Skip James, Blind Willie

I love to mouth off about what I love.
And I mouth off about people who have been the soundtrack of my life.

This time... it's Skip James and Blind Willie Johnson...
To blues fans and music decadents...and old fogies, Skip James ain't nothing new.
He's the guy who wrote "I'm So Glad"... which Cream covered in the 60s.
Skip James was a totally different guitarist than say....Robert Johnson.
For one thing, he doesn't have the legendary status of Robert Johnson.
He didn't have the dramatic panache, or the ominous satanic overtones.
And he didn't sound like three guitar players playing at once....
But he was quite incredible. I love Robert Johnson too..but something about Skip James is soulful beyond Robert Johnson's theatric stylings. Don't get me wrong "Come on in my kitchen" is an incredible moment in American music but Skip James' I'm so Glad is well...nothing short of astonishing.


Here is Blind Willie



Skip James

Queen of the Night

First... This is the Queen of the Night Aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute.



Second, it is one of the most difficult arias to perform.
Third, just what the hell is it about?
Here's the lyrics

In English:
The wrath of Hell boils in my heart,
Death and despair flame about me!
If Sarastro does not through you feel
The pain of death,
Then you will be my daughter nevermore.
Disowned may you be forever,
Abandoned may you be forever,
Destroyed be forever
All the bonds of nature,
If not through you
Sarastro becomes pale! (as death)
Hear, Gods of Revenge,
Hear a mother's oath!

A breakdown of the plot is just WAY too complex...
soo... break it down.....
The Queen of the Night represents the dark forces of repression that keep humanity down (organized religions as seen through Mozart's Masonic views)...and in this aria she is asking her daugher to kill Sarastro who represents freedom from superstition..

hmm.. ok.. It all feels like overwrought metaphors when you come right down to reading what the whole thing is about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Zauberfl%C3%B6te

But what amazes me about this aria, is the energy spent singing it...watch her heave and pump her rib cage as she forces air through her pipes to hit those amazing notes...
It is a strenuous physical act that produces one of the mose memorable moments in opera.
If you care to follow the original German lyrics to the music...well.... you feel there is a disconnnect... between those high pitched notes and the wrath behind it..

I never would have thought it as a song where the driving emotion is anger, rage and revenge.
Is this supposed to represent a harmonious screech?
I can't tell..
Divorce it from whatever the hell it's so supposed to be about (which is what I think the majority of opera-goers do with operas sung in a language NOT their own) and it is enigmatic...
Not quite the same thing you feel when listening to Don Giovanni...where the darkness is...well.. REALLY evident.
It is fair to say thay my ignorance about the world of opera enhances my appreciation of certain songs and pieces...
My pop sensibilities don't allow me to get bogged down in the details...