Music Monday ~ Kris Kristofferson

Happy Birthday Kris Kristofferson! I wrote a blog post featuring him back in 2009, but vagaries of Blogger changes and YouTube deletions have affected it, so I'll use the surviving bits again, and add to them here.

Kris was born 22 June 1936 in Brownsville, Texas. Astrotheme gives his time of birth as 3.30pm.

I used to think Kris had Sun in Gemini. I was mistaken - but only just. Sun at 1 degree of Cancer, linked by conjunction to Mars and Venus in Gemini a degree or so behind. Mercury is also in Gemini - it's own sign. No need to ask the source of his writing talent then - it's all there! Classic line-up for a writer, in this case a songwriter, with Cancer Sun adding warmth and sensitivity to what might otherwise have emerged as a cooler, less emotional individual. Sun is conjunct South Node of the Moon - a sensitive point in the natal chart, further emphasising the Cancer/Gemini cluster.

Fixed Star Aldebaran, one of the Royal Stars lay within a degree of Mercury as Kris was born - an additional boost to his mental processes. He was a brilliant student and Rhodes Scholar in his youth. He rejected a military or teaching career in favor of following his dream to be a songwriter.

If the time of birth used is near correct, Scorpio rising is reflected in Kris's early and enduring erotic pull for the ladies. Moon in Leo close to midheaven links to his career on stage both singing and acting. He's one of the few singer/songwriters who have also made a good impression as a movie actor - Gemini versatility. A strong Jupiter in Sagittarius, its own sign, forms a harmonious trine to Moon in Leo, helpful for publication (of his songs and acting endeavors)

The other well-known facet of Kris's personality is a strongly left-wing political leaning. I'm pinpointing avant garde, rebellious Uranus in a very strong position on the descendant angle to represent this.

There are challenging aspects in Kris's chart too, of course. Hardly anybody gets away without some of these. There's a Grand Cross here, linking Neptune, Mercury/Chiron, Saturn and Jupiter by squares, consequently throwing up two oppositions: Saturn/Jupiter and Neptune/Mercury.

I haven't been able to find out much about Kris's personal life, other than that he has had three marriages, 8 children and 2 grandchildren, and is still on friendly terms with both ex-wives. He has probably dealt with alcohol and drug problems - he wouldn't fit the template of his times and profession if not! I suspect the Grand Cross relates to that, but also to his political opinions. He was brought up in a strongly conservative family in staunchly Republican Texas - he must have had many challenges before moving to a more liberal environment.

Kris's songs are thought of by many as country music. I consider them to be without category, or at the most crossover folk/country/popular. I recall hearing on one of his recordings an audience member calling out to him something along the lines of "Is that country music?" or "That ain't country, Kris", and he answers in his signature lazy drawl, "If it sounds country, man, that's what it is!"

Below are some of my own favourite songs written and sung by Kris Kristofferson (nobody sings 'em better, don't care what anyone says!) He's joined by Rita Coolidge on the second and third songs.

This one is pure poetry - you can feel that you're there with him, one Sunday morning!



This one, has that wonderful line : "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"



Cannot forget this one:



Oh yes...and something completely different:, "Don't Let The Bastards Get you Down" - good advice which never goes out of date. "It's gettin' hard to listen to their lies" (ain't that the truth?)

Music Monday ~ Elusive Valentines

Another V-Day will be upon us in less than 24 hours. The attendant flurry of commercialism has been around since stores cleared away the tinsel of Christmas, but the concept of a day to honour love can never be totally spoiled by all that money-grubbing.

For this Music Monday I've been digging around in the far recesses of memory and found a couple of songs which, in years too long gone, always had a very Valentine-ish feel for me. Bob Lind's Elusive Butterfly, and, oddly enough another "elusive" one: My Elusive Dreams. Maybe, back in those days, I tended to look on love as being an ever-elusive entity.

These songs still do appeal to me, both have simple attractive melodies, the first for a certain delicacy of feel - almost like a pretty watercolour painting; the second for its celebration of loyalty and love in the face of difficulties. Love isn't all beer and skittles, cakes and ale, fluff and fancy. It can be hard work, overcoming disillusion to find a diamond beneath the mud; and it can be heart-breakingly tragic.

On any day other than Valentine's Day (or in this case V-eve) these two songs might draw a caustic response, even from me: "Too sugary, too sentimental, too mawkish", but for today, and mainly for tomorrow, they'll fit my mood.

Bob Lind sings Elusive Butterfly, his self-penned Top 5 hit from 1966 (nobody does it better). Bob, by the way has Sun/Venus conjoined in Sagittarius with Mercury and Mars nextdoor in Scorpio. Moon in either Gemini or Cancer - either would fit. Cancer excels when it comes to sentimentality. Gemini would be a match too, for Bob wrote numerous songs for other artists and, after leaving the music business for some years, wrote several novels. He's back on the music scene again though - possibly appealing to a niche audience who "get" his particular brand of thoughtful poetry set to music.

A snip from the lyrics:

You might wake up some mornin'
To the sound of something moving past your window in the wind
And if you're quick enough to rise
You'll catch a fleeting glimpse of someone's fading shadow
Out on the new horizon
You may see the floating motion of a distant pair of wings
And if the sleep has left your ears
You might hear footsteps running through an open meadow
Don't be concerned, it will not harm you
It's only me pursuing somethin' I'm not sure of
Across my dreams with nets of wonder
I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love

My Elusive Dreams was written by Curly Putnam and Billy Sherrill. Astro notes ~ Similar astro flavour to Bob Lind's as it happens. Sherrill has Sun and Mercury in Scorpio, Venus and Jupiter in Sagittarius. Putnam has Sun in late Scorpio, Venus and Mercury in early Sagittarius, Moon in either Sagittarius or Scorpio.

My Elusive Dreams , a #1 hit from 1967 was performed, as one might expect, mainly by country music artists: Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Charlie Rich, Marty Robbins, Bobbie Gentry et al. I've chosen a version with a little less "twang" by a fellow-countryman of mine: Tom Jones ~~~

A snip from the last verse:

And now all we have is each other and a little memory
To cling to and still you won't let me go on alone.
I know you're tired of following
My elusive dreams and schemes
For they're only fleeting things,
My elusive dreams.

All three songwriters have a distinct Sagittarius/Scorpio blend in their natal charts. The deeply emotional factor in both songs connects to Scorpio and the element of Water, while Sagittarius and the element Fire connect to a feel of movement and of freedom - differently expressed by the songs, but present in both.



Very sadly, we've lost two wonderful voices this year, already.

RIP
Etta James 25 January 1938 - 20 January 2012
and
Whitney Houston 9 August 1963 - 11 February 2012

Music Monday ~ Paul Francis Webster, Award-winning Lyricist

Paul Francis Webster (yes, I heard you say: "Who?") was born this week in 1907 - on 20 December, in New York City. His name may be obscure but his songs will not be - at least to those of us old enough to recall the movies many of them embellished. He was one of Hollywood's famous lyricists, winner of three Academy Awards, wrote the lyrics for more than 500 songs, received 16 Academy Award nominations, earned 20 gold records and numerous other awards. He was elected to the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1972.

(Image from Amazon's website HERE)

After dropping out of NYU, he set sail for Asia as a merchant seaman, and upon returning to the U.S. worked as a dance instructor; in 1932, Webster teamed with composer John Jacob Loeb to score his first hit, Masquerade. In 1935, he went to Hollywood under contract with Twentieth Century Fox with the intent to write for Shirley Temple films. Soon after, he became a freelance writer. In 1941 he collaborated with Duke Ellington for the hit song I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good). Over the years he collaborated with numerous well-known composers.

See All Music.com and Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

His 3 award winning songs:

Secret Love - Calamity Jane(1953);
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) movie of the same name;
The Shadow of Your Smile - The Sandpiper (1965).

There were also nominations for (among others):

Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)" (1956)
April Love" (1957)
A Certain Smile (1958)
A Very Precious Love (1958)
The Green Leaves of Summer (1960)
Love Theme From El Cid (The Falcon and the Dove) (1961)
Tender Is the Night (1962)
Love Song From Mutiny on the Bounty (Follow Me) (1962)

See Wikipedia

I trawled through a long list of Mr. Webster's compositions at Database of Popular Music to discover whether he had penned any Christmas songs. He had - I found four: Merry Christmas Polka, My Kind of Christmas, Sounds of Christmas and, best known, but not mentioning the word "Christmas": Wonderful Season of Love, theme for the 1961 movie Return to Peyton Place



ASTROLOGY


The chart shown is set for 12 noon as birth time isn't known. Rising sign would likely not be as shown. Moon would have been somewhere between 2 and 14 degrees of Cancer.

Moon in its sign of rulership, sensitive, emotional Cancer is key to this man's natal chart, and more especially because it would, almost certainly, have been close enough to conjoin Neptune, planet of creativity. Moon and Neptune together in Cancer give us this songwriter's astro-signature!

Mercury (the writer's planet) in Sagittarius and Jupiter (planet of publication) in Leo are in close harmonious trine, reflecting the way his work has been communicated to the masses, again and again.

In these days of hip-hop, rap and over-produced electro-mayhem these songs surely seem sugary and outdated, yet the poetry and sentiments in them really are timeless. I see them in the same way I would look at a big yummy slice of my Grandma's best chocolate cake - wonderful to savour, mustn't over-indulge, but the taste never goes out of fashion.

THE SONGS

I like Blossom Dearie's version of Shadow of Your Smile (lyrics shine through, it's not overpowered by "bandzilla" as are so many recordings by the usual crooners). Music was written by Johhny Mandel.





And 2 for the Season~~


Merry Christmas Polka - lyrics Paul Frances Webster music by Sonny Burke, sung by the Andrews Sisters.
And The Wonderful Season of Love by Paul Francis Webster, music by Franz Waxman composed for the movie Return to Peyton Place, it is sung here by Rosemary Clooney then wife of the movie's director José Ferrer.

Gordon Lightfoot & Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

10 November, on this date in 1975 an ore carrier, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during a November storm, taking the lives of all 29 crew members. Later that month, Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, inspired by an article in Newsweek Magazine, wrote Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald .



That's not his most famous song though, at least it wasn't in the UK. I'd never heard of it until my husband mentioned it, in passing, one day. Early Morning Rain and If You Could Read My Mind are my own Lightfoot favourites.

Gordon Lightfoot, born 17 November 1938 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada with Sun in Scorpio, along with Venus, and Scorpio rising must have felt immediately drawn to the tragic story of death in water. Scorpio is the Fixed Water sign of the zodiac, and with its ruler, Pluto, links to death and darkness.

Even in If You Could Read My Mind he writes of ghosts and chains and darkness - more Scorpionic symbolism! I love this one though.



And ....Ribbon of Darkness - still more dark Scorpio-ness



He's still not exactly joyful in Early Morning Rain, but less dark - here from a 1969 performance -

Music Monday ~ Diane Warren - Songwriter, 12th House.

Songwriters, as I've remarked before, are often forgotten once a song "takes off", as performed by a particular artist. Commentators, reviewers and journalists are often guilty of aiding and abetting this when they write, for instance, "Aerosmith's Dont Wanna Miss a Thing" or "Toni Braxton's Un-break my Heart" - leaving the impression (for some readers/listeners) that the artists wrote those songs. Most songwriters tend to be "backroom people" by nature and won't mind too much, as long as the $$$$$ keep rolling in.

Diane Warren is one such songwriter whose name isn't nearly as familiar as those of the hundreds of singers who have had success singing songs she wrote. I wasn't surprised to find, from her natal chart, that her natal Sun lay in 12th house. Astrologers consider 12th house a place of isolation of one sort or another - the astrological backroom, as it were.

Diane has had many, many hit songs across the Billboard charts (reports vary from 100 to 200) and her songs have been featured in numerous movies.

There's an excellent article about Diane Warren at Sound on Sound.com, (SOS) written by Paul Tingen. From that piece I learned that Diane's draw to music and writing began in her mid-teens

"....after being given a guitar by her father, obsessively spent hours every day honing her craft in the garden shed. From her 15th birthday onwards she tried, with her father's help, to gain a foothold in the Los Angeles music machine, to be met for more than a decade with rejection after rejection."

By 1983 though she had become a staff writer and a couple of years later enjoyed real success with her songs regularly climbing high in the music charts.

".... performed by artists such as Aerosmith, Elton John, Tina Turner, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Roy Orbison, Eric Clapton, Lenny Kravitz, Pet Shop Boys, Joss Stone, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Jessica Simpson and Mary J. Blige."

Her songs are mainly romantic ballads, e.g. Because You Loved Me, If I Could Turn Back Time, How Do I Live, Can't Fight The Moonlight, There You'll Be. That last one used to have me in tears every time I heard it at one point in my life! A list of her songs appears at Wikipedia.

Diane maintains control of her songs which are published by her own company RealSongs, reported to be "the most successful female-owned and operated business in the music industry".

A further quote from the linked article - because I think it connects very well to her natal chart, which follows, using data from Astrodatabank.

Despite her success, Warren remains relatively obscure to the public at large, having made a conscious decision to remain behind the scenes and not to be an artist in her own right. She appears genuinely shy and uncomfortable with the limelight, and has also remained resolutely single, making one wonder how she managed to become both a successful businesswoman and a renowned composer of love ballads. Her deceptively simple answer is the same in both cases. "I don't know what the process is," she says, "but the process is that I show up. This is what I always say: I show up. If you don't show up, nothing is going to happen. You have to get there. And I am excited to get here every day and can't wait to get to work. As long as I feel like that, things are cool."

"Showing up" may not sound like a magic bullet to many aspiring songwriters and musicians, but it's amazing how many of us dream rather than show up. By contrast, Warren knew from day one, even in her parent's garden shed when writing three songs a day ("they all sucked"), that 'showing up' is the First Commandment of Success. She continues to put the principle into practice at an astonishing rate, and still works 12 hours a day, six days a week, rarely taking a holiday. She says that she writes about a song per week, and she's built up a back catalogue of over 1000 songs.
"Yes, I am a workaholic," Warren agrees. "And it's hard to tell you what I actually do, because writing is a magical experience. I always try to be inspired, but of course some days you're more 'on' than others. On Sundays I try to take at least part of the day off. I don't come into the office, if I can at all help it. There's a place on the beach where I like to go to, just to get out of here for a moment. And then I hit it hard on Monday. But you know, sometimes I find myself writing on the beach."

Sun in Virgo, and in 12th house, conjunct Jupiter describes a writer who is also a workaholic. Virgo is ruled by Mercury, the writer's planet, and it's the sign of the potential workaholic too. With Jupiter, planet of excess so close, in Diane's case her potentiality to work, work, work is exaggerated further. (See quote above!)

Mercury, Moon and Neptune were all in Libra, in 1st house of self as Diane came into the world. Libra is ruled by Venus, planet of the arts including music. So it's appropriate that Mercury is here, as well as Neptune, planet of creativity, and Moon (inner self). There's a definite softness and charm about all of Diane's songs - typically Libran. Venus in Cancer. I'd not have been surprised to find even more Cancer in her natal chart. Her songs are very sentimental and emotional, typical Cancerian traits. Venus in Cancer in 10th house of profession does describe her work well - Venus (art) in Cancer (emotion, sentimental) in 10th house (career).

UPDATE
I drafted this post during last week. Coincidentally, yesterday evening, watching part of the Golden Globe Awards on TV, I noticed that Diane Warren won the Golden Globe for best song written for a movie soundtrack. The award is for a song she wrote for the movie Burlesque.

My favourite of Diane's songs - sung by Faith Hill: There You'll Be (used in the movie Pearl Harbor)

When I think back
On these times
And the dreams
We left behind
I'll be glad 'cause
I was blessed to get
To have you in my life
When I look back
On these days
I'll look and see your face
You were right there for me

[Chorus:]
In my dreams
I'll always see you soar
Above the sky
In my heart
There will always be a place
For you for all my life
I'll keep a part
Of you with me
And everywhere I am
There you'll be
And everywhere I am
There you'll be

Well you showed me
How it feels
To feel the sky
Within my reach
And I always
Will remember all
The strength you
Gave to me
Your love made me
Make it through
Oh, I owe so much to you
You were right there for me

[Repeat chorus]

'Cause I always saw in you
My light, my strength
And I want to thank you
Now for all the ways
You were right there for me
You were right there for me
For always

[Repeat chorus:]

Music Monday ~ Leiber & Stoller, songwriters

It's a pity that songwriters are often forgotten by the general public. Some, of the legendary variety, have managed to embed themselves into our communal memory bank: Johnnie Mercer, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and others from past decades. Today Paul Simon, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Lennon & McCartney, Elton John& Bernie Taupin, and numerous others have their names already engraved as legends in their own lifetimes, because they perform as well as write most of their songs.

It's the names of "back-room" songwriters that tend to be forgotten. A good example of this: the songwriting duo of Leiber and Stoller (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller). Even my music-soaked husband looked puzzled when I asked what he knew of them.




Time to give Leiber and Stoller a wee fanfare here! And to see whether there's any astrological connection to reflect their many years of collaboration.

They met in 1950, aged 17. A shared passion for the Blues drew them together and they began songwriting straight away. Eventually they created enduring classics in a variety of genres: Rhythm & Blues, Pop, Jazz, Cabaret and, of course, Rock & Roll. Most of their major hits came after Elvis put the duo on the map in 1956 with their song Hound Dog.

A reminder of some of their best-known songs, words by Leiber, music by Stoller: Jailhouse Rock; Hound Dog; Kansas City; Stand By Me; I'm a Woman W-O-M-A-N; Is That All There Is? Poison Ivy; Love Potion Number 9, and many others, recorded by some of the biggest names in the music business.

Jerry Leiber was born 25 April 1933 in Baltimore, MD.

Mike Stoller was born 13 March 1933 in Long Island, NY.

12 noon charts (no times of birth known)





As they were born 6 weeks apart, the outer planets lay in very similar positions, sign-wise and degree-wise for both men. Natal Suns differ: Taurus for Leiber, Pisces for Stoller, Earth and Water. Compatible enough. Both have Venus, planet of the arts, in the same sign as their Suns, both have Mercury in Aries at 7 or 8 degrees - so both are enthusiastic go-getters, sharp communicators in their chosen field. Both men have Mars, Neptune and Jupiter close together in Virgo (one of the Mercury-ruled signs linked to writing). This cluster translates to tell us that the two men share boundless and energetic creative ability, communicated to the masses with ease.

Without times of birth it's not possible to calculate their ascending sins or exact Moon degree, though because at noon Moon was mid-sign for both men we can be pretty certain that Leiber's natal Moon was in Taurus and Stoller's in Libra - two sharing a common ruler: Venus, planet of the arts.

From their natal charts it's very easy to recognise compatibility!

Samples of their works ~~~~~


Ben E. King & STAND BY ME



Fats Domino & KANSAS CITY



Elvis & JAILHOUSE ROCK




Peggy Lee & IS THAT ALL THERE IS?