Books I've actually finished lately: 130

Books I've actually finished lately: 117

Without my shadow I don't know how the other half feels.

- Nick Cave

(Jury's still out on the audio sample. Cave is reading it himself...)

The not-so-good old days

With the increasing informality of ritual under the reforms of Edward VI came scope for new sources of texts, especially psalms either entire or in part - though not yet the personal selection of verses which later became common (and caused the unfortunate sixteenth-century Flemish composer Laurent de Voz to be hanged for a motet containing a suggestive choice of psalm texts).

- Nicolas Robertson, sleeve notes to Sacred Choral Music by William Mundy (The Sixteen, dir. Harry Christophers

The good old days

Josquin was able to set the psalm 'Memor esti verbi servo tuo' as a reminder to the French king that his salary was due.

- Nicolas Robertson, sleeve notes to Sacred Choral Music by William Mundy (The Sixteen, dir. Harry Christophers

Herodotus

Several pit players use the long stretch between 'Getting to Know You' and the end of Act I to pull out books or magazines. Primis said, "When I played South Pacific, I read Herodotus."

- Henry Alford, in The New Yorker 

InDefinition - GUEST ENTRY

Wailing Goggle-Man, n. Bono

[courtesy Sherlock]

'Some Mungril Italian Poet' - or; How To Write A Pasticcio

Pick out about an hundred Italian Airs from several Authors, good, or bad, it signifies nothing. Among these, make use of fifty five, or fifty six, of such as please your Fancy best, and Marshall ’em in the manner you think most convenient. When this is done, you must employ a Poet to write some English Words, the Airs of which are to be adapted to the Italian Musick. In the next place you must agree with some Composer to provide the Recitative … When this is done, you must make a Bargain with some Mungril Italian Poet to Translate the Part of the English that is to be Perform’d in Italian; and then deliver it into the Hands of some Amanuensis, that understands Musick better than your self, to Transcribe the Score, and the Parts. 

- via Alexandra Coghlan, in The Spectator

Books I've actually finished (again) lately: 59

I read the Iliad a long time ago but I was too young to appreciate it.

- Ludo, aged 11

Found in books - 5

War literature - what is it good for? (2)

Recently, I had [the] experience [of] listening to Major General John Borling (USAF, retired), a former fighter pilot and six-year Vietnam POW. When asked to name the most important courses he took as an Academy cadet, Borling immediately responded: “Humanities courses—art history, music appreciation, literature, introductory philosophy.”

- Thomas G McGuire, in War, Literature, & the Arts

'Might stop somewhere for a read...'

Ever wondered

what the Welsh national anthem means?

Well, now you know.

InDefinition - 70

pymphony, n. orchestral music you can play loudly out the window while driving

Keystroke twins - 22

alter
blues

Titles gone begging - 3

Sorry I Lied: confessions of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Note to poets/song-writers

Avoid using brand names in your verses (and/or choruses).

It dates them - in both senses - in the worst cases to before the time of their release.

To wit:

Filmstar, an elegant sir in a Terylene shirt...

- Suede, 'Filmstar'

and some song I heard on Radio1 this morning that referred to 'American Apparel underwear'... (the first 16 words of which were 'hey').

Books I've actually finished lately: 4

Incorporating - amongst other things - the most inspired index ever published. [To wit:

Bang Bang

Chitty-Chitty, 1968
Kiss Kiss, 2005
(My Baby Shot Me Down), 1966

and

Curses

...
Fuck, 21, 23-25, 35-36, 40, 44, 47, 53, 62, 64, 66, 76, 84, 90, 93-94, 103, 107, 109-110, 114, 116, 119,120]

InDefinition - 61

surplice to requirements, adj./n. chorister between jobs.

Tragic reflection

No poet's biopic is ever going to be soundtracked by MUSE.

InDefinition - 51

cantus infirmus, n. senior persons' choral society