The songs of Portugal

My introductory post to this trip alerted you to the presence of musical references so, if you had this in mind, you needn’t have been especially observant to have noticed at least some of the song puns and references throughout this recounting of my time in Portugal. Some were obvious. Some were subtle. Some were related to the content of the post and some were merely referential. Some will make you think, ah, of course while others will generate a reaction of, shall I say, disbelief and rolling eyes. Here’s hoping that YouTube and the artists let these videos stand under a fair use provision since this blog isn’t monetized in any way but I’ll also provide a list at the end of this post just in case.

Back in the air again has no intentional music references.

In Cascais you’re curious has no intentional music references.

Only two palaces and the city center – my Sintra of omission has no intentional music references.

Temptation: Giving in to Sintra – In addition to the pun of temptation and sin, Temptation also refers to a Tom Waits song I first heard performed by Diana Krall

You don’t know what you’ve been missing – Obidos! – In this title, all of my love goes to Buddy Holly and his song Oh Boy!

A minor stumble, a major tumble, and a saving Sagres that wasn’t to be – Two Saving Grace songs filtered into my brain when I wrote this post’s title. One was by Bob Dylan but I think the dominant was this one by Tom Petty.

You are so beautiful. How did you get that way? – There’s nothing mysterious about the post’s title as it directly quotes the song Joe Cocker made famous – You Are So Beautiful.

There’s also a section header “I’m getting sedimentary over you” and I agree that it’s a bit of a stretch to go from sentimental to sedimentary but that’s what I did. The song in question is I’m Getting Sentimental Over You composed by George Bassman with lyrics by Ned Washington. I’ll go with Ella Fitzgerald’s version with no further explanation needed.

Laready, laset, Lagos! – has no intentional music references.

I ain’t afraid of Lagos – The post title is a movie / movie theme song reference to Ghostbusters / Theme From Ghostbusters.

Of course, this was the night of my dinner with my Irish acquaintances at A Barrigada. It was a wonderful meal and I had to find the best way to celebrate it so the header “Our hearts are warm, our bellies are full” hearkens back not only to the restaurant’s name but to the Broadway musical Carousel.

Round and round part 1 – Carousels – has no intentional music references beyond the video included in the post.

Round and round part 2 Round and around we go – Roundabouts – The slight change from the previous title marks a reference to the song Stay (Round and Around We Go) recorded by Rihanna. This video is a cover by Kelly Rida.

The road to Tavira – Anchor What? – The only song reference comes in the last section header – “At the end of the day” and bears no relation to the content of the post or my frame of mind but it was deliberately a chosen phrase from a song from the smash hit musical Les Miserables. (The title of the post is a pun meant to stimulate thoughts about the gamous temple complex in Cambodia.)

Head out on the highway – Even though it’s not a particularly long drive from Tavira to Lisbon heading out on the highway was what I was about to do. The single lyric line should be readily identifiable for anyone who was at least teenaged in the late 60s and even many who are younger. Of course it’s from the classic rock anthem Born to Be Wild by Mars Bonfire and the powerful performance by Steppenwolf.

In Lisbon alto isn’t quite – You have to read to the very end of this post to find the musical reference and it’s in the text not in the post’s title or a section header. The song is In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning. I’ll go with Old Blue Eyes – since Francis Albert recorded it first.

Intermezzo II – Conquistador! The man who would be king – Be they Portuguese or Spanish when you’re writing about conquistadores, two words and one song should spring immediately to mind. The two words: Procol Harum. The song: Conquistador. Here’s a cool version from 2006.

 

Me and my Chiado – Once again I took liberties with Portuguese pronunciation – this time the neighborhood called Chiado – which to American ears might sound roughly like SHE-ah-doo But that’s close enough for me to get to Me and My Shadow. For this one, I’ll go with the Mills Brothers.

Weh-ell you know-oh-oh 25 April 1974 – The focus of this post is the Carnation Revolution. I’d guess turning to The Beatles Revolution is obvious but just in case there are a few of you who don’t recognize the lyric, here’s the video:

You can always go… – The clue to this post’s title is in the description of Baixa as Lisbon’s downtown and once you know that, you have to think of Petula Clark singing Downtown.

Do-Re-Mi-Fado! – Any explanation here seems superfluous. But I did find this marvelous video from the AFI Life Achievement Award gave to Julie Andrews. (And yes, you can expect an extensive return to Do-Re-Mi when I reach Salzburg and visit some Sound of Music locations.)

The Cemetery of Pleasures – Believe it or not, I squeezed two musical references into this post. One is a huge stretch but indicated by what appears to be a capitalization typo and one that simply reproduces the song title.  The first is “tangled up in BUreaucracy”. I was going to stick in an extraneous ‘L’ but changed my mind. I wanted you to read this and think, oh, Bob Dylan. Tangled up in Blue.

The second reference appears in the section header Food, Glorious Food! takes the song title from the musical Oliver!

A porcelain garden and walls of whimsy – So, in this entry I reached the end and realized that for the first time since my Sintra of omission (counting the first Carousel post), I’d yet to make a musical reference (unless you count repeating the song from Oliver!). Thus, I squeezed two overlapping references into the last sentence of the post. One is a direct title and the other a parenthetical title. The first is ‘An Innocent Man’ which, of course was written and performed by Billy Joel and the other ‘man after midnight’ is a partial lyric from the Abba song Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!.

When will you realize… – Since this day’s post included my departure for Vienna, and the previous post ended with a Billy Joel reference, it somehow seemed fitting to combine the two. So you have another Billy Joel song, Vienna.

Here’s the list of titles, songwriters, and performers whose videos I downloaded from YouTube:

Temptation – by Tom Waits (Performed by Diana Krall)

Oh Boy! – by Sonny West, Bill Tilghman and Norman Petty (Performed by Buddy Holly and the Crickets)

Saving Grace – by Tom Petty (Performed by Tom Petty)

You Are So Beautiful – by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher (Performed by Joe Cocker)

I’m Getting Sentimental Over You – by George Bassman and Ned Washington (Performed by Ella Fitzgerald)

Theme from Ghostbusters – by Ray Parker, Jr. (Performed by Ray Parker, Jr.)

A Real Nice Clambake – from the musical Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II (From the movie Carousel)

Stay (Round and Around We Go) by Justin Parker, Elof Loelv, and Mikky Ekko. Released as the second single from Rihanna’s album Unapologetic. (Performed by Kelly Rida)

At the End of the Day from the musical Les Misérables by Claude-Michel Schönberg (music), Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel (original French lyrics) and Herbert Kretzmer (English lyrics) (Performed by Original London Cast)

Born to be Wild – by Mars Bonfire (Performed by Steppenwolf)

In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning – by David Mann and Bob Hillilard (Performed by Frank Sinatra)

Conquistador – by Reid Keith and Brooker Gray (Performed by Procol Harum)

Me and My Shadow – by Al Jolson, Billy Rose and Dave Dreyer (Performed by the Mills Brothers)

Revolution – by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Performed by The Beatles)

Downtown – by Tony Hatch (Performed by Petula Clark)

Do-Re Mi – by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II (Performed by Julie Andrews and members of the cast of the movie The Sound of Music)

Tangled up in Blue – by Bob Dylan (Performed by Bob Dylan)

Food, Glorious Food – by Lionel Bart (Performed by the cast of the 1968 movie Oliver!)

An Innocent Man – by Billy Joel (Performed by Billy Joel)

Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) – by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (Performed by ABBA)

Vienna – by Billy Joel (Performed by Billy Joel)