I have already mentioned two songs that have become linked in my mind with RA, both due to fan videos which I encountered early on in my obsession journey (see Challenge #2 and Favourite Fan Art Pieces). However, I’d rather like to mention a song for this challenge that has no *obvious* connection to RA at all, not through of other fans’ videos, through his work as an actor, nor by mentioning it as a favourite himself. Something entirely unrelated – yet somehow connected in my mind with him.
A song that reminds me of RA
This is from a Northern Irish band called Two Door Cinema Club whom I really like (and have seen in concert several times). The song featured heavily on my running playlist in the long-gone days when I still went for a run every morning *hmph*, and it almost made me grin when the chorus came up. The words “he needs no army” were the signal, I guess – and since I was a relatively new member of the “RArmy” at the time, my ears must have been particularly tuned to the word… Plus, I think it’s true – he needs no army. Strictly speaking. I remind myself of that every once in a while… Now, whether he sleeps alone, that’s a different matter entirely *coughs*, but not one that I like discussing publicly.
Which songs do you associate with RA – I’d love to discover new stuff this way, so if it is unrelated to his work/fan vids/his recommendations, all the better. You can embed the YT video in the comments below. (In case you don’t know how to: on the YT site of the video, click on “Share” underneath the clip, then click “Embed”, and copy and paste the embed code into the comments.)
PS: Initially I thought I’d post this song – but ah no… old chestnut! And it’s also not a song I would habitually turn on for the pure enjoyment of music. But leaving the video here for you to simply enjoy the elegance of the long-legged alpha cat that is so big that it is not allowed centre stage for long because it overshadows all the rest… (For those who don’t know this clip – instructions by fellow fan Crystal Chandlyre in the video.)
PPS: I wonder whether his first job is also the reason why he says he doesn’t like felines… 😹
Guylty Pleasure 
Pell-mell, thrown in a mess, on paper
– Arvo Pärt – “Spiegel im Spiegel’, Tabula Rasa Frates (for cello and piano), Fur Alina, Silentium, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten… cf “The Crucible”
– Martin Phipps: North & South Soundtrack (BBC 2004) Track 05 – Boucher’s Death and Track 03 – Thornton’s Walk, particular walking way of the proud, arrogant, concerned, shy, tender JT
– Rachmaninoff: Francis Dolarhyde asThe Great Red Dragon in “Hannibal”, sympathetic as he is terrifying!
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First of all: I am impressed that you voluntarily listen to Pärt 😂. I just can’t sit through that long enough 😕.
The NS soundtrack was really beautiful, agreed.
And I am delighted you are mentioning Rachmaninoff, too. My favourite composer. Any particular piece you have in mind for Dolly?
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– Minimalist music can be effortlessly listened to , as background, whatever you do.
– But Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 “Sorrowful Songs” – Lento e Largo is sad.
– Penderecki: “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” HARD to listen to.
_Rachmaninov: “The Isle of the Dead”, Symphonic poem Op. 29 reminds me the Hobbit and the actual Mediterranean tragedy.
I am an addict of the soundtrack prominently features the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, performed in the great English drama movie “Brief Encounter”, directed by David Lean with the great actors Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. Some scenes are memorable 🙂 🙂
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I should perhaps listen to PENDERECKI: DIES IRAE ‘AUSCHWITZ ORATORIUM’ if Marine Le Pen became our republic’s president on Sunday. So sad, so frightened!
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if you like tintinnabuli bells, Mstislav Rostropovich – Penderecki – Cello Concerto No 2 too.
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Now, that is a great recommendation. Will have to check it out. Thanks!
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Indeed. I really really hope that France does not make the same mistake as the US.
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Me too.
But PENDERECKI: DIES IRAE ‘AUSCHWITZ ORATORIUM is definetly unlistenable, unless one wants to become completely depressed. To think that R Armitage listened to this kind of music, in his flat, between “the Crucibles’ performances”, I deeply sympathize. As he said poor neighbors! Bach’s concertos would be more morally stimulating.
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He certainly isn’t taking the easy route. Penderecki gives me goosebumps (not sure whether they are of the good kind or the creepy kind) within seconds. But I can see how such music is an aid to him. He’s very dedicated…
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I love the Piano Concerto 2, but my absolute favourite piece of music forever and ever is Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini. It has everything music should have – drama, passion, reflection, love, romanticism, sadness. It’s a piece of music on the cusp of modernity, and it moves me like no other…
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Sure, but as eternal youth apprentice violonist, I love and hate Paganini.
I have got an dvd, with among others this piece of music, performed by Ivry Gitlis. As cats’ lover, I recommend you: “the violins that meow”: http: //www.ina.fr/video/CPA7905758701
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Ivry Gitlis : les violons qui miaulent – Vidéo Ina.fr http: //www.ina.fr/video/CPA7905758701″ ▶ 6:01
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still can’t find it…
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Hm, I can’t find that video. But I can well imagine how a violin can sound like a meowing cat…
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He was at home, playing the violin, while one of his cat named: Puschkin was disturbed by the sound and it
Grunted, meowed. Great funny moment! Perhaps try to find on: Ivry Gitlis : les violons qui miaulent – Archive vidéo INA – YouTube
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Armitage and Wesley’s love scene, withRachmaninoff’s sountrack , am I wrong?
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Now that you are mentioning it… yes, I think you are right…
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I keep meaning to say how much fun it’s been here, reading all the contributions, discovering new insights and reliving many good moments. Thanks Guylty, an inspired idea.
As for musical reminders, a lot of mine would be the ones associated with fan videos – Supermassive Black Hole comes to mind as doubly evocative with the Muse connection, and some of the Lady Gaga ones were a giggle.
This one, however, I’m listing for a friend, obviously.
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Yeah, it’s fun, isn’t it? It’s a nice bit of light relief, too, after some of the more serious discussions the last couple of days.
Muse is always a great recommendation. SMBH is one of my favourite songs of theirs, too.
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“Remember the time” by Michael Jackson
Spontaneously I thought about this song because he mentioned it with great emphasis in the Jane-Hotel-interview of 2016. And all the stuff from “Kings of Leon”…
Thanks a lot for posting of the Jellicle-video. It’s so funny to watch him performing movements like a burlesque dancer, delicious!
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Oh yes, I vaguely remember RA mentioning that song.
Kings of Leon are great, too.
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I like the song: “the deepest desires in my mind” is a great line. Also love the Ella Fitzgerald suggestion. I do love anything by Cole Porter!
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YES, no one wrote pining-for-love like Cole Porter.
I have a fantasy that I run into RA on the subway. I don’t acknowledge him, but I do sit next to him, pretend to read my book, and sing “You do something to me” under my breath:
“You do something to me
Something that simply mystifies me
Tell me, why should it be
You have the power to hypnotize me
“Let me live ‘neath your spell
You do that voodoo that you do so well
“For you do something to me
That nobody else could do.”
RA is very impressed by me, of course.
Apart from that, I send out big thank yous to all the fans who have brought my musical exposure/education into the 21st century via fan videos!
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That is a very nice fantasy! I would join you, except I would sing a different song that also contains the line “you do something to me”
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Lovely fantasy, I adore any scenario involving song lyrics 🙂 I can’t sing, but I would pass My Guy a note with the same.
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I have two songs that I immediately connect with RA. One is Fields of Gold, a friend from Pinterest said that she loves the song and that it reminds her of RA. Since I was in my creative period, I made a vid for her: https://youtu.be/H7BCA2OPzpo (I used Eva Cassidy’s version). The second one is Je t’áime (Lara Fabian), I love the lyrics : Comme un fou, comme un soldat, Comme une star de cinéma …Comme un loup, comme un roi.. Again, I made a vid: https://youtu.be/ruJgTmd9zoQ I hope you do not consider this shameless self-promotion, I keep this videos unlisted on youtube, but making them was a pleasure. There are almost 3 years now since I did the last video and I don’t know if I’ll ever do another one but I look back at those times with great love.
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Oh, Fields of Barley is such a beautiful song, particularly in that version. And it is always welcome to watch beautiful pictures combined with beautiful music. Well done – thanks for linking in!
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Music. I go to bed listening to parts of movie scores written by the incredible Thomas Newman (after 12 Oscar nominations, it needs to just be given to him), especially parts of Road to Perdition, Meet Joe Black, Shawshank Redemption, and How to Make An American Quilt. All his music is music to dream of Richard by.
I also dream of making love to Mr. A when I hear Martha Argerich play Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, especially the 2nd movement, the Adagio.
Also everything by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Yo Yo Ma’s Appalachia Waltz and his version of Ennio Morricone’s Gabriel’s Oboe and The Falls (both from The Mission) , Eric Whitacre’s The River Cam, Coldplay’s Everglow, Bill Whelan’s Lament, Gerald Finzi’s Eclogue for Piano and Strings Op. 10,….oh heck there is so much music that fuels my fantasy world.
Favorite YouTube video that makes me smile is the fanvid to You Always Make Me Smile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcLSnMEL8y8
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Wow, that’s an exhaustive list! And some great pieces on that. I love that you have all that classical music on it.
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I guess the first music you’re exposed to sticks with you. Classical music is what I listen to when I’m driving. It relaxes me. BTW, this is off the subject but go see the new Guardians of the Galaxy. Not only is it really good but the music is wonderful. Makes you want to dance. Watch until the end of the credits.
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THanks for the recommendation! Is the film comprehensible when you haven’t watched part 1?
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Now you wouldn’t think i would be stumped by this but i am… i don’t really associate music with RA although i know he is very musical or into music himself. I ave no song or music that makes me think of him, except maybe for background music in a performance of the rumbling, vibrating kind which takes me back to the Crucible. It is just that the music i mostly listen to i can’t associate with him even though i do wonder if he has ever listened to it, though i doubt it. I do have the fantasy that he would love songs if he had the opportunity to listen to them, i like the idea that poetry, sung simply with just voice and 1 instrument could be his thing…
But lovely to see and listen to what other people associate with RA 🙂 expanding horizons
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No, I am not surprised at all that you do not associate music with RA. After all, music must completely tied up with JK for you. RA is for the eye, JK for the ear.
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sadly less with JK these days.. i do hope the passion will be reignited when he comes for Otello… something has been missing for a while and i don’t quite know how to get back to the most happy place… fingers crossed. I haven’t been anxious about it in years but i have become so more recently. Music was a lot about him for a few years but i think it’s gone back to just being part of my everyday life as it has been since i was a child. I’e always loved particular composers and pieces more than anything else and sadly it’s not the stuff he sings or likes most either but i can’t give it up and some things he sings i really do like but not even he has been able to change my taste fundamentally and long term. Sad about that as there are roles i love which he will now never get to sing, some opportunities have been missed forever. You have no idea how i crave something new that i can love through and through.. haven’t even bought the last CD as i simply don’t like it enough to listen. Snif. But i hear about a new CD with French arias though with neither the orchestra or conductor which i would have preferred but i’ll make do
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and yes on the other hand i don’t walk past a theatre or inside one without a thought or many to RA 🙂
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