Sing-along Café 2024-11-14

Thank you for your patience. I'm late with this review.

I've been feeling a bit under the weather these past few days. I'm a little slow and generally out of sorts, not my usual self. This was already the case on Thursday evening, and so the theme was perfect. Our theme was Songs with Flying or Sailing, and escaping in music. So, I was taken out of my funk for a couple hours. Music is like that anyway, it can take you someplace else when you need to steal away from unhappiness or stress or boredom, ennui. Robin was saying that it's sometimes a struggle to come, to get out of the house to come to our singing night, but, once the music starts, her body relaxes and her spirit lifts, lightens and brightens. For sure, that's what I feel too.

I'm also lifted up and comforted by the easy and gentle kindness of the lovely people that sing and talk and sip tea and share my banana bread, or whatever I happen to have, on Thursday nights. The Fellowship Room at Trinity is homey-comfortable and warm. It's always a lovely evening in lovely company.

The theme of flying and sailing ended up including taking a train and being lifted up On Eagle's Wings. We'll definitely do this theme again. I keep thinking of songs to add to the list.

Here's a sample of the songs we sang and listened to:

Sailing by Christopher Cross
Sailing Away by Chris de Burgh
Come Sail Away by Styx
Come Fly With Me by Michael Bublé
Jet Airliner by the Steve Miller Band
Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver
Up-Up and Away by the 5th Dimension
Wellerman by Nathan Evans (also the Kiffness Remix)
Puff, the Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul & Mary
Marrakesh Express by Crosby, Stills & Nash
Can't Fight this Feeling by REO Speedwagon
On Eagles Wings by Michael Crawford and by the York Region Community Choir
In the Bleak Midwinter by the York Region Community Choir

Comments

Thursday, April 18 Sing-along Café Review

The theme for the evening was: Songs with La-las (and other nonsense: ooh, doo-dah, na-na, scoobie-doobie, bum-ba-bum, hey!). I call all of these little non-word lyrics la-las. They're often my favourite part of a song. Everyone can sing those words, usually. With scat singing, not usually, and with yodeling, not everyone. But, think about the Beatles song Hey Jude. At the end, everyone can sing along with the na-nas and some of us even like to harmonize with them. When my daughter was writing songs, I urged her to put some nonesense la-las in her songs. Don't worry about finding beautiful, powerful words for all the verses, or all the lines of the chorus. Sometimes, the lack of words makes a melody more powerful. Here's the list of songs we sang and listened to: Can't Get You Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue Everything by Michael Bublé Those Were the Days by Mary Hopkin Hey Jude by the Beatles Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega &DNA De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da

Thursday, April 11 Sing-along Café Review

The theme for the evening was: Songs with Instumentals that We Sing. The easiest way to introduce this theme is "Sweet Caroline, BA-BA-BA!". Everyone sings along with the brass section, singing like trumpets. There's also a little instrumental interlude that I sing along with. I almost always sing la-las (or ba-ba, da-da, nya-nya, doo, dit, bop...) for the instrumental introductions and interludes in songs. I sing with classical instrumental music, joking that "I know all the words." I'm not the only one. You do this too. Here's the list of songs we sang: Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Wipe Out by the Surfaris The Fool on the Hill by the Beatles I'll Never Fall in Love Again by Dionne Warwick Windy by The Association Careless Whisper by George Michael True by Spandau Ballet Down Under by Men at Work Feeling Good by Michael Bublé More Than a Feeling by Boston Baker Street by Gerry Raffer

Trinity Newmarket Singers

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