Pretty Sinister Books

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice
...and all that jazz!

I have an eclectic variety of Christmas and Winter Solstice music in my vast collection of CDs and old LPs.  One of my favorite holiday songs is "The Bells of Bethlehem" hardly ever heard anywhere and recorded only twice that I know of.  I have jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd playing the lovely little carol in his typical fingerstyle on a compilation of his solo guitar Christmas music. Listening to that song led me to hunt down classical guitar music for Christmas and wintertime. Recently I came across this lovely upbeat tune though many guitarists play it much slower in tempo. Entitled Villancicco de Navidad it was written by little known Paraguayan composer Agustín Barrios Mangoré (1885-1944).

Well... little known if you live in the USA and only listen to contemporary music. If you listen to or play classical guitar you may very well know him. He was one of the most prolific composers for that instrument when he was alive. After searching online for a suitable video I found this quick video of Costa Rican classical guitarist David Coto playing the tune. He re-recorded it this year only a two weeks ago, but I prefer this first version he recorded in 2019 because of the close-ups of his hands on the strings. Enjoy!

 

Whoever or whatever you believe in, however you celebrate this end of the year, have a memorable and magical time. Make the most of it you wonderful people out there in the dark! Looking forward to more literary Lost in Limbo discoveries and sharing them with you in a hopefully saner, more humane and compassionate 2026. 

Here's some swinging holiday flavored jazz from the past and the present.  First, the great Ella Fitzgerald swings on an old standard accompanied by a birds-eye view (reindeer's eye view?) animated tour of all her international stops from years gone by. In the second clip Jamie Cullum, British jazz piano player, sings one of his original holiday tunes from a couple of years ago.  I enjoy his clever lyrics, especially this part:

Everybody's crowded round the Christmas tree
Digging out the best of themselves
Shove your petty differences right up the chimney, please
At least until the drums of the Twelfth

Our house is filled with upbeat jazz music at Christmas.  No more morose holiday music for me with that oh-so-solemn tone and lugubrious tempos.  I've learned this past year that life is too short not to enjoy and savor every moment.  And so the upbeat joyous songs never stop playing all through December in our home.

  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice
...and all that jazz!

 

Whoever or whatever you believe in, however you celebrate this end of the year, have a memorable and magical time. Make the most of it you wonderful people out there in the dark. Wishing you nothing but health and good fortune in 2023!

A bit of holiday music for you as we near the end of 2021. The first is an original tune from Andrew Bird, one of my favorite offbeat musicians who often plucks away on his violin like it was a ukulele (as he does on this track from his Christmas album "Hark!") and whistles beautifully.  He also hails from Chicago, though I don't think he lives here anymore.

The other comes from an ancient (well, only circa 1955, but it feels ancient) Christmas record that my parents once owned and that I listened to repeatedly while growing up in Connecticut. I went looking for it online in a fit of nostalgia and -- of course!-- it turned up on YouTube. Doesn't everything musical eventually pop up there?

Enjoy!

 Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice
...and all that jazz!

Whoever or whatever you believe in, however you celebrate this end of the year, have a memorable and magical time. Make the most of it you wonderful people out there in the dark. Let us hope and pray that in 2022 we will finally be free from the shadowy spectre of the viral villain that has haunted us for two full years.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice
...and all that jazz!
I'm feeling ridiculously nostalgic this year at Christmastime. So here's a time travelling video to the good ol' days of Marshall Field's department store and their gorgeous holiday windows. Actually, one of these window displays was designed by the Macy's crew (the Mays company who own Macy's bought Marshall Field's back in 2006 and eventually ruined everything that Marshall Field's was). In 2013 the Macy's windows were a tribute to Marshall Field's and so you will see some animated figures eating in the splendid Walnut Room, some candy makers cooking up a batch of Field's signature holiday Frango mints, and other scenes about the grand department store of Chicago's recent and long past. Enjoy this trip down memory lane for what it was like to have Christmas in Chicago.


Whoever or whatever you believe in, however you celebrate this end of the year, have a memorable and magical time. Make the most of it you wonderful people out there in the dark. Looking forward to more literary Lost in Limbo discoveries and sharing them with you as round out this decade in 2020.

Winter is descending on this frigidly Windy City.  Just stumbled on this James Taylor cover of a Joni Mitchell song that is tangentially about Christmas and winter, but really about something deep and personal. It's a lovely arrangement of Mitchell's "River" summoning up feelings of longing, lost love, and daydreaming flights of fancy and escape that always haunt me this time of year.

Stay warm this season!


[Video montage courtesy of Hans vd Linden at YouTube, who must live somewhere in the frozen wilds of a Scandinavian country judging by the photographs chosen.]

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice
...and all that jazz!
In a shameless promotion for a local theater group -- the Tony award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company -- I offer up this little holiday confection. It's a one minute montage of scenes from their original Christmas pantomime adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier."  I saw this with Joe as part of my birthday theater extravaganza, four plays over two days.  It was by far the best of the lot -- a magical, enchanting and transformative theatrical experience for us both.  If you live in the Chicago area I highly recommend you get tickets before it closes on January 13.  It's one of the most unique and inventive productions I've seen in the 32 years I've been living here. You may feel you were transported to Victorian era England just as we were.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice
...and all that jazz!
Every year the CTA, Chicago's bus and train service, decorates one bus and one train for the Christmas season. In the past I've managed to ride the Holiday train through sheer accident on my commute home. Other times Joe and I made a concerted effort to wait for the train at the Red Line station only a ten minute walk from our home. Here's a long video that shows what's up with both the 2017 Holiday train and Holiday bus which I've never been on since it tends to visit Southside and Far West neighborhoods not served by the trains. Both transports are shown travelling throughout numerous areas not often shown in video promotions of the city. Enjoy!

Just learned that crime writer Adrian McKinty finds inspiration in Tom Waits songs.


Review of McKinty's excellent locked room mystery Rain Dogs coming soon...

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice
...and all that jazz!
And speaking of jazz-- Here's some swingin' holiday cheer. Jane Lynch and pals singing in perfect harmony just for you.

Fog matters to you and me, but it can't touch Sherlock Holmes

This song has been covered a couple times by other minor indie rock groups, but the original by 80s new wave group Sparks is still the best. Loads of YouTube videos use this song mostly showing stills and video clips of Cumberbatch. Pass on all of those. I'm going with this well done video showing good ol' stalwart Holmes actor Basil Rathbone in a series of scenes from his movies.

Enjoy!


Spend the night with Sherlock Holmes
Hold me tight like Sherlock Holmes
Just pretend I'm Sherlock Holmes

There's a body on the railings
That I can't identify
And I'd like to reassure you but
I'm not that kind of guy

This is a moody tune evocative of walking down those mean streets. The lyrics are nicely metaphoric in the mid section which is also fitting for Marlowe's creator. "Raymond Chandler Evening" was originally recorded by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians for their sixth album Element of Light back in 1985.  I was surprised to see that he's still performing all over the world as a solo act.  This is a favorite song of his and you'll find several uploaded videos of him performing it in places like upstate New York, Ashville, NC and even Valencia, Spain.  Here's the official video (not great quality) intended for play on music video channels back in the 80s.

It's a Raymond Chandler evening
And the pavements are all wet
And I'm lurking in the shadows
'Cause it hasn't happened yet

©1986, Tiny Ghost Records, Robyn Hitchcock

I got this thing for Nancy Drew
Her hair is blond, her eyes are blue

Time to rejoin the 21st century. I love when someone takes a modern pop tune and juxtaposes it with good old-fashioned movies in glorious black and white. What better choice to illustrate this guitar infused anthem to the queen of girl sleuths than a series of clips from the Bonita Granville movies? And don't forget Frankie Thomas as Ted (not Ned) Nickerson. (Guess the screenwriters didn't like that alliteration.)


One time these criminals with their guns
They thought it would be fun
To try to kill my Nancy Drew
I jumped out and saved her life
Then asked her to be my wife
She said, "No, I'll never marry you!"

Infiltrate, investigate, interrogate until you get a clue
Ingratiate, inebriate, infatuate your next ingénue

How about a spy tune, gang! Or...uh...well...a spy tune with a mess of detectives in the lyrics.

Joey Deluxe is the pseudonymous alter ego for sound and music editor Joey Merholz when he's donning his composer hat. He's only written two original tunes for movie soundtracks which he also performed. "Undercover" appeared for the first time in --of all things-- the otherwise forgettable 1998 remake of Godzilla. Joey's really working his Lou Reed/Leonard Cohen baritone in this pastiche of a 1960s spy theme.

I'll forgive him for not knowing the difference between spies and detectives. And for adding a private eye writer's name in the lyrics just for the hell of it. I just like the overall spy vibe and the jazzy melody with that blaring horn section and that mean Hammond organ heard faintly in the musical break. It's probably all digital music made with a Mac and software. But who cares? Sounds like a jazz combo in some dive lounge off the old Vegas strip. I love it!

I found a video using this tune and made by someone who seems to be madly in love with Ilya Kuryakin from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. So enjoy these bits from that old TV show featuring David McCallum, several shapely spy gals, some villainous baddies, and -- every now and then -- Robert Vaughn. All in 1960s living color!


Sam Spade, James Bond, Philip Marlowe, secret agent lover
Now, you're Mickey Spillane and you're goin' undercover
Undercover
It's a covert operation, in and out, and get yourself out of there
You can get bugged, tapped, wired, and end up caught in her snare
Few are those who can resist the lure of wealth and sex
So wrap it up in your trench coat, baby, and pray it protects

©1998, Joey Deluxe, Sony/Tri-Star Music

Check my reputation
Check my pose
First you ought to check my fee

An all out tribute to Dashiell Hammett's nameless private eye. Amazing video for this rockin' bluesy tune. Gallagher was an Irish musician who died in 1995. I'd never heard of him until I found this tune. This song comes from his penultimate album Defender released in 1987.


So who are they gonna get
When the trouble's gotta stop?
Here's my card
I'm the Continental Op

Whodunit?
Who stole my baby?
Everyone in the room looks shady
...It's a bedside mystery!

Ah, the disco era! Platforms shoes, bell bottom pants, pooka shell necklaces, the "Dry Look", feathered hair, sequins and mirror balls. And all that wild and crazy music. Remember Tavares? Well, frankly neither do I. But this is another fun tune. I can't imagine this filled up the dance floor if it ever was played in the discos of days gone by, but I'd be among those laughing and smiling had I heard it. 

This may be the prizewinner for a pop tune mentioning fictional detectives and not only from books. Toward the end there is a long list of TV show detectives: Baretta, McCloud, Kojak, and Ironside. And just before the fade out you'll hear: "Tell Dirty Harry we're supposed to get married."



Hey, where's the phone to call Sherlock Holmes
[Somebody took my baby]
I've been framed by what's-his-name
And he's gettin' away
Charlie Chan, see if you can
Help me find those two, won't you?
Where were you on the night of the 12th?
[I was by myself]
She went dancin' in the dark,
Somebody stole her heart
Ellery Queen, if you're so keen
Won't you help me find my sweet thing? (Yeah, yeah)

Written by Frederick J. Perren, Keni St. Lewis
© Universal Music Publishing Group

"I love her but she loves Agatha Christie." She sure does, me lad.

What a great song! A girl obsessed with Agatha Christie's work and the narrator of the tune is head over heels in love with her. He can't even make her a meal without her suspecting that he's added a special ingredient. Poor guy. Allusions include Peter Falk as Columbo, Miss Scarlet from the Clue® board game, and anything having to do with the works of Agatha Christie and the entire genre of traditional English detective novel.

I'd never heard of The Lucksmiths, an Australian indie rock group based in Melbourne, until I uncovered this song. I'm sure their other music is just as witty and fun.



We took a cliche cliff top walk
I made the mistake of mentioning Peter Falk
She says American TV has killed the murder mystery
'Cause the killer is always caught by 10:23

Written by Marty Donald, ©Marty Donald/Candle Records

A new feature every Saturday for a couple of weeks, gang. I'm calling this "Covering Their Tracks" since it has a perfect dual meaning for both music and mystery fiction. I've become obsessed lately with random allusions to fictional detectives in pop and rock music. Over at Patti Abbot's blog I heard yet another rock tune that arbitrarily inserts a Sherlock Holmes reference and it reminded me that a couple of months ago I attempted to get the Tuesday Night Bloggers to do a salute to Golden Age mystery writers and their characters in pop music lyrics. Didn't go over well with the one person I approached so I didn't even ask anyone else. Now I'm doing it myself.

Travelling way back to 1957 (there will be many modern tunes a-comin' my friends, don't worry) we have this allusion loaded tune. The melody is simplistic, jaunty, a bit too repetitive but the lyrics make it my first choice. So I had to start with this one.

Originally written by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller for The Coasters "Searchin" was later covered by The Hollies, Neil Sedaka, The [Silver] Beatles (in the Peter Best days), Spencer Davis Group and The Grateful Dead (my least favorite) among many others. Musically the arrangement I like the best is the Spencer Davis Group cover but they cut all the lyrics about the detectives -- sacrilege! The Silver Beatles cover mixes up the lyrics something awful and they cut out Boston Blackie and add Peter Gunn instead. So I'm going with the true original. Here's The Coasters appearing on Dick Clark's short-lived second TV show "Saturday Night" from the episode aired March 19, 1960.



Below are the lyrics with the list of detectives. For all you young'uns out there Boston Blackie was a safecracker and thief turned detective created by writer Jack Boyle. The first story appeared in the July 1914 issue of The American Magazine. The Boston Blackie stories were adapted for both silent and talking movies, radio and TV from 1919 through the late 1950s. That's a long life for a detective and now of course he's almost entirely forgotten.

Yeah well, Sherlock Holmes and Sam Spade
They got nothing, child, on me
Sergeant Friday, Charlie Chan
and Boston Blackie
No matter where she hides
Man, she's gonna hear me comin'
I'm gonna walk right down that street
Like Bulldog Drummond

Cause I've been searchin'
Woah Lord now, searchin'
For goodness, searchin' every way which way, oh yay
I'm like a Northwest Mountie
You know I'll bring her in someday

Sort of fed up with the world at large of late. Endless shootings all over the world, aggressive protests that do nothing but add to the divisiveness, and a hateful sociopath as the Republican candidate for President of the United States. Here's a kickass song that has always been my anthem for not giving in to all that seems to oppress us.



Don't let go
You got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don't give up
We got a reason to live
Can't forget
We only get what we give...

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice
...and all the rest of it, gang!
In sympathy for all of you who will be traveling and may experience weather delays I offer this upbeat holiday tune from Nick Lowe.


And this one from Greg Lake so gracefully captures the true meaning of Christmas.


Whoever or whatever you believe in, however you celebrate this end of the year, have a memorable and magical time. Make the most of it you wonderful people out there in the dark.