contentious.com » music

NanoSolar Rap

Amy Gahran — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:57:33 +0000

My friend Cheryl Hogue at Chemical & Engineering News just mentioned this video. Brilliant, brilliant! (Hah! Pun intended!)

Science definitely needs more rap. Definitely.

Note: This video is part of the second American Chemical Society Nanotation NanoTube Video Contest. You better believe I’m gonna watch the other entries.

Saving Newspapers: The Musical

Amy Gahran — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:16:38 +0000

From the East Bay Express. Now: Is their proposed solution one idea, or two? Hmmm…

Freelance National Anthem

Amy Gahran — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:14:11 +0000

Freelance National Anthem, by Bill Dyszel:

Symphony of Entropy

Amy Gahran — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:59:32 +0000

My days feel like this lately…

Thanks, Dawn

Collaboration Takes Many Forms

Amy Gahran — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:10:13 +0000

Just after I was talking to my business partner Adam Glenn about how journalists need to learn more about the culture and skills of collaboration (remember, the news biz is steeped in competitiveness — often to the point of paranoia), my musician friend Mark Brummer sends me this video:

See how much fun collaboration can be? Play with it!

Serious motivational music!

Amy Gahran — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:48:20 +0000

In need of some extra ooomph to get you going? This should do the trick: The Helian’ Man, sung by Matt McGinn, a ballad about Scottish raids about a thousand years ago that led Roman emperor Hadrian to build a 73-mile wall across Britain.

I heard this song on the radio about 15 years ago, when I still lived in Pennsylvania. Ever since then, when I’ve found myself in need of motivation or facing a serious challenge, I’ve sometimes found myself bellowing “Grigalie! Grigaloo! Come up and fight, you cowardly crew! I’ll have you for my pot of stew! You fear to fight with me!”

It works pretty well. Sometimes as well as a kickboxing workout

Here are the lyrics…

THE HEILAN’ MAN
(Matt McGinn)

Ten thousand Roman soldiers to the Heilands they came north
And they had conquered everything from the Tiber to the Forth.
They camped beside Loch Lomond, for the night they thought they’d lie,
But somewhere on the Cobbler hill they heard this terrible cry:

Chorus:
Grigalie! Grigaloo!
Come up and fight, you cowardly crew!
I’ll have you for my pot of stew!
You fear to fight with me!

On top stood a bearded Heilan’ man with a kilt and a big claymore
He looked a bit ferocious, so old Caesar sent up four.
Then he sat down for dinner by the bright light of the moon,
But he lost his taste for vino when four heads come rollin’ doon.

Chorus

Then Caesar sent Marc Antony wi’ another fifty five.
“Gae bring to me that rascal’s head, or I’ll have you stewed alive.”
They heard the clash of metal until the night was done,
But again they heard this terrible cry by the rising of the sun.

Chorus

Then Caesar sent a thousand men, this Heilan’ man to crack,
But out of all the thousand, there was only one came back.
“Oh, Caesar!” cried the soldier, wi’ his head all black and blue,
“The rascal has been lying! There’s not just one, there’s two!”

Chorus

So Caesar picked his suitcase up and he ran southwards then
He was doin’ eighty miles an hour, but he couldn’t catch his men
Now maybe ye will wonder why I’ve told this tale at all
Well, it has a simple moral, an’ they call it…Hadrian’s Wall!