WISE MEN SAY

Last words are for fools who haven't said enough. - Karl Marx

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JOHN'S GALLERY

The Soldier's Return, by John Faed (1819-1902)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

I DREAMED DEATH CAME
Anon

I dreamed death came the other night
And heaven’s gate swung wide,
An angel with a halo bright
Then ushered me inside.

And there to my astonishment
Were folks I’d judged and labelled
As “quite unfit” of “little worth”
And “spiritually disabled.”

Indignant words rose to my lips
But never were set free,
For every face showed stunned surprise -
No one expected me!!!

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

This is one of those cheerful "Keep smiling" songs that were so popular in the 30s -
"Happy days are here again" played by Ambrose and his Orchestra.
Uploaded by JoolyOTR



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AN 80 PLUS QUOTE

By the time you're eighty years old you've learned everything. You only have to remember it. (George Burns)

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WISE MEN SAY

The biggest tragedy in life isn’t people who have failed.
It’s people who haven’t even tried. - David Hempleman-Adams

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JOHN'S GALLERY

Quiet, by James Jacques-Joseph Tissot (1836-1902)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

MINSTREL MAN
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter
And my throat
Is deep with song,
You do not think
I suffer after
I have held my pain
So long?

Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter,
You do not hear
My inner cry?
Because my feet
Are gay with dancing,
You do not know
I die?

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

There are snatches of five songs in this 1937 recording by Maurice Winnick and his Orchestra.
It's time to say goodnight, Let's put out the lights and go to sleep, Goodnight I'll see you in the morning, Goodnight sweetheart, and finally Maurice Winnick's signature tune The sweetest music this side of heaven. Uploaded by phonomono78s



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AN 80 PLUS QUOTE

Passing your 80th birthday is no great achievement. You just sit still and let it happen.
(Angus McBean)

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WISE MEN SAY

A gentleman is a man who knows how to play the banjo, but chooses not to. - Mark Twain

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JOHN'S GALLERY

The Skating Minister, by Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

LOVE IS LIKE THE WILD ROSE-BRIAR
Emily Bronte (1818-1848)

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly tree,
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms,
But which will bloom most constantly?

The wild rose-briar is sweet in the spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who will call the wild briar fair?

Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly’s sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He may still leave thy garland green.

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Back to 1929 for "Blue Night" played by Percival Mackay and his Band.
The singer is Cavan O'Connor. Once again, thanks to 240252 for this clip.



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WISE MEN SAY

Be like a flower and turn your face to the sun. - Kahlil Gibran

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JOHN'S GALLERY

The Captive's Return, by Henry Ryland (1856-1924)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

Some verses giving advice
by
Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

1
A Charme, or an Allay for Love

If so be a toad be laid
In a sheepskin newly flaid,
And that tied to a man ‘twill sever
Him and his affections ever.

2
To Women, to Hide their Teeth, if They be Rotten or Rusty

Close keep your lips, if that you mean
To be accounted inside clean;
For if you cleave them, we shall see
There in your teeth much leprosie

3
To his Book

Who with thy leaves shall wipe (at need)
The place, where swelling piles do breed;
May every ill that bites or smarts
Perplex him in his hinder-parts.

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

"What more can I ask?" is played here by Lew Stone and the Monseigneur Band.
The singer is Al Bowlly.

Uploaded by RomanceAndReflection

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80 plus is updated daily.
The Thomas Hardy Wessex Poet blog
is updated every Sunday - http://thewessexpoet.blogspot.com

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WISE MEN SAY . . .

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work
he is supposed to be doing at that moment. - Robert Benchley

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JOHN'S GALLERY

Val d'Aosta, by John Brett (1831-1902)

Tomorrow - The Captive's Return, by Henry Ryland

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

I'LL BE SEEING YOU
Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain

I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places
That this heart of mine embraces all day through,
In that small café, the park across the way,
The children's carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well.

I'll be seeing you in every lovely summer's day,
In everything that's light and gay,
I'll always think of you that way,
I'll find you in the morning sun
And, when the night is new,
I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you.

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Irving Berlin's "Change Partners" is played here by Carroll Gibbons and the Savoy Orpheans with vocal by Anne Lenner and George Melachrino. Uploaded by SwingBandHeaven



Tomorrow - What more can I ask? by Lew Stone's Band

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from WISE MEN SAY

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
- Elie Wiesel

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

Music, by Antoine-Auguste-Ernest Hebert

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

I MEANT TO DO MY WORK TODAY
Richard Le Gallienne (1866-1947)

I meant to do my work today,
But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
And a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land,
Tossing the grasses to and fro,
And a rainbow held out its shining hand,
So what could I do but laugh and go?

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Uploaded by CBasie2856, this is one of my all-time favourites
"When somebody thinks you're wonderful" by Fats Waller



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from WISE MEN SAY

Much happiness is overlooked because it doesn’t cost anything. - Anon

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

The Rehearsal, by Edmund Blair Leighton

This painting continues the short series with the subject - Making Music. The final one will be shown here tomorrow.

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from POETRY FOR PLEASURE

I SO LIKED SPRING
Charlotte Mew (1880-1914)

I so liked Spring last year
Because you were here;
The thrushes too -
Because it was these you so liked to hear -
I so liked you.

This year’s a different thing,
I’ll not think of you.
But I’ll like Spring because it is simply Spring
As the thrushes do.

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Uploaded by MrDeanMartin, this is a bright Latin-American tune "Dengoza"
played by Edmundo Ros and his Band

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from WISE MEN SAY

Some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. - Oscar Wilde

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

Music, Heavenly Maid, by Edward John Poynter

This painting is the fifth in a short series with the subject - Making Music.
Another one will be shown here tomorrow.

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from POETRY FOR PLEASURE

TRUE LOVE
Anon

True love is a sacred flame
That burns eternally,
And none can dim its special glow
Or change its destiny.

True love speaks in tender tones
And hears with gentle ear,
True love gives with open heart
And true love conquers fear.

True love makes no harsh demands
It neither rules nor binds,
And true love holds with gentle hands
The hearts that it entwines.

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

"Song of India" was a popular instrumental number which was a big hit for Tommy Dorsey. This is the recording his band made in 1938. Uploaded by WorldWar2Music



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from WISE MEN SAY

There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace,
but the two combined make Happiness. - John Buchan

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

Hush, by James Jacques-Joseph Tissot

This painting is the fourth in a short series with the subject - Making Music.
Another one will be shown here tomorrow.

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from POETRY FOR PLEASURE

O, MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED, RED ROSE
Robert Burns (1759-1796)

O, my love is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
My love is like a melody
That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonny lass,
So deep in love am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love!
And fare thee weel, awhile!
And I will come again, my love,
Though it were ten thousand mile.

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TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Uploaded by 78varvare, this is "The Anniversary Waltz" played by Victor Silvester and his Ballroom Orchestra



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from WISE MEN SAY

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

When apples were golden and songs were sweet, but summer had passed away,
by John Melhuish Strudwick

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from POETRY FOR PLEASURE

ALL IN THE DOWNS
Tom Hood (The Younger) 1835-1874

I would I had something to do - or to think!
Or something to read, or to write!
I am rapidly verging on Lunacy’s brink,
Or I shall be dead before night.

In my ears has been ringing and droning all day,
Without ever a stop or a change,
That poem of Tennyson’s - heart-cheering lay! -
Of the Moated Monotonous Grange!

The stripes in the carpet and paper alike
I have counted, and counted all through.
And now I’ve a fervid ambition to strike
Out some path of wild pleasure that’s new.

They say if a number you count, and re-count,
That the time imperceptibly goes: -
Ah, I wish - how I wish! - I’d ne’er learnt the amount
Of my aggregate fingers and toes.

“Enjoyment is fleeting,” the proverbs all say,
“Even that, which it feeds upon, fails.”
I’ve arrived at the truth of the saying today,
By devouring the whole of my nails.

I have numbered the minutes, so heavy and slow,
Till of that dissipation I tire.
And as for exciting amusements - you know
One can’t ALWAYS be stirring the fire!

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from TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Uploaded by twiddlybobby, this an up-tempo number "Over my Shoulder" played by Roy Fox and his Band with vocalist Peggy Dell



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from WISE MEN SAY

Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even. - Horace

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

Francesca, by Edward Charles Hallé

This painting is the second in a short series with the subject - Making Music.
Another one will be shown here tomorrow.

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from THOMAS HARDY THE WESSEX POET

THE LITTLE OLD TABLE

Creak, little wood thing, creak,
When I touch you with elbow or knee;
That is the way you speak
Of one who gave you to me!

You, little table, she brought -
Brought me with her own hand,
As she looked at me with a thought
That I did not understand.

Whoever owns it anon,
And hears it, will never know
What a history hangs upon
This creak from long ago.

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from TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

This is a 1932 recording of "Try a Little Tenderness" played by Ray Noble and his Orchestra.
Uploaded by JimmyG1983



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More from my other blogs tomorrow.

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from WISE MEN SAY

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~ E. E. Cummings

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

A Melody, by John William Godward
This is the first in a short series with the theme Music Making

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from JOHN'S QUIET CORNER

One day a friend called on Michelangelo and found him busy at the final stages of a statue he had been working on.

A week or so later he returned and, finding the sculptor at the same task, said “It appears that you have been idle since I was last here.”

“Indeed, no,” was the answer, “I’ve retouched this part, I’ve polished that part, I’ve softened this feature, I’ve brought out that muscle and I’ve given more expression to the lower lip.”

“But surely all these things are just trifles?” said his friend.

“Perhaps so,” Michelangelo replied, “But trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle.”

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from TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Elmer Grosso and his Orchestra playing "My Sweeter than Sweet" from 1929.
Uploaded by 240252



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More from my blogs tomorrow

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from WISE MEN SAY

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. - Mother Teresa

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from MY OWN SELECTION OF PRE-RAPHAELITE PAINTINGS

Youth and Time, by John William Godward

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from POETRY FOR PLEASURE

THE ISLE OF CAPRI
Jimmy Kennedy

‘Twas on the Isle of Capri that I found her
Beneath the shade of an old walnut tree,
Oh, I can still see the flowers blooming round her
Where we met on the Isle of Capri.

She was as sweet as a rose at the dawning
But somehow fate hadn’t meant her for me,
And though I sailed with the tide in the morning
Still my heart’s on the Isle of Capri.

Summertime was nearly over,
Blue Italian sky above,
I said “Lady, I’m a rover,
Can you spare a sweet word of love?”

She whispered softly “It’s best not to linger,”
Then as I kissed her hand I could see
She wore a plain golden ring on her finger,
‘Twas goodbye on the Isle of Capri.

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from TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

This is Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra playing "The Talk of the Town," with the vocal sung by Phyllis Robbins. Uploaded by davidglow3



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More items from my other blogs tomorrow.

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from WISE MEN SAY

Fear less, hope more.
Whine less, breathe more.
Talk less, say more.
Hate less, love more,
And all good things are yours. (Anon)

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from THE VISUAL IMAGE SITE

Fire Fancies, by Arthur Hacker

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from POETRY FOR PLEASURE

Two Poems by
William Wordsworth

1
Sweet Garden-orchard! of all spots that are
The loveliest surely man hath ever found.
Farewell! we leave thee to heaven's peaceful care.
Thee and the cottage which thou dost surround -

Dear Spot! whom we have watched with tender heed,
Bringing thee chosen plants and blossoms blown
Among the distant mountains, flower and weed
Which thou hast taken to thee as thy own -

O happy Garden! loved for hours of sleep,
O quiet Garden! loved for waking hours.
For soft half-slumbers that did gently steep
Our spirits, carrying with them dreams of flowers.

2
I’ve watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! - not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

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from TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

The Benny Goodman Sextet play "Gone with what wind."
Uploaded by cdbpdx



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More items from my other blogs tomorrow

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from WISE MEN SAY

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open ~John Barrymore

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

Little Red Riding Hood, by Gustave Doré

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from POETRY FOR PLEASURE

ADLESTROP

Edward Thomas (1878-1917)

Yes, I remember Adlestrop -
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop - only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

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from TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Ambrose and his Orchestra recorded this number "The Show is Over" in 1934.
The singer is Sam Browne. Thanks to 240252 for uploading it.



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More posts from my other blogs tomorrow.

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from WISE MEN SAY

Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day to day living that wears you out. - Anton Chekhov

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from JOHN'S GALLERY

Cinderella, by Gustave Doré

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from POETRY FOR PLEASURE

LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle -
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdain'd its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea—
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

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from TAKE YOUR PARTNERS

Sam Browne is the singer here in "Give a little whistle" with Jack Hylton and his Orchestra.
Thanks to JoolyOTR for uploading the item.



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More posts tomorrow taken from some of my other blogs.

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