam t-shirts: a different one for each day of recording.

So at this point I ask: do you also keep one or more t-shirts from the concerts you have experienced? Can you tell me what they are?

Meanwhile, I list the titles of the eleven tracks of Dark Matter:
Scared of Fear
React, Respond
Wreckage
Dark Matter
Won’t Tell
Upper Hand
Waiting for Stevie
Running
Something Special
Got to Give
Setting Sun

and I won’t hide that before I found out which Stevie they were referring to, I hoped it was Nicks … instead it’s Wonder.

But there’s another reference, which I want to consider in a particular way: in the song Scared of Fear
…
We used to laugh, we used to sing
We used to dance, we used to believe

do you think we could get back: Seattle, 90s?

Although in reality each of us has our own memory that fits these words, would you like to tell yours?

I leave you with the conclusion of Dark Matter: words we should all remember, as well as sing

These days it’s strange
When everyone else is paying
For someone else’s mistakes
This guilt takes shape
until everyone pays
for someone else’s mistakes …

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