Hero Swan & Doll...
It sounds like the name of a puzzle: A ferryman has to take the three of
them to the other side of the river, but the boat isn’t large enough to
contain them in one fare, so he has to find a combination where they
won’t harm another...
That’s not what it is and neither it is the first line of a Japanese haiku.
It is my way of paying my respects to the people who wrote the words and
music for the soundtrack of my life.
Heroes, tutors and friends, this one is for you.
01 Scintilla One
From the album “Tangents in Jazz” by the Jimmy Giuffre Quartet released in1951
I picked this song, but the whole album is a work of timeless beauty.
The lyrics I added are valid for almost all the songs on this album.
Train of time is always chug-a-chuggin’ down the trac
Salmons when they hatch don’t you know they always go upstream
The down-trodden path is safe...
Well the scene of crime will always call, it calls the villain back
Most musicians safely play the scheme
In a way to redem?
But there’s some free and eager souls
who create a private timeline of their own
Regardless of what’s in or out
They’re the ones that music really is about
Well they don’t get a grammy, they don’t get the big bucks,
They don’t get the number one
Yet they pave the way for lesser gods
Let us cheer the courage of the few
That do what they must do
In spite of the bruises
They follow the Muses
The straight and the narrow
Their eyes on the marrow
Heroes one and all
02 Oh Mein Papa
An often mistreated song, originally written for the operette “Der schwarze Hecht “ in
Swiss-German dialect in 1939. The author/composer Paul Burkhard reworked the
song in 1951 for a highly successful piece called “Feuerwerk” , this time in High German.
I’ve tried to restore the original exotic circus atmosphere, lacking in most versions.
03 Interlude For String Quintet
Wim Oudijk 2005
04
05 I’ll Follow The Sun
One of the few lesser known (?) Beatles songs and almost the only one I dared to touch.
From the album “Beatles For Sale” released in 1964 and written by Lennon/McCartney.
06 Pittsburg, Pensylvania
A hit-record for Guy Mitchell written in 1951 by Bob Merrill and the first prize in the
category: What is a sad lyric like you doing in a circus-like arrangement like this?
It’s hard to believe the author meant the song to sound this way, so I‘ve tried to
create a better environment for the lyrics.
07 Seven - Eighted
I wouldn’t be much of a songwriter if I didn’t smuggle in some of my own ditties
and this is one of them. I borrowed “Columnated ruins domino” from you know who,
because I couldn’t say it better...
Every once in a while
I’ve got this irrepressible urge to disrupt
This carefully woven tapestry
of elegance and self-restraint
when, faintly, in my mind’s ear
I can hear
The one-two of the tribal drum
that is the source, but has become
synonymous with lack of brains
with proles in chains who stupidly
enjoy their own stupidity
and bang their heads, a last attempt
to get their encephalic rest
in peace and let the belly think instead
By now the distant drum has faded
Old Pappy’d call me sissypated
My music will stay seven-eighted
“Columnated ruins domino”
08 Interlude For Woodwind Quintet
Wim Oudijk 2005
09 Can’t Get Used To Losing You
A hit record for Andy Williams in 1963 written by Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman
Strange bed-fellows: I saw him on stage that year as opening act for the Everly Brothers!
10 Everybody’s Crazy (about the doggone blues)
To my knowledge there’s only one version of this delightful song, sung by Mark Murphy
in 1962 but the song was written in 1917 by Creamer & Layton for that year’s
Ziegfeld Follies.
11 Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams
A song written by Barris, Koehler & Moll in 1931 and covered by almost everyone in the
pop and jazz field. I still cherish a version by Jonah Jones.
12 Tickle Me
And then there’s Randy Newman. A great hero of mine, altough when I first heard
this song it was the flipside of Simon Smith etc. by Alan Price wich made me curious
to know who was writing this great stuff.
13 Turn Around
Writing these notes I’m getting smaller and more humble with every entry.
This is a wonderful song written by Ron Elliott of the Beau Brummels for
Bradley’s Barn, a classic album.
14 Winterwind
Wim Oudijk & Joris Kila © 1976
Winterwind is tearing at the wall, at the wall, at the wall
On the roof the snowflakes start to fall, start to fall, start to fall
Will she come back, I am wondering
Can she find her way back home?
‘t was in summer when she left me here all alone
All alone
Ooh Mrs Brown, you know
When I get down, you know
I’ll come to you for some love
Ooh Mr Walker
You ain’t no big talker
but talking to you makes me tough
or tough enough to buy me love
Spring is bursting out of every tree, every tree, every tree
Spring is bursting out inside me, inside me, inside me
Should I wait for her I‘m wondering
Or can I go to Mrs Brown
With the help of Johnny Walker I’ll go to town
Downtown
Ooh Mrs Brown, you know
When I get down, you know
I’ll come to you for some love
Ooh Mr Walker
You ain’t no big talker
but talking to you makes me tough
or tough enough to buy me love
15 Lines
Brian Wilson wrote this one, and the only recording I know is an unfinished sounding one
I’ve got no idea why it never made the grade, but I think it’s a very nice song and it took
a lot of courage to dare doing a Brian Wilson song.
16 Da Doo Ron Ron
One of the most famous Phil Spector productions, written by Spector, Greenwich & Barry.
I just couldn’t resist adding a few lines to make the pink dream a little more realistic:
Picked her up at seven and she looked so fine.
Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron.
Someday soon I’m gonna make her my door-mat
She'll cook and clean, she'll bear my kids,
she'll be keeping my bed warm
and he says:
Ooh, she looks a natural mother
Ooh, I'll go from one mum to the other
Ooh, and her daddy is loaded
Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron.
and she says:
Ooh, he looks the perfect provider
Ooh, he's the stud, I'm the rider
Ooh, I'll make the other girls so jealous
Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron.
17 Interlude For Brass Band
Wim Oudijk 2005
18 Im Tiefen Keller
My mother used to sing the first two lines when I was a kid, and she told me
in her childhood the men would be singing this song when they were getting “wild”
(she meant drunk).But two lines don’t make a song, so I made up the rest of the words
and the music. In the end of the song there’s a few lines in Dutch, stolen from author
Godfried Bomans, who stole it from German poet Friedrich Torbert...
Im tiefen Keller Sitze ich
bei einem fass voll Reben
dass heisst im Keller steht ein Fass
und ich sitze daneben
aus Reben macht man später Wein
dass wird ‘ne späte Leese sein
d’rum sitz’ ich bei dem Rebenfass
mein Glas bereits daneben
Ich sitze hier im Erdgeschoss
und warte biss aus Reben Wein wird
Ich sehne nach dem schönen Tag
Wie wundervoll mein Leben sein wird
Dass wird ein rosaroter Traum
Ein besseres Dasein gibt es kaum
Im tiefen Keller sitze ich
und warte auf “Das Leben”
Ik zit me hier in het souterrain met een droge strot te vervelen
O, kon ik maar twee duitse herders zijn, dan kon ik samen spelen
19 Good Old Desk
Harry Nilsson , brother and friend forever.
A Nilsson lovesong, cute and bittersweet from the album Aerial ballet, 1968
20 Davey’s On The Road Again
Ever since his production work for The Band I’ve been a great admirer
of John Simon and especially his first solo album is still in my personal top list.
This song, written by John Simon & Robbie Robertson
has been a hit for Manfred Mann.
21 Come To The Sunshine
Written by Van Dyke Parks, the greatest hero of them all!
I ‘ve tried to restore the original lyrics, but I couldn’t decipher the last vers
from the original VDP recording so I had to leave that out...
If anyone knows what’s going on there, please let me know.
This album is dedicated to all my heroes: people and music
without whom my musical landscape would be non-existent
or at least completely different.
Special thanks to Yvonne Commandeur who helped me
finding back a voice when mine was lost
Produced by Wim Oudijk
Mixed & Mastered by Guus van Leeuwen & Wim Oudijk
Painting by Paolo Ucello (National Gallery, London)
Design Bert Koops © Disco Fair 2005
Play: “Heroes one all”
Play: “I’ll follow the sun”