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Monday 22 May 2023

Windmills Of Our Minds

I always have a tune playing in my head. This week there have been two not thought about in over sixty years. Where do we keep these things and the associations that suddenly bring them back?

I had been enjoying, on Yorkshire Pudding's recommendation a few weeks ago, the three series of 'The Detectorists' on BBC iPlayer. It is indeed good, although it contains more and more soap opera elements as it progresses, which I found annoying. 'Dad's Army' never needed extended plot lines about wives, daughers and girl friends.

I thought the best bit was the last five minutes of Series 3 Episode 1, when one of the main characters detects a falconer's whistle. He cleans if and blows to see if it still works, and to the eerie harmonies of The Unthanks 'Magpie' we are transported back to the scene of an Anglo Saxon burial on exactly the same piece of earth several centuries ago.

"Devil, devil, I defy thee", they sing. And then: "Oh, the magpie brings us tidings, Of news both fair and foul, She's more cunning than the raven, More wise than any owl, For she brings us news of the harvest, Of the barley, wheat, and corn, And she knows when we'll go to our graves, And how we shall be born." I had tingles down my spine.

After hearing 'Magpie' for a day or so, trying to make sense of the harmonies, I was struck by its slight similarity to the theme tune of the nineteen-fifties television series 'Cannonball'. It came back out of nowhere and I had to 'listen' to it for a time. This was then replaced, by association, with the singer Freddy Cannon's awful nineteen-fifties hit, 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans', one of the first commercial songs I knew all the words to because they were printed in a magazine. I can still 'see' it from more than sixty years ago.

At least I can play The Unthanks to get rid of these two tunes, but sometime, it would be nice just to be able to switch it off.

https://youtu.be/w6EIFD80f90

20 comments:

  1. The Detectorists was loved by many, it had a bitter-sweet quiet comedy to it. My favourite bit is as the two detectorists pass under the old tree which houses the magpies nest, full of the Saxon gold the men had been searching for. I like the Unthanks as I like Kate Rusby, songs that have stories in them.

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    1. I liked that bit too. Also, when Andy climbs the tree to puts up the bat box he is within a few inches of the magie nest where they have collected the gold coins. I also thought Diana Rigg as mother-in-law was brilliant - mother and daughter played by real-life mother and daughter.

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  2. To the south of Sheffield, just over the border in Derbyshire, there's a small village called Unthank - more of a hamlet really. Glad to hear that "The Detectorists" held your attention in spite of the soap opera elements. It is nice to be entertained by a well-crafted show that does not involve murders or detectives.

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    1. I didn't know about that Unthank, but there is another in Northumberland and also one in Cumbria where we have been on holiday 3 times. I agree about modern series. I watch hardly any.

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    2. In Norwich there is an Unthank Road, a major road into the city. In the 18th Century the Unthanks moved from Unthank in Northumberland and bought 2500 acres of land now forming part of the south side of Norwich. They were a wealthy family and lawyers in the city as well as landowners.

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    3. One source says the word means the dwelling of a squatter.

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  3. Our minds can come up with the strangest things at the weirdest times. Memory triggers are fascinating, and I often try to use them to my advantage (not always succeeding). But I also know how maddening it can be when you can't get rid of what in German is called an Ohrwurm (ear worm) of a tune, especially when you actually dislike the song.

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    1. My wife's sister-in-law says you can eradicate any earworm by singing The Birdy Song. It works, but it's worse.

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  4. Your title (though not exact to the song) provided me with an earworm for the day. Immediately thought of Henry Mancini playing it on the piano and then Noel Harrison singing the original version. Pretty sure I'll be humming this one all day long.
    Mary

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    1. Apologies for that. It is rather repetitive, but it is what I had in mind. It's hard to understand how something buried in my head for 60 years can suddenly come back to the surface.

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  5. Dear Tasker, I often have tunes (and lines of songs!) in my head - they bring through associations often help to find out what I think about things.
    And do you also know the phenomenon that one does something and suddenly sees places where one has been long before? Just popping up - and very accurate? Strange.

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    1. I pull out other kings of association too. It is strange. Especially when we haven't given them a thought for years. I always have a song or tune in my head, though.

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  6. Dear Tasker- we know all about earworms. My F sings in a choir and practices her parts when there is only me around to hear them. They are preparing for a church service in a Wrenathon (celebrating Wren's architecture 300 years after his death), and I am getting well tired of a particular Nunc Dimitis... yours in desperation Tigger.

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    1. Phoebe says she know exactly what you mean. Holding your paws over your ears becomes tiring after a time.

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  7. PS we liked The Detectorists though.

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    1. Phoebe says there were no cats in it. Not even one.

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  8. Sometimes, an old song will jump out at me. There are not a lot of sentimental songs these days, I heard Moon River the other day, and the sweetness of it stopped me in my tracks.

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    1. My daughter sang it at a school concert and it had some parents spellbound, possibly because we lowered to pitch to better suit her voice.

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  9. I really enjoyed "The Detectorists." In fact, I was so enthusiastic about it that Dave was inspired to buy me a metal detector, which I have used approximately twice.

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    1. You mean that you found the gold that quickly! Lance and Andy must be so jealous.

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