URGENCY FOR GLOBAL CLIMATE ACTION: Pop Song Lyrics From The 60's

Newspaper Headlines From The Past:

More Floods In  Cities Today, Wildfire Spread Fast In Forest Area,  Illegal Timber Trade, December Monsoon Rain Kills Many, Massive Landslide In Hill Resort, Poisonous Chemical In Rivers Uncontrollable, Acid Rain All Over Countryside, Polluted Beaches...

'Don't Go Near The Water': Beach Boys. 

YouTube Video by: Angela de Lara.

This article has been re-posted from 10th August 2012, twelve years ago. Comments my dear readers? 

One Observation At Shopping Malls:

I have no quarrel with people who are paid by others to distribute flyers to pedestrians and passers-by.  But if we are truly going green this distribution of paper advertisements has to be curbed because the practice is growing worse by the day.

People who accept these flyers, possibly out of curiosity or otherwise, throw them away at the next bin they pass. Some even do so without reading the flyers.  And in our letter-box?  It's filled with the same junk. Tons of paper rammed down the throats of mail-boxes.  Meantime trees are destroyed.

Statistics:

"Paper is the most common type of waste in Singapore and about 1.26 million tonnes of paper waste was generated in 2008. The recycling rate of paper is 48% in 2008, and most of this paper waste is sorted, baled and exported overseas for recycling as there are no paper recycling mills in Singapore (zerowastesg.com)." And paper wastage is only one problem...

Sixties Song Lyrics:

[1] In the final verse of his song, Tapestry (1970), 60s music composer and singer Don McLean (American Pie, Starry, Starry Night) reminds his listeners about the destructive nature of man:

And every fish that swims silent, every bird that fly freely
Every doe that steps softly,
Every crisp leaf that falls, all the flowers that grow,
On this colorful tapestry, somehow they know
That if man is allowed to destroy all we need
He will soon have to pay with his life for his greed.

[2] The Beach Boys have the same message with Don't Go Near The Water (1970) warns the public:

Don't go near the water
Don't you think it's sad
What's happened to the water
Our water's going bad
Oceans, rivers, lakes and streams
Have all been touched by man
The poison floating out to sea
Now threatens life on land

Toothpaste and soap will make our oceans a bubble bath
So let's avoid an ecological aftermath
Beginning with me
Beginning with you...

[3] And one by Cat Stevens (Yusof Islam) asks his audience Where Do The Children Play (1970)?

Well I think it's fine, building jumbo planes
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train
Switch on summer from a slot machine
Yes, get what you want to if you want, 'cause you can get anything

I know we've come a long way
We're changing day to day
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you've cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air
But will you keep on building higher till there's no more room up there
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?

Wastage:

I have noticed a slight change now. Tissue paper is not offered free in fast food restaurants and coffee houses.  You gotta ask for it! And that's good. But we got a long way to go.

Paper, water, electricity, food. What else are we wasting everyday? There are other songwriters who write about warning green. Remember any?

Just a reminder. Have we improved much since 2012. If we have, it's really great, so do write in... [4/12/2024]

Lyrics: from Lyrics Websites.
Images: from Google.

Quote from: http://www.zerowastesg.com/2008/12/08/paper-recycling/

SSO @ The Botanic Gardens: Jason Lai Conducting ENCORE

Singapore Symphony Orchestra: 22 July 2017 Botanic Gardens

A Personal Experience About Concerts In The Parks:

An SSO Concert at the Botanic Gardens will always be a treat especially if it's a stone's throw away. But if the enthusiast for classical music is driving his car, then don't complain if there are no parking lots; unless the early bird comes at about 4 pm (concert starts at 6).

A friend and I managed to squeeze into the last lot at the sheltered car park at Nassim Gate. It was a Saturday evening gift from above.

The coffee house (image) around the corner served our purpose since the Symphony Lake was another two minutes walk from there. But a fruit juice at the outlet was near $6.00 and a fizzy drink, $3.00. The 2-hour wait was comfortable as we managed 2 seats in air-conditioned comfort. These were the last seats available.

The concert venue itself was fun. Perspiring with T-shirts and track pants on, both of us had no trouble getting grass space as we squatted on the right wing facing the stage. Because we were sitting on a slope, it was a balancing act throughout the show. 

So if you don't have nimble feet and acrobatic skills go further 'upstairs' near where Chopin is sitting with his wife. A better view and you can sit on the more level meadow. No trees behind. The deadly one crashed remember?

It was about 5.30 pm. Sun kept us steaming. But the greens, flora, whispering winds and chirpy birds kept the balance; it wasn't uncomfortable.

The newspapers announced 10,000 persons came. It didn't look that many to me but the figure is possible. 

Sharp at 6 pm, handsome conductor Jason Lai, in a polo-T, jumped on the stage like the gymnast he was as he announced the evening's performance. He looked more like a fitness instructor. Fit as a fiddle? 😊 And sporting a whistle-thin moustache too.

Meanwhile, two jets flew above us, drowning Mr Lai's short introduction. National Day coming mah!

The performance was superb! I came just to listen to excerpts from West Side Story and Ritual Fire Dance. But Morning Mood from Peer Gynt (Greg) just blossomed as the Singapore sun started to set. 

When Brahms was hardly a minute on, my temporary neighbours started chatting and peanut packets were crackling. First Youth had better attention but Maria and Tonight kept everyone hushed. Some Seniors were humming. (full programme below).


Meanwhile the people kept pouring in; in fact, they kept on coming even when the concert was about to end. Puzzling. One of the passers-by was heard shouting on his phone.

"Hey, where are you? I'm here, I'm here!" as he waved his hand in front of the crowd. The music was playing, Home.

It was a short concert but SSO on stage, with all its Botanic Gardens challenges, sweaty T shirts and wet palms, was a joy to listen to.

While walking to our car we bumped into my friend's old buddy. A member of the SSO he is. Pictures and phone numbers were exchanged.

If each one of us had taken along the rubbish we left back there and dumped them in the bins, the workers would have had a happier time the next morning.

Thank you, Jason Lai, SSO, The Straits Times and the Botanic Gardens. 

22 July 2017 Programme:

Grieg: "Morning Mood" from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46

Brahms: Third movement (Poco allegretto) from Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90

Bernstein arr. Jack Mason: Selections from West Side Story.

Morricone: Cinema Paradiso: Theme, First Youth, Love Theme

Falla: "Ritual Fire Dance" from El amor brujo

Dick Lee: Home. (Encore)

Images: A Private Collection, Google.
The video above is only temporary and will be replaced after some technicality.

Moby Dick The Whale & Sea Life Struggle On: No Killer Whale But Killer Plastic

Save The Whales And Sea Creatures: Ban All Plastic Bags.

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    12+ LONG COMMENTS    

"Thar she blows..."

Coming from Captain Ahab whose leg was bitten off by Moby Dick, the creature was, "an accursed white whale that razeed me made a poor pegging lubber of me forever and a day (1)."

The book Moby Dick, a classic novel by Herman Melville, has brought to mind the plight of these sea mammals and other ocean creatures, victims again, not of whale hunters like Captain Ahab but by irresponsible people who use the ocean as a huge rubbish dump to discard their garbage. 

Most of these waste matters are placed in plastic bags and swallowed by the poor whales and other forms of marine life. Whales have also been killed for food by some communities. In time they die, like Moby Dick and those in the story, "Oh, lonely death on lonely life! (2)."

Michael Bangar (image right), Singapore guitarist and musician has this comment to make, "Andy, the biggest culprit is mankind, as with a lot of other problems throughout the globe. Rubbish that has been thrown overboard from seafaring vessels over many, many years are swept out to sea from rivers, streams, canals and drains worldwide.  Many countries don't set control laws and throw their waste into the oceans.

It is a huge but unseen problem that needs massive cooperation from all nations to rectify. The poor sea creatures suffer. We just don't know how many more of them have died from this catastrophe. Like the poor innocent whale, thinking that rubbish-filled plastic bags was food. So sad!"

In the song, made popular by Frankie Laine in the mid-fifties, the whale was a symbol of fear: 

Oh Moby Dick was so big and slick
There was never such a whale
He'll take a ship with the slightest whip
Of his mighty, mighty tail...

We know today that the whale is not the aggressor. Man is. Merlin Lim (image below), the former guitarist for pop band Silver Strings, roamed the world in large ships after he decided to work at sea. Here's what he said:

"Andy, I saw the video sometime back and have been thinking about how the whales and other sea life suffered because of the human being's lack of respect for these creatures. 

I recalled the time I served on board ships. All rubbish, food waste, plastics included, were dumped overboard while the ship was at sea. Seagulls would hover over the garbage, pick up bits and pieces of food and debris while the rest sink into the ocean. 

These remains will eventually end up in the stomachs of the bigger fishes as 'food'.  The practice has been going on for years from way back in the early 70's.

Sad to say, I am also guilty of this big mistake we have all made." 

Indeed Michael and Merlin. And as we, "Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool (3),"  we are all guilty as hell.

An Original Article (Copyrights Reserved).

I thank contributions from Michael Bangar and Merlin Lim, both rhythm guitarists from The Silver Strings.

1,2,3: Quotations from 'Moby Dick' by Herman Melville
Images: A Personal Collection; Google.

Pirates, Bootleg, Fake: What's Genuine And What's Not? Help!

1910 Fruit Gum Company. 

Simple Simon Says, 

Video by Ken Schilling.

UP TO 1,000 VIEWS

Records @ Two Dollars Each:

When Sungei Road was at its peak not too many years ago I would visit the unique place at least once a month to buy old vinyl records from a guy called George. A tough, fierce looking man with thick, long wavy locks George would be selling both LP's (Long Play records) and EP's (Extended Play records) at two dollars a piece. Whether they had torn covers, new covers, scratched and dirty surfaces or shiny and clean ones don't matter. They all cost two Singapore dollars each.  

In his collection you can find an array of English songs, Chinese songs, Indian songs and the collectors' Malay EPs available. Whatever you need and if you are lucky enough you may get them. I would sit on a stool and choose the records I wanted. 

Amidst the deluge of piring hitam (Malay language: black plates) I realised they were a bargain. At first I would look for the genuine pressings but later found that the pirated ones were more interesting and unusual. With their pimples, sores and imperfections, I fancy they could be collectors items soon. So here you are looking at only a few from my collection which I started in 2010.

Unless both records and covers are in your hands it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between an original copy and a pirated version. Let's have some fun.

Record Sleeve Image 1 and 2:

It is obvious which record above is the genuine one i.e. the real McCoy and which is the pirated version.  The first record cover is from Buddha Records while the second one is from a local syndicate called Oscar Record.

The clarity of print, quality graphics and professional artwork show the way to a beautiful illustration that befits a record sleeve. These attributes the reader will notice in the first picture.

In the second picture, the give-aways include the wrongly spelt, Congratulation, different print colour to indicate the group's original song and three songs that are not by the bubblegum band. Poor design and cheap printing was the order of the day. Worse, the vinyls themselves are of poorer quality, thick and easily scratched. 

In case the reader is not from the same generation, A Man Without Love and Call On Me are by singer Engelbert Humperdinck,  and Congratulations sung by Cliff Richard. Only Simon Says is by the group 1910 Fruitgum Company. 

Record Sleeve Image 3 and 4:

This second pair is not too obvious, or is it? The RCA logo could never be a fake but the R Record might. It is doubtful if pirates would dare to gamble and use the famous trademark when they can produce their own. So which is the real thing? Strange but true, the first sleeve is the pirated version.

Yes, this time around could you guess the truth i.e. which is the diamond and which is the cut-glass?  Look carefully. Why would the pirates want to sketch the faces when they can get the real photographs for free.

And, by the way, one of the above E.P. has these songs in place, Theme From The Monkees; Let's Dance On; Last Train To Clarksville and This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day. They are all Monkees hits. So there!

Record Sleeve Image 5 and 6:

Pirated vinyls were common in Singapore in the 1960's when recording studios were fully utilized to press all kinds of songs that were at the top of the pop parade. As long as they made their money, nothing else mattered. 

These pirated records were massed produced by the thousands. I remember Henry Suriya (brother of Robert Suriya from Naomi and The Boys) telling me once that when his fans came up to him to ask for autographs they were handing pirated copies of his records, not the original ones. But he signed them. 

They were popular because the buyer got four top hits of the season on one disc for the same price of an original EP, which would probably have one hit. Surprisingly, according to local recording artistes from the 60's, these copies flooded the market earlier than the originals. 

The 6th image above shows four hit songs one one vinyl disc for about S$2.80 cents. There's Elton John with Your Song, Too Young To Be Married (Hollies), She's A Lady (Tom Jones) and Rose Garden (Lynn Anderson).  Buying them on singles would cost about S$1.80 per piece with an unknown B-Side. Four songs would cost nearly $8.00. 

The 7th image above is another pirated record of Cliff Richard (poor Mr Richard who was so popular in the 60's, had himself recorded so many times by pirates that they are richer than him!) There are only three songs on this Apache fly-by -night trade mark together with Cliff's number Flying Machine. The other two songs include Soldier's Prayer (Oscar Harris) and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (Middle of the Road). The sleeve cover is just a sheet of writing paper, easily crumpled.

BTW George is still at Sungei Road and if you haven't been there lately, *Robinson Petang (Robinson's In The Evening) occupies a much smaller area now.  But he hardly sells records anymore. 

*Sungei Road is also called Thieves' Market. It used to be a tourist attraction but many people from other countries still come today to buy up both Asian and local records.

Images: A Private Collection.

Wild Singapore Visit Our Homes - Hornbills, Doves n The Monkees

Wildlife in Singapore

There have been many wild-life sightings in Singapore lately. Monitor lizards are common and a grass snake slithered into our kitchen some time ago.  Also, crocodiles have been seen at reservoirs and lately boars (image 3) roam freely on certain roads. * "Here we come, walking down the street, We get the funniest looks from everyone we meet."


1. Monkey at our neighbour's balcony. Is it the long-tailed macaque?

Mr Hornbill

We live in an area where we have wild things visiting our apartments and knocking on our doors. My posting about a hornbill a few months ago was a pleasant one because it came when our glass doors leading out to the balcony were shut, so we managed to enjoy the company of the huge bird within touching distance because we were separated by the glass partition (image 2). But my next door neighbours were not so lucky. "You know that we want to, Do what we like to do, The only time we get restless, Is around something new."

2. A hornbill at my balcony.

Mr Monkey

A few weeks ago these neighbours, who lived across the corridor, had the naughtiest wild thing visit the kitchen.  The apartment was on the same floor but it was facing the dense shrubs, bushes and trees within the little urban jungle.  One afternoon without warning or waiting for an adult monkey, with a very long tail, came into their kitchen after accessing the drain-pipes outside the apartment. 

According to our neighbour it grabbed the bunch of bananas on the cabinet, messed the floor with banana-skins and settled on the balcony with a packet of its favourite peanuts in hand (image 1).  Peanut skin and slices of bread were later found scattered all over the car-park, thrown down from another apartment from the 13th floor by the same monkey. "Hey, hey, we're the monkees, And people say we monkey around, But we're too busy singing, To put anybody down."


3. Boars At Peirce Singapore.

So to keep these creatures at bay, the drain-pipes had barbed wires coiled around them. Then a trap was set and an orange placed in the cage. Looking at it I realised that it would be near impossible for our nimble relatives to be caught as these were intelligent ones that were born and bred in Singapore :-). We found out later that the monkeys went up the apartments again despite the barbed wires.

Mr n Mrs Human

Meanwhile, residents that included elder folks, maids with children and babies got about their daily business.  After some days the monkeys were still around.  "Anytime or anywhere, just look over your shoulder, Because we'll be standing there. Hey, hey, we're the monkees, And people say we monkey around, But we're too busy singing, To put anybody down."


We have been told not to mind them i.e. they will leave us alone if we do likewise. I am not too sure about that. My two young nieces aged 6 and 8 had their food packets snatched from them when they were walking at MacRitchie Reservoir with their grandmother. The children were traumatised by the ordeal as the monkeys scooted away. Local newspapers have reported similar incidents.

It's been sometime now since the monkey(s) were caught but there's been no news about our nimble friends. Hopefully the organisation in charge will round them up quickly.  We are keeping our windows and doors tightly shut, always alert for the appearance of other wild things. 

#"Wild thing... you make my heart sing... You make everything, Groovy, I said wild thing..., Wild thing, I think I love you, But I wanna know for sure, Come on, hold me tight, I love you, Wild thing...you make my heart sing..., You make everything, Groovy, I said wild thing..., Wild thing, I think you move me, But I wanna know for sure, So come on, hold me tight,You move me.

I am not sure about holding them tight.  No ^empowering, psychologically astute parable about a child and his anger here but the reality of having monkeys and other wild things around can be very stressful.

Can wild things be found in your area? Tell us.

 (Singapore has roughly: 60 species of mammals, 365 species of  birds, 107 types of reptiles, 28 species of amphibians and 1193 types of plants Wildlife in Singapore: Wikipedia).

Credits

*All line quotes from: Hey, Hey We're The Monkees, lyrics from  TV Series, The Monkees (1966) Album by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.

#Wild Thing, (1965) by Chip Taylor is made famous by The Troggs in 1966.

^Where The Wild Things Are: The Psychology Behind Maurice Sendak's Classic by Mikaela Conley (ABC News).


Image One: from neighbour.

Image Two: from Andy Lim Collection.

Other images: Google.

Crocodile and monitor lizard pictures were taken in Singapore.

                                We're The Monkees from: zazzaz99

Images: Personal ones and from Google too.

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2017/04/la-paloma-doves-nest-in-singapore-home.html

Yes, they did. These zebra doves built nests on the air-conditioning unit in our balcony. And they settled in cozily with the fledglings a few weeks later, coo-coo-ing the whole morning and afternoon, while mother bird flitted around looking  for tid-bits to feed them.

The dove on our balcony. It's had a twig in its beak, wary of my taking a pix.