It's Monday morning, the Olympics are ongoing, and it's time for Music Moves Me.
Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music
each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most
welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please!) First,
there is XmasDolly.
(She has been a bit under the weather, but will be rejoining us as soon
as she can. Hoping it is today, but if not, please get better soon!) Her co-hosts are: Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, Cathy from Curious as a Cathy,
and me.
We'd
love more music lovers to join us. It's easy! All you have to do is
join the linky above with a music post that contains at least one music
video (there must be a music video).
Each month, except December, we have a guest conductor. For the month of February, we again welcome Songbird from Songbird's Crazy World. Today, she has selected the theme "Freedom of Choice Day - You Pick".
After several days of watching figure skating/ice dancing, I decided to feature several songs the skaters/dancers competed to this Olympics.
Turns out that music choices aren't an easy process for skaters. Many factors go into the final music the skater/their coaches pick. Does it suit the skater's style? Does it work with the choreography of the routine, given that these ice competitions are as much artistry as athletic. Also, until about eight years ago, only ice dancers (not figure skaters) could choose songs with lyrics.
The song performances I've chosen aren't necessarily what the skaters skated to, given time and other constraints (or me liking a different version better).
First up - Joe Cocker and his cover of INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart", chosen by Keegan Messing, who skated for Canada.
A version of "Paint It, Black" by the London Symphony Orchestra was used by China's Yi Zhu in her short program. Again, I'm posting the original and I hope one of my readers, a Rolling Stones fan, enjoys this. Actually, I like many Rolling Stones songs, too.
A cover of The Long and Winding Road was chosen by Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. I chose the original by The Beatles because I promised one of my readers I would.
Elton John's music was performed at least three times. "Your Song" by Elton John was the choice of Japan's Wakaba Higuchi. In the men's freeskate competition, American Nathan Chen picked a melody of music from the movie Rocketman, and Elton John expressed his appreciation. I decided to post Chen's performance so you could hear the exact music played at the Olympics (the actual performance ends at about 4:37 so this isn't as long as it seems.)
This song was Switzerland's entry in the 2021 Eurovision contest. Gjon'sTears and Tout l'univers and was skated to by Morisi Kvitelashvili, skating for Georgia.
Finally, Eliska Brezinova of the Czech Republic used a cover of The Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by various artists for her short program. I am using the original.
And that's an icy wrap!
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
...Joe Cocker is the winner for me.
ReplyDeleteOh yes skating music is such a great topic!! I'll never forget seeing Jenni Meno and Todd Sand skate to Marc Cohn's "True Companion." They were both in white and had recently (I think) gotten married (maybe they were just engaged at the time?. It was at a national championships that I was fortunate enough to go to (I went to two -- Detroit and Providence -- in the 90s. It was BEAUTIFUL and meaningful. I wish I could find video of them skating to it, but here's the song: https://youtu.be/H7f8MU3625M
ReplyDeleteI’ve been watching the skating. It’s amazing, and the music is incredible
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentine's Day Alana!
ReplyDeleteWe haven't watched too much of the Olympics because usually the live events available in the evenings aren't what we want to see. We learned over the weekend that Peacock has previous events recorded for viewing so we were able to pick from those that we were interested in seeing. We watched the Men's Giant Slalom. The day it was recorded, they had blizzard conditions making it not so easy to see the skiers. I can only imagine how difficult it was for the skiers to make the run. There was quite a number of them that did not finish because they went off course or totally wiped out. Great music set and theme direction for this week's theme, my dear. Have a boogietastic day!
Great songs. And fabulous dancing!
ReplyDeleteOh yes. Some of my favorites, hard to choose one. Carol C
ReplyDeleteAnother week of wonderful musical memories! Love Joe Cocker!
ReplyDeleteIf this is a repeat comment, don't post it! I seem to have problems posting from my phone. I'm sure it's me.
ReplyDeleteI love Paint it Black, and could (and do) listen to it on repeat. It's also one of those songs to play loudly! I like the lyrics; how grief can paint our world black, and we want everyone to stop and share that. Stop the young girls in their summer clothes, and the shining sun. I especially like the line, "I could not foresee this thing happening to you." I may be too close to it today, yesterday was the anniversary of my husband's death.
I haven't been following the Olympics, but they're picking some pretty good music...
ReplyDeleteWow! Blown over by your choice of music, Alana. All my personal favourites - takes me back to my growing up years. And gosh! Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams (are made of this"". :))
ReplyDeletePaint it Black was my phone ringtone for so long. :)
Must be such a treat to watch the ice-skaters perform to these favourite tunes.
Happy Valentine's week. Have a love-ly one.
https://natashamusing.com/2022/02/before-i-die-whatdoyousee-fiction/
Glad to see that the skaters are picking such wonderful music selections still.
ReplyDelete(BTW, your Elton John selection has been censored.)