CABARET

LIZZA MINNELLI
SONGWRITERS: JOHN KANDER; FRED EBB & JEAN-CLAUDE COSSON
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: CABARET
LABEL: MCA RECORDS
GENRE: SOUNDTRACK/POP
YEAR: 1972
 
         Liza May Minnelli(/ˈlaɪzə/LY-zə; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy (Grammy Legend Award), Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.
          Daughter of actress and singer Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, Minnelli was born in Los Angeles, spent part of her childhood in Scarsdale, New York, and moved to New York City in 1961 where she began her career as a musical theatre actress, nightclub performer and traditional pop music artist. She made her professional stage debut in the 1963 Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward and won a Tony Award for starring in Flora the Red Menace in 1965, which marked the start of her lifelong collaboration with John Kander and Fred Ebb. They wrote, produced or directed many of Minnelli's future stage acts and TV shows, and helped create her stage persona of a stylized survivor, including her career-defining performances of anthems of survival ("New York, New York", "Cabaret" and "Maybe This Time"). Along with her roles on stage and screen, this persona and her style of performance added to Minnelli's status as an enduring gay icon.
          An acclaimed performance in the drama film The Sterile Cuckoo(1969), marked a film breakthrough for Minnelli and garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the musical film Cabaret(1972), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Most of her following films, including Lucky Lady (1975), New York, New York(1977), Rent-a-Cop (1988) and Stepping Out(1991), were panned by critics and bombed at the box office, and she had no more major movie hits except Arthur(1981). She returned to Broadway on a number of occasions, including The Act (1977) for which she earned a second Tony Award, The Rink(1984) and Liza's at The Palace....(2008), worked on various television formats and has predominantly focused on music hall and nightclub performances since the late 1970s. Her concert performances at Carnegie Hall in 1979 and 1987, and at Radio City Music Hall in 1991 and 1992 are recognized among her most successful. From 1988 to 1990, she toured with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event.
         While Minnelli is known for her renditions of American standards, her early-1960s pop singles were produced to attract a young audience. Her albums from 1968 to 1977 contained contemporary singer-songwriter material. In 1989, she ventured into the contemporary pop scene by collaborating with the Pet Shop Boys on the album Results. After a hiatus due to serious health problems, Minnelli returned to the concert stage in 2002 with Liza's Back and was a guest star in the sitcom Arrested Development between 2003 and 2013. Since the 2010s, she has avoided huge concert performances in favor of small retrospective performances.
"What good is sitting alone In your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.
 
Put down the knitting,
The book and the broom.
It's time for a holiday.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum
Come to the Cabaret.
 
Come taste the wine,
Come hear the band.
Come blow a horn,
Start celebrating;
Right this way,
Your table's waiting.
 
What good's permitting
Some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret!
 
I used to have a girlfriend
Known as Elsie,
With whom I shared
Four sordid rooms in Chelsea
She wasn't what you'd call
A blushing flower...
As a matter of fact
She rented by the hour.
 
The day she died the neighbors
Came to snicker:
"Well, that's what comes
From too much pills and liquor."
But when I saw her laid out like a Queen,
She was the happiest... corpse...
I'd ever seen.
 
I think of Elsie to this very day.
I remember how she'd turn to me and say:
"What good is sitting all alone in you room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret."
 
And as for me,
I made my mind up back in Chelsea,
When I go, I'm going like Elsie.
 
Start by admitting
From cradle to tomb
It isn't that long a stay.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Only a Cabaret, old chum
And I love a Cabaret.

BROWN GIRL IN THE RING

BONEY M.
SONGWRITERS: DP & FRANZ REUTHER
COUNTRY: EURO-CARIBBEAN
ALBUM: NIGHTFLIGHT TO VENUS
LABEL: HANSA RECORDS
GENRE: POP MUSIC
YEAR: 1978
 
         Boney M. was a Euro-Caribbean vocal group created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell, a performing artist from Aruba. The group was formed in 1976 and achieved popularity during the disco era of the late 1970s. Since the 1980s, various line-ups of the band have performed with different personnel.
        The band has sold around 80 million records worldwide and is known for international hits including "Daddy Cool", "Ma Baker", "Belfast", "Sunny", "Rasputin", "Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord" and "Rivers of Babylon".
              Nightflight to Venus is the third studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M., and was released in July 1978. The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the second half of 1978 and also became their first UK number one album. In Canada, it received a nomination for a 1980 Juno Award in a category 'International Album of the Year'.
         Nightflight to Venus includes the worldwide hits "Rivers of Babylon" and "Brown Girl in the Ring", a double A-sided single that topped the UK singles chart and has sold over 2 million copies there. The follow-up was another Boney M. classic, "Rasputin", in most countries also a double A-side coupled with "Painter Man", a cover of a 1966 hit by the band The Creation. In the UK, "Rasputin" and "Painter Man" were released separately as A-sides by Atlantic Records, both reaching the Top 10. "Rivers of Babylon", which peaked at Nº 30 on The Billboard Hot 100, became their biggest US hit.
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
There's a brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum
 
Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
Come on show me your motion
Tra la la la la la
Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum
 
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
 
I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes
I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes
 
Beng-a-deng
Beng-a-deng
 
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
There's a brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum
 
Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
Come on show me your motion
Tra la la la la la
Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum
 
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
 
I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes
I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes
 
Beng-a-deng
Beng-a-deng
 
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
See, brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum
 
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
 
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
Look that brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum! plum!

EMPTY BOTTLE

CHRIS HOLSTEN
SONGWRITERS: TOBIAS STENKJAER; CHRISTOFFER HOLSTEN; LARS ROSNESS & HILDE SKAAR
COUNTRY: NORWAY
ALBUM: CHRIS HOLSTEN
LABEL: WARNER MUSIC NORWEGIAN
GENRE: POP
YEAR: 2020
 
           Christoffer "Chris" Holsten(born May 4, 1993) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and producer.
          Holsten comes from a musical family. He played the title role in a Norwegian language musical production Oliver that played in the Lillestrøm Cultural Center in 2003 when he was just 10 years old. He also ended up with roles in other stage presentations like Skatten på Sjørøverøya and Scrooge and at age 17 started putting musical materials online, ending up with a contract with the Circle management group.
        An avid sportsman, he joined the junior level football(soccer) with the local Lillestrøm SK football club following both music and sports simultaneously.

I heard you met somebody new
Like I wanted you to do
And I should've done it too
I don't give a fuck 'bout that
Sure don't give a fuck 'bout that
 
Though I'm doing just fine
I know that I'd be lying
If I said I didn't mind
Seeing you with someone else
Wasn't gonna hurt like hell
 
I can feel every heartbeat on your skin
But you're in your best life now with him
The way that we used to do
In time your face will fade away
Right now I'm gonna drink away the pain
Yeah, right now, it's just
 
So hard to swallow
And my heart's hollow
Knowing you're with someone else
When it's just me and myself and this empty bottle
Drowning the sorrow
But I know that tomorrow
I'll be doing fine again
For now it's me and myself and this empty bottle
 
Yeah, I'm glad you're moving on
You were always that strong
I'm just better off alone
But still there will be days like this
When it's gonna hurt I guess
 
Everybody's got a past
Our love was made of glass
It was never meant to last
Even though it hurts like hell
It's good to see you smile again
 
In time your face will fade away
But right now I'm gonna drink away the pain
Yeah, right now, it's just
 
So hard to swallow
And my heart's hollow
Knowing you're with someone else
When it's just me and myself and this empty bottle
Drowning the sorrow
But I know that tomorrow
I'll be doing fine again
For now it's me and myself and this empty bottle
 
Picking up the pieces slowly, starting to heal
Letting go of something that I know is not real
And if you saw me with someone else, would you feel what I feel?
Would you feel what I feel?
Should I feel what I feel?
 
So hard to swallow
And my heart's hollow
Knowing you're with someone else
When it's just me and myself and this empty bottle
Drowning the sorrow
But I know that tomorrow
I'll be doing fine again
For now it's me and myself and this empty bottle
 
Drowning the sorrow
But I know that tomorrow
I'll be doing fine again
For now it's me and myself and this empty bottle.

A LIGHT IN THE BLACK

RAINBOW
SONGWRITERS: RITCHIE BLACKMORE & RONNIE DIO
COUNTRY: U. K.
ALBUM: RISING
LABEL: UNIVERSAL UMC
GENRE: ROCK
YEAR: 1976
 
       Rainbow is a British rock band formed by Deep Purple founder and former guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in 1975. In addition to Blackmore, the band originally consisted of former Elf lead singer Ronnie James Dio, bassist Craig Gruber, drummer Gary Driscoll, and keyboardist Micky Lee Soule. Over the years, Rainbow went through many lineup changes. including bringing in other vocalists Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner, before it folded in 1999.
       The name of the band was inspired by the Rainbow Bar and Grill, a Los Angeles, California eatery which catered to rock stars, groupies, and rock enthusiasts. It was here that Ritchie spent some of his off time from Deep Purple and met Dio, whose band Elf had toured regularly as an opening act for Deep Purple. Blackmore originally got together with Dio to record "Black Sheep of the Family" as a single, and it turned out so well they needed a B side; when the B side was recorded, however, it turned out to be even better. This led to them recording an album, and that effort caused the formation of the entire band. Rainbow's debut album, 'Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow', was released in 1975; it featured the minor hit "Man on the Silver Mountain".
       Blackmore fired everybody except Dio shortly after the album was recorded. He recruited drummer Cozy Powell(formerly of the Jeff Beck Group), bassist Jimmy Bain, and keyboard player Tony Carey. This lineup went on to record the album 'Rising', which was released in May 1976 and was a big success in the U.S. (hitting #48 on the Billboard 200 chart).
          For the next album, 1978's 'Long Live Rock 'n' Roll', Blackmore kept Powell and Dio and replaced the rest of the band. Blackmore had difficulty finding a bass player for this record, so he played bass himself on all but three songs ("Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", and "Sensitive to Light"). After the release and supporting tour, Dio left Rainbow.
           Blackmore continued with Rainbow, replacing Dio with ex-Marbles vocalist Graham Bonnet. Powell stayed and was joined by former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover and keyboardist Don Airey. The first album from the new lineup, 1979's 'Down to Earth', featured the band's first single successes: "All Night Long" and "Since You Been Gone". Bonnet possessed a powerful voice on stage, yet he struggled with the band's quieter numbers and lacked Dio's range. In 1980, the band headlined the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in England. This was Powell's final performance with Rainbow.
Can't forget his face
What a lonely place
Has he really let us flow
All the time that's lost
What's the final cost?
Will I really get away?
All my life it seems
Just a crazy dream
Reaching for somebody's star
Can't believe it all
Did he really fall?
What to do now I don't know
 
Something's calling me back
It's a light in the black
Am I ready to go?
I'm coming home
 
Breathed the air before
Heard the thunder roar
Never knew it was for me
Always looking down
Lost but never found
Eyes to look but not to see
All my life it seems
Just a crazy dream
Reaching for somebody's star
Like an open door
That you've passed before
But you never had the key
 
Something's calling me back
There's a light in the black
Am I ready to go?
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Yeah
I'm going back to my home
 
I'm going home, home, home
Going home, home, home
I'm coming back
 
Can't forget his face
What a lonely place
Has he really let us flow
All the time that's lost
What's the final cost?
Will I really get away?
All my life it seems, just a crazy dream
Reaching for somebody's star
Can't believe it all
Did he really fall?
What to do now I don't know
 
Something's calling me back
Like a light in the black
Yes, I'm ready to go
I'm coming home
Home, yeah!
I'm on my way back home
Look to the sky
There in the sky
I see a star.