Sunday, November 18, 2007

What has this man done to "our song"?


My very first evening with the person who turned out to be the love of my life (now ex and still beloved) included listening to an album of baroque music. It was my exposure to Pachelbel's Canon in D, one of the most famous pieces of baroque music in our time. I always thought of it as "our song." OK, not your usual romantic ballad with lyrics and all. Still, it brings a smile to my face whenever I hear it. (And in stereo with headphones after smoking a little pot--wow! Hey, I am a child of my time, and that was long ago.)

I was thinking of it this morning with the Hallelujah (or Alleluia) theme in the post below. The high school choir in the movie Ordinary People (1980) sings "Alleluia" over and over set to Pachelbel's Canon. That movie (with Timothy Hutton, Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, and Judd Hirsch et al.) spoke powerfully to us and images of it still haunt us, so that is part of "our" shared mythology as well.

Which is background to my searching YouTube for Pachelbel's Canon to see if I could add it to Rufus Wainwright singing Cohen's "Hallelujah." I didn't find the choir in the movie but I did find a very funny comedic routine: Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel Rant at Penn State. Enjoy.



--the BB

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