18 February 2021 (Thursday)

Today's theme: Songs that remind you of your family. 

But first we started talking about general things, like the snowstorm that hit Seattle the previous weekend!

 

I also asked if anyone did anything special for Valentine's Day, but no one in our group had.

The past week I had discovered a new artist, Madison McFerrin (website), who I thought one of the students would like. I played a bit of "No Time To Lose" (video, lyrics), but Madison has a lot of other great songs. 

(Yes, she is the daughter of Bobby McFerrin (info), the famous a capella singer who sang "Don't Worry Be Happy" (video, song info)).

 

 

The first song to our theme about family was "ロビンソン / Robinson" (video, lyrics) by スピッツ / Spitz (info).

The lyrics of this song are vague, which is charateristic of the band; even the student who chose the song doesn't know what the lyrics are about! But the reason he picked the song was not for the lyrics.

This songs was a huge hit in Japan back when he was a child. He remembers hearing this song while driving around in the family car. So this song reminds him of his family because he "lived" it with his family as a young boy.

This is a brilliant interpretation of the theme! :-)

The next song was "Los Años Maravillosos" (video, lyrics) by Little Jesus (info). 

The student who chose it had his birthday the previous week. This song reminds him of his teenage years. The lyrics are about friendship. Our student wasn't a skater himself because he was afraid to break his bones, but many of his friends were skaters and he liked that culture.

 

The next song was "Africa" (video, translated lyrics) by Salif Keita (info).

Keita is one of the most globally recognized West Africa artists. The student's parents used to listen to his music a lot, and "Africa" is his most famous song outside of Africa.

My choice for the theme was "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey" (video, lyrics, song info) by Paul McCartney (info, as if any introduction were needed). 

I chose this song beause I used to make my sisters pretend to be a band with me and we would act out the instruments and singing parts in front of a mirror at home. The "hands across the water" part was choreographed with waving, naturally.

 

We started talking about the wives of Beatles, which led us to the song "Layla" (video, lyrics, song info) which Eric Clapton (info) wrote about his love for George Harrison's wife. It's a bold move to write a love song to the wife of one of your friends! But what the song is most well known for is the great guitar solo in it.

With that our time for the day was over.

Next week's theme: Songs from the year of your birth.