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Music, Myths and Fairy Tales
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The Highlander
The Fountain of Youth or the Spring of Life are mythical or folk ideas of a spring whose water brings eternal life. Whoever drinks or bathes from it will receive healing, rejuvenation or even eternal youth. But how does it feel to be immortal when the people we love cannot accompany us? This question is posed by Christopher Lambert in the movie “Highlander”, in which Lambert plays the role of Connor MacLeod, born in Scotland in 1518. After a battle with an enemy clan, he discovers that he is immortal. At this point begins his long, suffering journey through time and he must learn that there are other immortal people, but they are not well-disposed towards him. An uncertain future lies ahead of him and his great love cannot follow him through time. The band Queen wrote the appropriate song for this certainly tragic topic.
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Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a Norwegian fairy tale that was written around 1845 based on ideas by the Norwegian writer Peter Christen Asbjørnsen. The main character of the fairy tale is the young farmer’s son Peer Gynt, who tries to escape reality with tall tales. In search of love and adventure, he soon finds himself in a world of trolls and demons. This idea gave rise to a dramaturgical poem written by Henrik Ibsen. The Norwegian pianist and composer Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843-1907), in turn, created a musical drama from this theme.
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Labyrinth
Labyrinth is a musical fantasy film and is about 16 year old Sarah who loses her little brother to the troll king Jareth. Once this happens, Sarah has to make a mighty effort to get her little brother back from the realm of the trolls. Jareth is embodied by David Bowie, who also contributed various songs. His troll subjects are all characters from the workshop of Jim Henson, who also brought the Muppets to life.
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The Last Unicorn
It was 1968 when Peter S. Beagle published his fantasy novel “The last Unicorn”. The book tells the story of the last free-living unicorn, who undertakes a long and dangerous journey to find his fellow unicorns. It is accompanied by the young, clumsy wizard Schmendrick and a thief/robber chief named Molly Groo. The story was filmed as an animated cartoon in 1982. The theme song was written by the group “America”.
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Speaking of unicorns, this is one of my dad’s favorite songs. It always brought tears to his eyes.
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I am thrilled David. Where do you get all the extraordinary songs? I’ve never heard this one before either. Here is one more unicorn:
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Fantasia
Fantasia is the third full-length animated film by Walt Disney Studios, from 1940. The entire film is accompanied by classical music, played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Based on the principle of the Silly Symphonies (cartoons without a spoken part, accompanied only by classical music), Fantasia created a classic in film history that can also be considered an early form of music video and the first feature film to use a multi-channel sound system.
Mighty Mouse can’t sing, but he does things he should have left alone.
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This may be stretching the definition of “myth” or “fairy tale” a little, but I think it fits the general category:
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Same with this one:
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Thanks for the two contributions David. Clearly mysterious and very puzzling. Definitely a good fit to the topic and indeed very funny and entertaining.
Alice in Wonderland
In 1865, the British writer Lewis Carroll published his children’s books „Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland“, followed by „Through the Looking-Glass“ and „What Alice Found There“. The talking white rabbit with the pocket watch, that never has time to stop as well as the Cheshire Cat remain unforgotten. There have been countless film adaptations on this theme. Most recently, the book was made into a movie by Tim Burton. The Mad Hatter is portrayed by Johnny Depp.
(John Lennon is said to have admitted in an interview that his songs “I am the walrus” and “Lucy in the sky with diamonds” were inspired by Alice’s adventure. Whether this is true? Who knows).
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You always trigger my memory to come up with more examples, Juergen!
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Jefferson Airplane -White Rabbit-. And again one less white dot on my music map David.
Dragons
Myths and legends without dragons? Unthinkable. In Western mythology, dragons were serpentine, scaled creatures. At first without wings also called lindworm. Later, dragons with wings appeared in the stories, sometimes even with several heads. They were usually ill-tempered creatures that devastated entire landscapes. A symbol of chaos. In the East Asian world, however, the dragon is a creature with predominantly positive qualities. A symbol of fertility and a good luck charm.
The following song is called “Love Song of a Dragon” and is about one of the last dragons that awakens to new life after ages and feels its longing for love. -
Wow Jurgen, David, you guys have an extensive and rich palette of music and videos. Some great ones here on myths and fairy tales.
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Very nice that you get back in touch Jung. Glad you like our musical storybook. My thanks go to David for his many original ideas and his entertaining contributions. But of course also thanks to you, Jacki and Diana.
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This is about a legend and one of the first songs I fondly remember. ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’ by Peter, Paul and Mary
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Hi Diana, very nice to hear from you again. I can only agree with David: a very beautiful and heartwarming song. Thanks.
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Great pick, Diana! I should have thought of that one right off the bat. Puff has been tugging at my heartstrings since I was five.
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Hi David: „Draco dormiens numquam titillandus“
And here I have found a very amiable representative of the genus “Draco vulgaris“:
Species / Genus:
The swamp dragon „Draco vulgaris“ is a species of dragon found in Discworld. They resemble western dragons and exist in many colors, which is why they are a popular pet among the women of Ankh Morpork, bred into various breeds. However, sometimes when their owners tire of them, they are flushed into the sewers, making the myth of the dragon of sadness real.
Designations:
Females are called hens and, from the third brood, dams. Males are called pewmet up to 8 months, cock from 8 to 14 months, snood thereafter, and cobb after 2 years of age. A group of swamp dragons is called slump or embarrassment. After their death they are called crater.
Nutrition:
Swamp dragons have 8 stomachs with which they can digest everything except metal and igneous rocks. The digestive tract also has other complex components, such as tubes for fractional distillation. Domesticated swamp dragons are best fed a mixture of peat, petroleum and a pinch of sulfur.
Reproduction:
Swamp dragons mate three times a year and then lay four eggs each time. During the mating season, the males fight each other in the air with fire and are so aggressive during this time that they even attack their own reflection, which Pratchett believes explains why basilisks allow themselves to be killed by their own reflection. Mating itself also takes place in the air. After mating, the males gather firewood, which is lit by the mother.
Outside the mating season, the dragons do not pay attention to each other, which is why they do not show territorial behavior like the dragons of other works. Only during the mating season can fights occur. When two swamp dragons fight, they fight to the death.
There are myths that claim that such a fight ends with a declaration of submission, with one of the animals rolling over onto its back. This is nonsense. If an animal is stupid enough to roll onto its back in front of a swamp dragon, it slashes its belly (in that respect, they are very similar to humans). The swamp dragon that wins kills the loser in every case. After that, in most cases, he explodes with excitement.
Systematics:
In the wild, the dragon lives (or lived) in the swamps of Genoa and is believed to be already extinct. This is due to a malfunction of the dragon’s digestive system, which causes the animals to literally explode when startled. The cause of this is possibly the lack of adaptation to their habitat.
(Source Article: Dragon Wiki / Terry Pratchett & Jaqueline Simpson (2008): The Folklore of Discworld)
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