We are, thankfully, a bounce-back industry.Īnd that too, thankfully, is DNA encoded. Main content: Listening comprehension - song. School subject: English as a Second Language (ESL) Grade/level: pre-intermediate. Listen to the song and fill in the blanks. You have to bounce back think of a new script, get another director, another client. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. The film is rejected, the budget a pittance, the launch is delayed.Īnd there’s no luxury of being down and staying down. The account managers hope that the client’s plans remain on schedule, that the campaign will launch as had been originally planned, and that the payments come through as required. If the client approves, the CDs hope for a budget that will allow them to shoot with the director of their choice, with the models of their choice and at locations of their choice. Creative directors bust their asses and come up with ideas that they hope the client will like. It’s not that tough, in our industry, to have hope. We need to hope that the industry grows at a rate that affords senior management in adland the confidence to not downsize and, hopefully, to resume recruitment. We need to hope that marketers will launch new products and continue hawking existing ones. In our little world of advertising and media, we need to hope that the consumer starts spending again. We need to hope that we have a stable government after the general elections. We need to hope that the Sensex bounces back. We need to hope that the economy will perk up. To cut a long story short (actually the original story isn’t too long), the villagers resist and overcome the ruler because his ban took away Love, Freedom, Valour and Hope, words that meant a lot to them.Īt times of distress such as the present, it’s the only driver we have. A little known book by James Thurber, called The Wonderful O, in which a despotic ruler hates the letter ‘O’ and bans everything that looks like it and all words that contain the offending letter. Which brings me to another book I grew up with. The difference is, I see tomorrow from a perspective that is distinctly rose-tinted. See the world and the economy and the downturn and the layoffs and the terror as they are. Even if it’s a book written for children.Īnd my father insisting that there were ‘no problems, only solutions.’Ī lot of you might argue that it’s better, at times like this, being a realist. We were taught it at school, and every time this sentence came up it raised a smile or a chortle from the entire classroom.Īnd Georgette Heyer, (yes, I read her as well) in a book I can’t remember the name of, saying ‘we shall contrive’.Īnd Eleanor Porter’s Pollyanna playing ‘the glad game.’ I play the game every single day of my life. Reading included Charles Dickens I loved Micawber’s ‘something will turn up’ in David Copperfield. I grew up with Raindrops keep falling on my head, where ‘The blues they sent to greet me won’t defeat me it won’t be long till happiness steps out to greet me.’ The optimism is sort of DNA encoded in me, dictated by the people I grew up with, especially my father, the books that I read, the music that I listened to – and, perhaps, by the times that we then lived in. Those of you who know me for any length of time will acknowledge that I’m an eternal optimist. And the present gloom reminds me of this wonderful song. The songs are known and the arrangements are comfortably plush, which means it felt cozy in 1970 and it remains comforting decades later, because it manages to meld memories of Mathis' Mitch Miller peak with the paisley overtones of the '60s hangover, so it feels of its time and out of it.That’s from The Doors. "Alfie" is best understood as part of the dominance of sophisticated craft in MOR at the dawn of the '70s, a horizon to which Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head is proudly a part of. Perhaps it's possible to read Mathis' interpretation of "Alfie" as pushing homoerotic boundaries, but the message at best feels coded. Mathis, who last saw the inside of Billboard's Top 40 in 1963, had his eyes on the times, as did Gold, who helped give the LP a feel that's certainly lush but determined to dodge the Mitch Miller-endorsed middle of the road. These are overshadowed by numbers by George Harrison ("Something"), Paul Simon ("Bridge Over Troubled Water"), and Fred Neil ("Everybody's Talkin'"), every one of which defines the transition from the '60s to the '70s. Gold continued with this formula on 1970's Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, an album filled with modern classics, including selections from McKuen, Webb, and three from Bacharach & David. Johnny Mathis began working with Jack Gold in 1969 and the producer helped nudge the singer into the modern age, having him cover songs from Rod McKuen, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach & Hal David, and songs from hit films.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |