"Going to California" is the seventh song on Led Zeppelin IV and it was released on November 8, 1971. It has a wistful folk-style sound, with Plant on lead vocals, John Paul Jones played the mandolin and Page played an acoustic guitar. It is also 3:31 long.
The song is reportedly about Joni Mitchell, who was the target of both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant infatuation. Plant would often say the name "Joni" after the following stanza, when "Going to California" was performed live:
To find a queen without a king,
They say she plays the guitar and cries and sings
In a 2002 'Spin' magazine interview, Plant said that the song " might be embarrassing at times lyrically, but it did sum up a period of my life when I was 22." In another interview with the same magazine, in 2007, Plant stated that the song was about "Me reflecting on the first years of the group, when I was about...20, and was struggling to find myself in the midst of all the craziness of California and the band and the groupies...."
"Going to California" started out as a song about California earthquakes and when Jimmy Page, audio engineer Andy Johns and band manager Peter Grant went to Los Angles to mix the album, they by chance experienced an earthquake. At this time the title of the song was "Guide to California".
At Led Zeppelin concert, "Going to California" was performed during the bands acoustic sets, first played on their Spring 1971 tour of the United Kingdom. Led Zeppelin's live performance of the song at Earl's Court 1975 is on the second disc of the Led Zeppelin DVD.
Plant performed the song on his solo tours of 1988/1989 and at the Knebworth Silver Clef show in 1990. He again performed it on his 2005 Mighty ReArranger tourwith a synthesizer and a double bass added
GOING TO CALIFORNIA
Spent my days with a woman unkind,
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start,
Going to California with an aching in myheart.
Someone told me there's a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.
Took my chance on a big jet plane
Never let them tell you that they're all the same.
The sea was red and the sky was grey,
Wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today.
The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake
As the children of the sun began to wake
Seems the wrath of the Gods
Got a punch in the noseand it started to flow;
I think I might be sinking,
Throw me a line if I reach it in time
I'll meet you up there where the path
Runs straight and high.
To find a queen without a king;
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings.
La, la, la, la
Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born.
Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams,
Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard, as it seems.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
A quick "HELLO" to everyone. I know I haven't posted anything yet this month, HECK I haven't posted anything this year. So just a quick note to all hoping that you all had a good New Year and that things are going good for you. For me it's been cases of being busy, lazy and cats holding me hostage to where if they are not getting all the attention then I am in trouble with them. But for now I am back and working on another post. Hopefully, I will have it up sometime this week. So enjoy the blog as I have noticed that you have been doing and I thank you for it, and I will get back to you with a new post a soon as I can, especially with a cat holding one hand captive.
The sixth song from 'Led Zeppelin IV' is "Four Sticks". As the title suggests, John Bonham used four sticks, at the same time, on this track. This is because he was so frustrated with the fact that he could not get the track down right during the recording session at Island Studios, that Bonham decided to take out his frustration on the drums and picked up two sets of drumsticks and just started beating away on the drums as hard as he could. This resulted in Bonham recording the perfect take and that was the one Led Zeppelin kept. But apparently John Bonham wasn't the only one that was having problems with the recording of "Four Sticks", for it took more takes that usual. John Paul Jones played a VCS3 synthesizer on the track.
Jimmy Page once said of "Four Sticks",: " It was supposed to be abstract." The abstract effect is further achieved by the unusual meter signature, aka time signature, of the song., featuring riffs in a mixture of 5/8 and 6/8 time signatures. Out of frustration over another failed take of the recording, Jimmy Page began to play an improvised guitar riff, which was later developed into the the albums second song - "Rock & Roll".
"Four Sticks" has only been performed live once, in Copenhagen, Denmark on Led Zeppelin's 1971 European tour and has been preserved only on bootleg recording.
"Four Sticks" is 4:44 long and as a single was released on February 21,1972.
FOUR STICKS
Oh, Baby, it's cryin' time, Oh, Baby, I got to fly.
Got to try to find a way, Got to try to get away,
'Cause you know I gotta get awayfrom you, Babe.
Oh, Baby, the river's red, Oh, Baby, in my head.
There's a funny feelin' going on, I don't think I can hold out long.
* And when the owl cries in the night,
Oh Baby, Baby, when the pines begin to cry,
Baby, bay, Baby, how do you feel?
Craze, Baby, the rainbow's end, Mmm, Baby, it's just a den
For those who hide, Who hide their love to the depths of life
Latkes are traditionally eaten by Jews during Hanukkah. The oil that they are fried in is the symbolic remembrance of the oil that kept the Second Temple of ancient Israel lit with a long lasting flame, which is celebrated as a miracle. Despite the tradition and popularity of eating latkes during Hanukkah, they are difficult to come by in shops and restaurants in Israel, because latkes have largely been replaced by the Hanukkah doughnut. This is due to connivance, local economic factors and influence by the trade unions.
The Hebrew name for latke, leviva, has it's origin in the Book of Samuel's description of the story of Tamar and Amnon. Some interpreters have noted that the homonym levav means "heart" and the verbal form l-v-v occurs in the Song of Songs as well.
Latkes are not always made from potatoes. Before the discovery of the New World, which introduced potatoes to the Old World, lakes were, and in some cases still are, made with other kinds of vegetables, starches,cheeeses or legumes, depending on the available local ingridents and foodways of the various places where Jews live.
The following is a recipe thatI use to make latkes but I make mine through out the year, just not that often because it takes me forever to get the potaoes ready. But that is just me
LATKES
1 large egg
3 Tablespoons of chopped chives (green onions as a substitute)
2 Tablespoopns of matzo meal or all-purpose flour (pototo flour works well, also)
2 Tablespoons of grated onions ( I just dice mine)
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
2 1/2 lbs of baking potatoes ( 4 medium sized potatoes), peeled
1/2 Cup of vegetable oil for frying
Applesauce and sour cream
Prheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with paper towels.
In a bowl, with a fork, lightly beat the egg. Stir in chives, matzo meal,onion,lemon juice,salt and pepper. In a foodprocessor with a shredding disk, shred potatoes. Or do it the old-fashioned way, use a hand held grater. Thenplace potoes in a colander in the dink or a deep bowl; squeeze out liquid. Stir the potatoes int to the egg mixture.
In a non-stick 12 inch skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until very hot, but not smoking. Drop the potatoe mixture by scant 1/4 cups into the oil to make 6 latkes. Flatten each latke into 3-inch round. (I guess I should have read that part better because my 1/4 cups are heaping. But they still come out fine.)
Cook latkes 8 to 10 minutes or until both sides are browned and crisp, turning once. With a slotted spatula, transfer to lined cookie sheet. Keep warm.
Repeat stirring mixture each time before frying and adding more oil to each batch. Serve with applesauce and sour cream. ( I think it's okay to serve the latkes without the applesauce and sour cream, because you may not always have them on hand.)
I just would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope you are able to enjoy your family and friends but if you're not you will be in my thoughts and prayers. Andif you are able to spend time with your family and Santa doesn't give you what you asked for just remember, sometimes the answer is no. Maybe that's because there is a bigger reason than we could ever imagine.
Saint Lucy, Saint Lucia or Santa Lucia was born in Syracuse, Sicily to a wealthy Christian noble family in 283. Saint Lucy's Roman father died while she was still an infant, leaving her and her mother,Eutychia, without a protective guardian. Even so, Eutychia took singular care of Saint Lucy and furnished her with sublime and tender sentiments of piety and religion. Because of the early impressions Saint Lucy received and the strong influence of divine grace, she discovered no disposition but towards virtue and she was yet very young when she made her vow to God to stay a virgin. However, Saint Lucy kept this vow from her mother, who was pressing her to marry a young man, who happened to be a pagan. The saint sought occasions to prevent this marriage from taking place. Because Eutychia had suffered with dysentery for four years Saint Lucy was able to convince her mother to go to the tomb of Saint Agatha, patroness of Catania, and offered their prayers all night to God for relief from dysentery, until they both fell asleep. Saint Agatha came to Saint Lucy in a vision and said "You shall be the glory of Syracuse, as I am of Catania." It was at that instant Eutychiha was cured.
Immediately following this Saint Lucy told her mother of her desire to devote herself to God in a state of perpetual virginity and bestowing her fortunes on the poor.In gratitude Eutychia gave Saint Lucy the liberty to follow her heart's desire. News of her distribution of her father's inheritance and jewels came to the ears of Saint Lucy's intended from a talkative nurse, that Saint Lucy had found a nobler Bridegroom.
This enraged Saint Lucy's promised bridegroom and he denounced her as a Christian to the magistrate, Paschasius, who ordered her to burn a sacrifice of an image of the emperor. Saint Lucy refused saying "I offer to Him myself, let Him do with His offering as it pleases Him." She was then commanded to be exposed to prostitution in a brothel, to which Saint Lucy asserted:
"No one's body is polluted so as to endanger the soul if it has not pleased the mind. If you were to lift my hand to your idol and so make me offer against my will, I would still be guiltless in the sight of the true God, who judges according to the will and knows all things. If now, against my will, you cause me to be polluted,a twofold purity will gloriously imputed to me. You cannot bend my will to your purpose; whatever you do with my body, that cannot happen to me."
However, the guards could not move Saint Lucy, even when they hitched to a team of oxen, because she had become filled with the Holy Spirit. Even when she had daggers plunged into her throat Saint Lucy prophesied against her persecutor. One legend claims that her eyes were gouged out by either the tyrannical government official or her jilted intended. Another story says that she tore her eyes out herself and gave them to her pagan suitor so he would leave her alone. In every story, however, God would restore her eyes to her, more beautiful than ever. Saint Lucia died on December 13,304.
The emblem of the eyes on the plate or cup must be linked to the popular devotion to her, as protector of sight, because her name, Lucia, comes from the Latin word for "light", lux. Lucy's name also played a large part in naming her patron saint of the blind and those with eye trouble. She is patroness of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy.
Her feast day is December 13. Saint Lucia is venerated by the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican, Orthodox Christians and in the Lutheran Church. Saint Lucia is one of the seven women, aside from the Holy Mother, who is commemorated by name in the Cannon of the Mass.
She is one of the few saints celebrated in the Lutheran Church among Scandinavians, who take part in Saint Lucy Day celebrations. In Sweden, the oldest ( or youngest) daughter in each household traditionally carries a tray of coffee and pastries called, lussekatter (Lucy cats) to her parents before they get up in the morning. She wears a white gown, scarlet sash and crown of greens and four, seven or nine lighted candles. her brothers, wearing white shirts and tall cone-shaped hats decorated with stars and and her sisters all in white carrying lighted candles, follow her.In many towns, a Saint Lucy carries coffee and buns to each house. She and her followers each carry a lighted candle, sing carols through the dark streets as Saint Steven, represented by a man on horseback, leads the way.The procession is done in honor of Saint Lucy traversing darkened woods to bring bread and other food the poor.
In Switzerland, she strolls around the village with Father Christmas, giving gifts to the girls while he gives gifts to the boys.
Italians eat small cakes or biscotti shaped like eyes, light bonfires, and conduct an evening candle light procession, all in honor of Santa Lucia.
In Sicily, they pay tribute to a miracle performed by Santa Lucia during the famine of 1582. At that time she brought a flotilla of grain bearing ships to a starving Sicily, whose citizens cooked and ate the wheat without taking the time to grind it into flour. Thus, on Saint Lucy Day, Sicilians do not eat anything made with wheat flour. Instead they eat cooked wheat called cuccia
SANTA LUCIA (Original Italian lyrics)
Sul mare luccia l'astro d'argento
Placida e l'onda , prospero e il vento
Sul mare luccia l'astro d'argento
Placida e l'onda, prospero e il vento
Venite all'agile barchetta mia
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
Venite all'agile barchetta mia
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
Con questo zeffiro , cosi soave
Oh, com e bello star sulla nave!
Con questo zeffiro, cosi soave
Oh com e bello star sulla nave!
Su passegieri, venite via!
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
Su passegieri, venite via!
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
In fra le tende, badir la cena
In una sera cosi serena
In fra le tende, badir la cena
In una sera cosi serena
Chi non dimanda, chi non desia
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
Chi non dimanda, chi non desia
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
Mare si placida, vento si caro
Scordar fa i triboli al marinaro
Mare si placida, vento si caro
Scordar fa i triboli al marinaro
E va gridando con allegria
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
E va gridando con allegria
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
O dolce Napoli, o suol beato
Ove sorridere volle il creato
O dolce Napoli, o suol beato
Ove sorridere volle il creato
Tu sei l'impero dell'armonia
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
Tu sei l'impero dell'armonia
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
Or che tardate? Bella e la sera
Spira un auretta fresca e leggiera
Or che tardate? Bella e la sera
Spira un auretta fresca e leggiera
Venite all'agile barchetta mia
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
Venite all'agile barchetta mia.
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!
(ENGLISH TRANSLATION)
On the sea shimmers the silver star
The wave is peaceful, prosperous wind.
On the sea shimmers the silver star
The wave is peaceful, prosperous wind.
Come quickly my boat.
Saint Lucy! Saint Lucy!
Come quickly my boat.
Saint Lucy! Saint Lucy!
With this breeze so gentle
Oh, how beautiful to be on the ship!
With this breeze so simple
Oh, how beautiful to be on the ship!
Its passengers, come on!
Saint Lucy! Saint Lucy!
Its passengers, come on!
Saint Lucy! Saint Lucy!
In between the tents, dinner invitations
On such a quiet evening
In between the tents,dinner invitations
On such a quiet evening
Who does not demands, desires to those who do not.
