What is this Monday’s Music Moves Me theme? February has the gem stone Amethyst, a beautiful purple stone and lavender is a shade from the purple family so, instead of the colour purple, I went with Lavender and here we go…
1. THE LAVENDER SONG SUNG BY UTE LEMPER-1997
Way back, in a time far, far away, I was roaming around a bookstore and saw this book with the beautiful lavender colour and 2 young pretty girls on the cover. Thinking I was going to view a book about fashion, I opened it up and my eyes opened up to a WTF? After I put my eyes back in my sockets, I read the beginning of the book and found out that lavender is the colour for the lesbian community..um..or should I say the LGBT community. Please don’t be upset with me for getting this wrong. Anyhoo, this colour has been their colour for a very long time as indicated by this German Cabaret song from the 1920s. The Weimar Republic was briefly in power in the 1920s which afforded more rights and freedoms to many groups including the Gay and Lesbian rights ( before Hitler came to power and not only took these rights away but many ended up in the same camps as the Jewish people and also, met the same fate). I love the Cabaret songs from the 20s which seem a lot more open than even today. This song was written by Mischa Spoliansky in 1920 and became quite famous in the 1920s.Ute Lemper is a leading German actress and singer specializing in Cabaret songs and has made many records which I’d love to explore more.
2. APPROACHING LAVENDER SUNG BY GORDON LIGHTFOOT-1970
I love Gordon Lightfoot but was not aware of this song that is from the album, “ Sit Down Young Stranger”. This song is about a romantic encounter with a free spirit named Lavender. It was a semi hit here in Canada, but didn’t chart anywhere else…a shame.
3. LADIES IN LAVENDER WITH JOSHUA BELL AND ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA- 2004
The score was written by Nigel Hess and really resonates throughout the film about 2 elderly sisters( played by Maggie Smith and Judi Dench) who find a young man, almost drowned, in their garden on the Cornish coast. He states he is Polish and was on his way t9 America for a better life when the boat sank. They nurse him back to health and find that he is an exceptional violinist. This is such a romantic score that I have no idea why it wasn’t up for an Oscar.
Can you think up any lavender song? Amethyst? ..Purple, yes, aside from Jimi Hendrix’s great song, “Purple Haze”, or Prince’s, “Purple Rain” what other purple songs can you think of?
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