[If you missed Lithobag #1, with the preface to this blog series, you can find it here]
[If you don’t know Participatory Lithology, check out its first week summary, and be sure to check our title track before you read on.]
Who knows if Ashford & Simpson, composing Solid (which was in yesterday’s Lithobag) were inspired by this fancy tune by the formidable Ella. Only the most cunning music experts might solve such an intriguing enigma. In the meantime, we will propose associating the levity of the music and the voice of this song with Carolina’s sample C035.
For some specific demographic segments the levity of the music might turn to basalt weight if they delve into the lyrics. Are you curious on the solidity of the Rock of Gibraltar. Learn more about it here.
Solid as a rock | solido come una roccia Solid as a rock Love is as solid as a rock of Gibraltar | l’amore è solido come una rocca di Gibilterra So come to the altar with me | per cui vieni all’altare con me [x2]
You’ll only wander wayward if you ramble | starai solo a cincischiare se vai in giro a caso May I suggest a license and a ring | posso suggerirti un permesso di matrimonio e un anello When you’re in love it’s really not a gamble | quando sei innamorato non è un azzardo Cause you’re betting on a real sure thing | perché scommetti su una cosa davvero sicura
Solid as a rock Solid as a rock Love is as solid as a rock of Gibraltar So come to the altar with me
(Hey!)
Solid as a rock Solid as a rock (Solid as a rock) Love is as solid as a rock of Gibraltar (Solid as a rock) So come to the altar with me (Love is as solid as a rock of Gibraltar) (So come to the altar with me) [x2]
Love’s solid as a rock!
Solid as a rock Solid as a rock Love is as solid as a rock of Gibraltar So come to the altar with me
In the participatory lithology exercise, this song came to Jack O’Malley‘s mind back from this high school times…So Eighties. He remembered the chorus…solid, solid as a rock BOOMM..but he never actually listened to the lyrics. Having read them, Solid presents itself as a great soul tune with Christian nuances (these ars possibly not casual, given the story of this duo between gospel choirs, Baptist churches, etc.). The big tube gives us the original version, that Jack’s peers used to watch on MTV (or, before that existed in Italy, on a channel called Videomusic), and an interesting live version at Montreux. In the latter Nicholas Ashford is dressed like he just walked out of a Star Trek set, where is plays the bad guy.
Since we need to choose a sample from the Participatory Lithology collection, paired with the song, I will go with item A036 from Uncle Enzo’s collection. This is kind of brittle, and with a fingernail you can chip some pieces off of it. On A036, one of our classifiers, Cris Carlone from Turin commented: “A sample with numerous inclusions. The white ones look like quartz. It would be interesting to have photos from different angles.”… so we will make sure more photos appear soon.
A nice anecdote on Ashford & Simpson: they were invited to perform at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, and for that event the proposed a modified version of this song, where the chorus said: “Solid…solid as Barack”. Talk tomorrow!
And for love’s sake, each mistake | e in nome dell’amore, ogni errore
Ah, you forgave | hai perdonato
And soon both of us learned to trust | e dopo poco tutti e due abbiamo imparato
Not run away, it was no time to play | a non scappare, non era il tempo di scherzare
We build it up and build it up and build it up | ci abbiamo costruito sopra
And now it’s solid | e ora è solido
Solid as a rock | solido come una roccia
That’s what this love is | è cosi questo amore
That’s what we’ve got, oh, mmm | è quello che abbiamo
Solid
(Oh)
Solid as a rock
And nothing’s changed it | e niente l’ha cambiato
(Ooh)
The thrill is still hot, hot, hot | l’emozione è calda
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot
Oh, oh, oh, ah
You didn’t turn away | non hai voltato la schiena
When the sky went gray | quando il cielo si è fatto grigio
Somehow we managed | in qualche mondo l’abbiamo sfangata
We had to stick together | dovevamo restare insieme
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
You didn’t bat an eye | non hai mosso ciglio
When I made you cry | quando ti ho fatto piangere
We knew down the line | sapevamo che in fondo
We would make it better | le cose sarebbero migliorate
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
And for love’s sake, each mistake Ah, you forgave And soon both of us learned to trust Not run away, it was no time to play We build it up and build it up and build it up
Now it’s solid
Solid as a rock
(Ooh)
That’s what this love is
(Oh, oh)
That’s what we’ve got
(Oh, oh)
(Yes, it is)
Solid
Solid as a rock
And nothing’s changed it
(Oh)
The thrill is still hot, hot, hot
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot
Oh, oh, oh, ah
Gone with the wind
Another friend
Got in between
Tried to separate us
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
Oh, knock-knock on wood
You understood
Love was so new
We did what we had to
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
And with that feeling
We were willing to take a chance
So against all odds, we made a start
We got serious, this wouldn’t turn to dust
(Ooh)
We build it up and build it up and build it up
And now it’s solid
(Ooh)
Solid as a rock
That’s what this love is
(Oh)
That’s what we’ve got, oh
(Oh, oh)
Solid
(Yes, it is)
Solid as a rock
(Ah)
And nothing’s changed it
(Ooh)
The thrill is still hot, hot, hot
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot
Solid
(Oh)
Solid as a rock
(You know it)
(Well)
(You know it, baby)
Solid
Solid as a rock
(Lovin’ me, lovin’ me, oh)
Solid
(Don’t leave me, baby)
Solid as a rock
(Well, well, why, why)
(Oh)
Solid
Solid as a rock
(Every day it gets sweeter, now)
(Ooh)
Solid
(You know I like it)
Solid as a rock
(Good, good, well, it’s good, good, good)
Solid
(Solid, solid, solid, solid, solid)
As a rock
[If you missed Lithobag #1, with the preface to this blog series, you can find it here]
[If you don’t know Participatory Lithology, check out its first week summary, and be sure to check our title track before you read on.]
The Monkees started as a kind of “engineered” band to mimic to Beatles. The were conceived to portray a beat band in a series which was aired in the USA between 1965 and 1968 (and which Jack O’Malley from Jug Band Colline Metallifere got to watch in the UK in the mid-Seventies). Then the series was closed, but they kept on playing until 1971 and that wasn’t a bad idea (they have been selling around 75 million records).
Their most famous song outside of the US of A (even though not all may know it is from them) is I’m a believer. This was also covered in Italian in the Sixties by Caterina Caselli, with the title “Sono bugiarda” (I’m a liar), and with completely unrelated lyrics. However, the Monkees song we must propose for participatory lithology is -necessarily- “Stepping stone”, calling sample U007 by Amos.
Rit. I I I I I’l not your stepping stone | Io io io io io no sono la tua pietra da guado
You’re trying to make your mark in so – cie – ty, | stai cercando di affermarti in società
You’re using all the tricks that you used on me, | stai facendo tutti i giochetti che facevi con me
You’re reading all them high fashion maga – zines, | stai leggendo tutte ‘ste riviste di moda
The clothes you’re wearing, girl, are causing public scenes | e coi vestiti che porti, bimba, stai facendo scandalo
When I first met you, girl, you didn’t have no shoes, | la prima volta che ti ho incontrato non avevi nemmeno le scarpe
But now you’re walking ’round like you’re front page news, | ma ora te ne vai in giro come se avessi la prima pagina
You been awful careful ’bout the friends you choose, |sei stata molto attenta agli amici che ti sei scelta
But you won’t find my name in your book of ‘Who’s Who’! | ma non troverai il mio nome nel tuo libro del “Chi è chi..”
We are writing from Tatti, a small (pop. 209) village in Southern Tuscany, Italy. To give you some bearings, we are some 100 km “South by Southwest” of Florence. As a sort of resilient response to the COVID-19 crisis, we have launched on March 21 a project called “participatory lithology“. This is our project logo:
The project is networking people from our village with geologists all over the globe in order to help us classify unknown mineral samples we have in various households in the village (and there are many in this area, which used to be a mining district), and potentially extend this exercise to other areas. The Chief Officer for our project is Mauro il Tirannosauro, i.e. Mauro the T-Rex:
A key component of the project is music: since 2007 we create projects using music as a facilitating element, while doing outreach on environmental issues and promoting lesser known aspects of territories we relate with (starting from, but not limited to, Southern Tuscany). In the case of Participatory Lithology, in addition to creating playlists of existing songs mentioning rocks, stones, or minerals (we found about 40 in less than a week, which we are now publishing in a daily blog series called Lithobag), with folks from the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band we are also writing lyrics for new songs.
These lyrics, for a start, follow the melody of well-known tunes. This is more or less what we see happening with many musical performances circulating around the web in this period as a reaction to the COVID-19 crisis. However our lyrics are not about the crisis, but about our project and the people working on it. Then, we have our rock-blues band and may turn these into completely different songs at some point… anyway: at the time of writing we have two songs with Italian lyrics, which are being performed by Italian artists (see the first one here).
Where do English mother tongue folks come in?
A couple of days ago we created lyrics for an English cover, and it would be interesting to have this performed by an English mother-tongue person. Given the “inspiration” song we started from, ideally we are looking for folks from the USA…but we will be glad to consider other options (Canada, UK, Ireland, Down Under, Channel Islands…or any nationality as long as you are very, very, fluent in English).
What’s in it for you?
The project is running as a completely community-based and self-funded initiative, and this is not a rich community, so we cannot provide remuneration for this, at least with our current levels of funding. At the same time, we are having increasing interest on our project, so visibility in an international network is assured. Please check out the “In the media” section to see the type of coverage we have received for past projects, and last week for participatory lithology. Then, if the project develops as we would like, we would be glad of delivering you some Tuscan wine/food from our area.
Given the current social distancing constraints in most of the environments where our potential performers reside, we figure this performance may be made either by one single person who can play and sing, or by two or more performers if they happen to be under the same roof in this period.
[If you missed Lithobag #1, with the preface to this blog series, you can find it here]
[If you don’t know Participatory Lithology, check out its first week summary, and be sure to check our title track before you read on.]
…so we move on from “them” to an Italian band which I got to know personally quite well in the first decade of this century. I am speaking of The Pretty Face from Milano, Italia.
The Staggers, from Graz, Austria, at the 2005 Pianello Val Tidone Beat Festival (Italy)
Thanks to the Pretty Face, and one of their peers, Corrado from LO-FI Milano, I was introduced to the world of contemporary garage-beat. I was so into it that in 2005 I recall proposing them to launch as sort of “national strategy for the return of Beat”. The plan did not take off…but some of the ideas which were laid on the table in that period eventually took different shapes and are now alive. Among other business, The Pretty Face asked me to produce a video for the release party of one of their singles. This was at The Rocket Club in Milano. For this venture I summoned Lucio Monocrom, the director with whom I collaborated for The Revenge of the Killer Chihuahua and of the Zombies, and Ermanno X, the news that kills. Below you can see what we came up with, with a surprise finale…for a garage band.
Per l’occasione alleghiamo una foto di un campione C013 della Litologia Partecipativa a forma di cuore. Più o meno. Dalla Collezione C (Fam. Cortesi) a Tatti. Grazie a Carolina e a risentirci domani.
In the Participatory Lithology project we are opening the sixth season of our branobag blog series. Given the context of the project, the articles will be issued as “lithobags”. If you don’t know what a branobag is, you can easily find out from this page.
There will be two important differences with respect to previous branobag series. The first one is that on this round we will make an effort to publish also the English version of these articles (most of the pibinko.org site is maintained in Italian and English, but due to their daily frequency and length of some articles, in the past we preferred not to translate the original Italian versions). The second one is that for the lithobag series the playlist has been created in one week from the launch of the project, as a brainstorming exercise by various folks with the base quartet of the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band. In the past the each track was selected “on the spot” by pibinko, day by day.
On this round we had the response of various musicians and music experts from Sassari (Sardinia), going North. They responded to the call of the Participatory Lithology project to play as “entertainers”, suggesting tunes which are related to rocks, stones, minerals, etc. These tunes will help to give the other characters in the project (we have collectors, classifiers, and sponsors, and please see the project presentation to review what these roles should do). As the project unfolds, we will be introducing to you our DJs, and we will relate them to one or more elements of the project (one of the samples in the process of being classified, some other character, etc.).
Take for example the header image, where you can see sample Z012. This comes from Guido and Valeria’s collection in Tatti. At the time of writing we don’t know what it is, but it reminds me of a bird’s eye view of the town portrayed in Dark City.
How long will the lithobag series last? This will all depend by suggestions we receive. At present we can run the show for about a month.
Without further ado: let us hear the track which inspired the motto for Participatory Lithology (“between a rock and a hard phase“).
…and we start with “them”, as Gabriele from Sassari calls the Rolling Stones. HE and his family are so incredibly into the Stones that they don’t even need to name them…and to refer to Keith Richards they just call him “him”. Below you will also find the Italian translation of the lyrics, made on-the-fly by Mauro Tirannosauro. In addition to being a participatory lithology expert, Mauro also has an excellent command of English, since he spent several years in the UK when he was a kid. Enjoy our lithomusic, and talk to you tomorrow.
The fields of Eden | I campi dell’Eden Are full of trash | sono pieni di mondezza And if we beg and we borrow and steal | e anche se preghiamo, prendiamo in prestito o rubiamo We’ll never get it back | non ce li ridaranno mai People are hungry | la gente ha fame They crowd around | si raggruppano qua e là And the city gets bigger as the country comes begging to town | e la città cresce mano a mano che la campagna viene a elemosinare in città We’re stuck between a rock | siamo fra l’incudine And a hard place | e il martello Between a rock and a hard place This talk of freedom | Queste chiacchiere di libertà And human rights | e diritti umani Means bullying and private wars and chucking all the dust into our eyes | voglio dire maltrattare i più deboli, guerre private e tirarci un sacco di terra in faccia And peasant people | e i contadini Poorer than dirt | più poveri della terra Who are caught in the crossfire with nothing to lose but their shirts | stanno in mezzo al fuoco incrociato, con niente da perdere se non le loro camice Stuck between a rock | presi tra l’incudine And a hard place | e il martello Between a rock and a hard place You’d better stop put on a kind face | meglio che tu ti fermi, fai un’espressione gentile Between a rock and a hard place We’re in the same boat | siamo sulla stessa barca On the same sea | sullo stesso mare And we’re sailing south | e viaggiamo verso sud On the same breeze | con la stessa brezza Guiding dream churches | guidando chiese da sogno With silver spires | con spire argentate And our rogue children | mente i nostri bimbi molesti Are playing loaded dice | giocano coi dadi truccati Give me truth now | ora dammi la verità Don’t want no sham | non voglio finzioni I’d be hung drawn and quartered for a sheep just as well as a lamb | mi farebbero impiccare, sventrare e squartare comunque Stuck between a rock And a hard place Between a rock and a hard place You’d better stop Put on a kind face Can’t you see what you’ve done to me | non riesci a vedere quello che mi hai fatto
Mauro Tirannosauro, one of the folks from the core team of the Participatory Lithology project is concentrated reading an article concerning some potential relations of his. This is after he went through word by word on the article on the left, which actually talks about him and his colleagues.. .you can find the full article, in Italian on this page (Il Tirreno, Grosseto Edition, March 27, 2020).
…and all with a good glass of wine and a fancy soundtrack at the end of a long day classifying stones.
We leave the floor to Francesco Ceri, mandolin and lead vocalist with Matti delle Giuncaie. This is a “hard folk” band from Southern Tuscany with a touring track record also in Canada, France, and Germany.
Francesco is an early fan of the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band. Having learned about the project back in 2018, he immediately expressed his interest to collaborate to some “geomusical” situation. So now we proposed him to cover what we are currently calling “Participatory Lithology track 1” with lyrics by Jack O’Malley. This has also been performed by Jack O’Malley feat. Mauro Tirannosauro. A translation of the lyrics is provided below the video. The tune was inspired by Pietre, a 1967 song by Antoine and then Gian Pieretti.
