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Peace Cat in a Hat - Laura Day 21

Writer: philoggukphilogguk

Updated: Dec 23, 2021

Christmas is really coming!! Even Peace Cat is getting caught up in the excitement ("What do you think of my hat?", he asks).

4 days left of our Advent Calendar celebrating Laura Nyro - today track is 'Beads of Sweat' from album no.4, "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat". Laura worked with an amazing roster of musicians over the years, and here it's almost like a duet between her voice and Duane Allman's guitar (Alice Coltrane and many other eminent musicians feature on the same album). It's another track full of shifts and surprises!


Bonus extra! Where to stop? This track came on after, also from Christmas and the Beads of Sweat. The piano, the horns, the vocals, the tempo changes - it just sounds so good!!!


Bonus extra extra! It's Winter Solstice night! I was introduced to this lovely poem recently and it really should be read aloud tonight - give it a try! :)


The Shortest Day (Susan Cooper)

So the Shortest Day came and the year died And everywhere down the centuries of the snow‐white world

Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive.

And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling. Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us ‐ listen!

All the long echoes, sing the same delight,

This Shortest Day, As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks, And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!



 
 
 

16 Comments


Peace Cat's hat is the business. Hats are a great invention.

Loving the Laura tracks thank you Phil.

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Laura's second song has me thinking about cruising Ionia in high school


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Replying to

Really? :) I shouldn't be surprised by these things by now :) That's my childhood copy of Go, Dog. Go!, thus the condition. I have my original of The Best Nest still that I think Mom had memorized from reading it to me so many times and she made up a nice melody for Mr. Bird's song. Thanks for the excellent Obama--it's entertaining in a different way than the boot tea :)

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I’m in a mood for the Allman Brothers now. We read The Shortest Day after the game of hide-and-seek here was over. I like stanzas that begin with “so” and “and.” It makes me feel like I’m walking into a story in progress. It’s my style. High school English teacher busted me for it though. I really enjoyed your reading. I just listened to it again, followed by the Halsway Carol and your brrr, which sounded very American :)


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philogguk
philogguk
Dec 25, 2021
Replying to

Ha ha, rules are there to be broken! Love "so" and "and" sentences too - those little words add great energy :)

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Ruth Carless
Ruth Carless
Dec 21, 2021

Welcome Yule ! :) Thankyou for the words

And dearly love their friends :)

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Ruth Carless
Ruth Carless
Dec 21, 2021

What a great title for an album! Where to stop - is that even

necessary!? I don't know quite what comment to make at the mo, other than I enjoyed them .. will listen further...( which I've already done of course!)

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philogguk
philogguk
Dec 21, 2021
Replying to

There's another extra part added to this post now! :))

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Our latest playlist - did you hear it yet? Celebrating Laura Nyro and other eclectic voices - check it out here on Spotify! :)))
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cCwSvW2nFTp3aQPQRpdz2?si=9abc067e4f7d4707

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