The Reading List – Francisco Silva

The second Reading List comprises reading choices by my friend, at times co-songwriter, and fellow avid reader Francisco Silva. Francisco laid to rest his old (pun intended) music composition Old Jerusalem and has been taking off in new directions with The June Carriers and Velho Homem. In Francisco’s own words.

Some of my musical reading material… :

Warren Ellis – Nina Simone’s Gum: A Memoir of Things Lost and Found is a picaresque story of the amulet engendered by Warren Ellis as an excuse to digress about music, creativity, humanity, etc.

Whyndam Wallace – Lee, Myself & I: Inside The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood is Lee Hazlewood’s life story as retold by his former manager, journalist Wyndham Wallace.

Bruce Adams – You’re With Stupid, the Chicago scene and the Kranky label by the quill of one of its founders, Bruce Adams.

Various – Rock Rendez Vous the photos of the iconic Lisbon club (and the portrait of an era).Rob Young – Electric Eden a detailed and multifaceted story of British folk music and its context.

Harold F. Eggers – My years with Townes van Zandt: Music, Genius and Rage” – the uncanny account of Harold F. Eggers’ time as road manager to Townes van Zandt in his prime and beyond it – an assignment that only a Vietnam veteran could tackle.

Ian Preece – Listening to the Wind: Encounters with 21st Century Independent Record Labels. Interviews and profiling of some of the most interesting (obscure?) independent record labels of our time: Light In The Attic, Thrill Jockey, International Anthem, Touch, Sublime Frequencies, Temporary Residence, Important, Paradise of Bachelors, Scissor Tail, among others.

… and two extraordinary graphic novels: the hitherto rare Storyville by Frank Santoro and the amazing Rusty Brown (but it could also be the just as beautiful – if not more so – Jimmy Corrigan) by Chris Ware.

Amazing Songs & Other Delights #5 – The Poetry edition by Raquel Pinheiro – repeat @ Yé Yé Radio, Monday, January 1st

For tomorrow, Monday, January 1st,, Amazing Songs & Other Delighs is a repeat. Issue #5 The Poetry edition, 9ne of my favourite editions that fits beautifully on New Year’s Day. You can hear it on Yé Yé Radio: /yeyeradio.com/ (or on the app), 3-4pm (gmt).

The poetry edition starts with Marianne Faithfull reading Ode to a Nightingale by Keats with music by Warren Ellis and ends with The Smiths’ Cemetry Gates. Between those there are other 15 songs ranging from Suede’s Heroine to Amália Rodrigues singing Barco Negro, a fado with a David Mourão Ferreira poem, through The Cranberries, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Carla Bruni or Rufus Wainwright.

Tracklist:
01 – Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis – Ode to a Nightingale (Keats poem)
02 – Suede – Heroine (Byron She Walks in beauty 1st lines)
03 – The Cranberries – Yeats Grave
04 – Amália Rodrigues – Barco Negro (David Mourão-Ferreira poem)
05 – Secos & Molhados – Não não digas nada (Fernando Pessoa poem)
06 – Annie Lennox – Live With Me And Be My Love (Christopher Marlowe poem)
07 – The Waterboys – Stolen Child (Yeats poem)
08 – Bob Dylan – On the Road Again (Bob Dylan poem)
09 – Radio Bukowski – The Genius of The Crowd (Charles Bukowski poem)
10 – Carla Bruni – If You Were Coming In The Fall (Emily Dickinson poem)
11 – Rufus Wainwright – When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29th)
12 – Fagner – Fanatismo (Florbela Espanca poem)
13 – Ralph Schuckett and Richard Butler – Alabama song (Bertolt Brecht poem, Kurt Weill music)
14 – Patti Smith – Changing of the Guards (Bob Dylan cover and poem)
15 – Phil Ochs – The Bell (Edgar Allan Poe poem)
16 – Quilapayun – Complainte de Pablo Neruda
17 – The Smiths – Cemetry Gates (Keats, Yeats, Wilde came to play)