Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 171

Music Month: Cinderella by Buck Owens & His Buckaroos

Cinderella by Buck Owens & His Buckaroos is today's song of the day. Yes, another country, classic country this time, selection.

Here are some of the lyrics:

So you've found your Prince Charming
Was just a dream
There wasn't any palace and you weren't a Queen
In your faded cotton dresses anyone could see
But they're still Cinderella to me
Cinderella Cinderella this is not the way love should be
Cinderella Cinderella won't you let me take you home with me

Our honeymoon may not be a fancy ball
You may not have a maid and butler at your call
But I'll be more than any prince could ever be
And you'll be Cinderella to me
Cinderella Cinderella...

This video is a live rendition--I prefer the studio version linked above--but at least you can hear the entire song this way:

Music Month: Suddenly (It Happens to You) from Slipper and the Rose

Yes, it was time to pull up a song from The Slipper and the Rose (1976 Film Soundtrack). Since, listening to "Suddenly (It Happens to You)" works as a Cinderella song, I chose it although it isn't one of my favorites. If you're a fan, enjoy! If not, well, it may be too late if you aren't under age 10. I admit it. But I first saw it at that age so I adore!

Here's a clip. The ability to work around the special effects was fun in its time.



Okay, and while we are here, this is my favorite song from the musical:



And second place:

Music Month: Guest Post from Sarah Cross

Last month as my life was starting to spin into a whirling dervish frenzy--it's not over yet, but I have been able to slow down temporarily the last day or two--Sarah Cross, author of the upcoming Kill Me Softly, sent me an email with recommendations for March Music Month here on the SurLaLune Blog. Rather than break it up, I thought I would offer it all up in one fell swoop as a guest post from Sarah.

And shouldn't we invite her back to talk about her book next month? (Raise of hands!) Thanks, Sarah, for sharing. I wasn't aware of many of these and I think readers here are going to have a fun time exploring your suggestions. And if you don't follow her Fairy Tale Mood, you should!

Sarah's words:

I'm a writer and I curate a fairy tale tumblr (Fairy Tale Mood) (mostly art), and I'm a longtime fan of SurLaLune and a (lurking) reader of the blog. You mentioned a while ago that you were looking for fairy tale music for your March Music theme, and I wanted to offer up some suggestions. I hope it's not too late!

A few of these are Disney remixes or medleys, but I promise they're more than covers.

1) Disney remixes by Pogo/Nick Bertke

Pogo creates songs made up of vocal syllables, musical chords and sound effects recorded from various Disney movies, and then splices together clips from Disney movies to make the videos.

Alice (Disney remix)



Wishery (Disney remix)



Bloom (Disney remix)



2) "I am Not a Princess" Marina & the Diamonds music video by ELY -



This is not an official music video. It was created by an independent filmmaker, but it's wonderfully done and one of the best fairy-tale-themed music videos I've seen. From the filmmaker's description: "The story reimagines a myriad of classic princess mythologies that every little boy and girl has grown up either adoring...resenting...fulfilling...(or a conflicted mixture of all those feelings), and writes each fairy tale its own unique, modern twist. This message: of carving your own path and ultimately following your heart, regardless of expectation or society, is very near and dear to me and hopefully reflected in the spirit of this film. "

3) Nick Pitera - "One Man Disney Movie" Disney Music Medley



This is a pretty incredible performance. The screen is split into 6 sections, all featuring Nick Pitera, who sings as various Disney heroines, heroes, villains, and sidekicks, and the characters even "interact"/react to each other.

4) Heather Traska - One-Woman A Cappella Disney Medley -



Inspired by Nick Pitera's medley video. From Heather's description: "86 days, 30+ looks/characters, 13 main songs, 13 "quoted" songs, 1 month to edit, recorded myself, arranged entirely by ear, edited myself, make up and costumes done myself."

5) Valentine "Black Sheep" music video

This video uses imagery from Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, and Cinderella. Valentine is a German pop singer, and the youtube videos for the fairy-tale version of "Black Sheep" are not viewable in the U.S. anymore--that's why I'm resorting to using a MySpace link. (The "Black Sheep" video that is viewable on youtube is the "magic version," but despite its name there's nothing magical about it.)



6) Märchen - fairy-tale concept album by Sound Horizon, a Japanese symphonic rock band, with songs based on Hansel and Gretel, The Man from the Gallows, Snow White, Frau Holle, Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, and Saint Kummernis.

Wikipedia entry I don't know a lot about this album (I first encountered Märchen via fanart of the album's fairy tale characters, and assumed it was a manga), but fans have translated & subtitled some of the songs and put them up on youtube.

Bluebeard:



Snow White:



Footage from the live concert:



Okay, and now I think I've exhausted my fairy tale music suggestions. I hope some of these are of interest!

Best,

Sarah

Music Month: The Ugly Duckling by Danny Kaye

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The film Hans Christian Andersen has many musical moments featuring Andersen's tales. Today I am sharing Danny Kaye's rendition of The Ugly Duckling for the song of the day since this tale doesn't get much direct representation in music.
And thanks to YouTube, here is a clip of the song from the film, too:

Coming this Fall: Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman

   
Here's a preorder for you: Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version for a November 8, 2012 release date in the US.

But in the UK it gets more confusing with Grimm Tales: For Young and Old listed with a September 6, 2012 release date and Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version for the same Nov. 8 date, probably the US release listed on the UK site.

These aren't Pullman's first foray into fairy tales, of course. You can find some of his earlier attempts in various publications, including Four Tales which brings together Clockwork, The Firework-Maker's Daughter, I was a Rat!, and The Scarecrow and His Servant.

From Grimm outlook: Philip Pullman's fairytales to arrive in September: Philip Pullman will retell 50 of his favourite Grimm tales – some of them deliciously creepy – in 'clear as water' new versions at The Guardian:

Exciting news for fairytale fans: Philip Pullman is adapting the classic stories of the Brothers Grimm.

This is a project the His Dark Materials author has been working on for a while – he mentioned it to a fansite a year ago, telling Bridge to the Stars that "this isn't a book for children only", and that he was "telling the best of the tales in my own voice, and I'm finding it a great purifier of narrative thinking, rather as a pianist relishes playing Bach's preludes and fugues as a sort of palate-cleansing discipline".

But now we finally have a publication date – 6 September – and a publisher: Penguin Classics. And the new version of Grimms' Tales for Young and Old sounds great. Pullman has chosen his 50 favourite stories, "from the quests and romance of classics such as Rapunzel, Snow White and Cinderella to the danger and wit of such lesser-known tales as The Three Snake Leaves, Hans-My-Hedgehog and Godfather Death", and is retelling them in "clear as water" new versions, complete with commentary on each story's history and background.

Today Only: $10 Amazon Gift Card for $5

$10 Amazon.com Gift Card came up as a deal on my Special Offers Kindle today, but it is available to everyone today only. I use gift cards to do most of my ebook purchasing on Amazon, so it's nice to add to the total this way...

The Details

What could be better than doubling your money? The answer: not very much. Take advantage of today's exclusive offer and watch $5 turn into a $10 gift card on Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer.

Read more about it on the offer page linked above.

New to Ebooks: Swan Sister and A Wolf at the Door

Swan Sister and A Wolf at the Door, both edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, are released in ebook format today. Both have been out of print for a while, so it is quite exciting to know they are readily available again beyond used copies.

Book description for A Wolf at the Door:

Did you ever wonder what happened to the seven dwarfs after Snow White ditched them, or what life was like for the giant in "Jack and the Beanstalk?" Can you imagine a wicked stepsister who really gets what she deserves, and a Cinderella who isn't dainty, but actually rather plump? Then this is the book for you.

All the fairy tales you've heard over and over again are revisted here, made new by award-winning fantasy and science fiction authors: Garth Nix tells a twisted new version of "Hansel and Gretel," Nancy Farmer shows us what life was like for the princess's magical horse, Gregory Maguire provides a side of the seven dwarfs you've never seen, and Neil Gaiman lays out the "Instructions" that fairy tales should have taught you. In all, thirteen new stories are born from old fairy tales, some disturbing and dark, others strange and funny, but each offering something original and unexpected -- and as surprising as a wolf at the door.

Book description for Swan Sister:

Just as fairy-tale magic can transform a loved one into a swan, the contributors to this book have transformed traditional fairy tales and legends into stories that are completely original, yet still tantalizingly familiar.

In this book you will find:

• a Rapunzel whose most confining prison is her loneliness

• a contemporary rendering of the Green Man myth

• two different versions of Red Riding Hood

• a tale that grew out of a Celtic folk song

• Sleeping Beauty's experience of her enchantment

• two works inspired by the Arabian Nights

• and more

In the follow-up to A Wolf at the Door, thirteen renowned authors come together with a selection of new and surprising adaptations of the fairy tales we think we know so well. These fresh takes on classic tales will show you sides of each story you never dreamed of.

For full disclosure, I am particularly fond of Swan Sister because it was dedicated to me, an honor I am still amazed and a little shocked by nine years later. But even without that, these books are wonderful and shouldn't be missed!

Music Month: Fairytale by Sara Bareilles

There are several versions of Sara Bareilles's Fairytale since it has appeared on a few of her albums.

Of the many, many songs of disillusionment using fairy tales--a few characters actually--this is one of my favorites. And until I was writing this post, I had never watched the music video which I also enjoyed--she throws in some extra fairy tales that aren't in the lyrics. The video is embedded below--it's the best version I found online, many of them were too blurry to appreciate them.

First stanza of the lyrics:

Cinderella's on her bedroom floor
She's got a
Crush on the guy at the liquor store
Cause Mr. Charming don't come home anymore
And she forgets why she came here
Sleeping Beauty's in a foul mood
For shame she says
None for you dear prince, I'm tired today
I'd rather sleep my whole life away than have you keep me from dreaming

Maria Tatar Discusses Franz Xaver von Schönwerth

Remember my post a few weeks ago about the "newly discovered" fairy tales? And my slight exasperation with the media for portraying the find as brand new instead of forgotten since most of the tales have been on the internet for years? Well, Maria Tatar has chimed in and is better informed and even provides some analysis of the tales for all of our benefits. Thanks, Maria! Here are the first two paragraphs from Cinderfellas: The Long-Lost Fairy Tales by Maria Tatar at The New Yorker:

Bavarian fairy tales going viral? Last week, the Guardian reported that five hundred unknown fairy tales, languishing for over a century in the municipal archive of Regensburg, Germany, have come to light. The news sent a flutter through the world of fairy-tale enthusiasts, their interest further piqued by the detail that the tales—which had been compiled in the mid-nineteenth century by an antiquarian named Franz Xaver von Schönwerth—had been kept under lock and key. How astonishing then to discover that many of those "five hundred new tales" are already in print and on the shelves at Widener Library at Harvard (where I teach literature, folklore and mythology) and at Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley.

Schönwerth—a man whom the Grimm brothers praised for his "fine ear" and accuracy as a collector—published three volumes of folk customs and legends in the mid-nineteenth century, but the books soon began gathering dust on library shelves. In 2010, over a hundred of the fairy tales culled from the archive were published by the Schönwerth champion Erika Eichenseer, under the title Prinz Rosszwifl. So the Guardian's news wasn't exactly new. To be sure, those tales have not yet been translated into English, and many stories remain in manuscript form. But there are enough of them available now to satisfy our curiosity: are they radically different from the fairy tales we know?

As always, click through to read the rest....

Irish Cinderella for St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I shared this post a few years ago and with all things Cinderella on my brain over the last year or so, I had to share again.
Today I thought I would share links to one of the best known Irish Fairy Tales: Fair, Brown and Trembling. It is a Cinderella variant which adds to its popularity, but it is also just a plum good tale. I won't sum it up here, but just provide links. A decent summary is available on Wikipedia, but I recommend going to the tale itself and reading it for it's not much longer than its summary.


First of all, you can read the tale in Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs at Fair, Brown and Trembling as well as Myths and Folklore of Ireland by Jeremiah Curtin at Fair, Brown and Trembling. Jacobs used Curtin as his source, but he also includes some short notes including this reference:

Miss Roalfe Cox is about to publish for the Folk-Lore Society a whole volume of variants of the Cinderella group of stories, which are remarkably well represented in these isles, nearly a dozen different versions being known in England, Ireland, and Scotland.

The forthcoming reference delights me since this book is now well over a hundred years old and available on SurLaLune at Cinderella: 345 Variants by Marian Roalfe Cox. (Someday I might even reformat those pages to the more recent SurLaLune appearance.)

Both Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs and Myths and Folklore of Ireland by Jeremiah Curtin are in print in paper versions although several versions exist on the web, too, for free reading. They are still two of the best collections of Irish fairy tales despite or perhaps because of their age.


The illustrations in this blog are by John Batten for Jacobs' version of the tale, too.


Fair, Brown & Trembling: An Irish Cinderella Story by Jude Daly is a picture book version of the tale, not very old, but out of print.