Midnight at the Oasis
Posted: January 3, 2009 3:30 amFiled under: Kevin, Uncategorized
Growing up, I fell in love with that 1973 song.
Performed by Maria Muldaur and written by David Nichtern, the lyric is a classic, and tastefully sensous.
“Midnight at the oasis
Send your camel to bed.
Shadows paintin’ our faces,
Traces of romance in our heads.
Heaven’s holdin’ a half-moon,
Shinin’ just for us.
Let’s slip off to a sand dune, real soon,
And kick up a little dust.”
As I researched for this article, I found that the composer’s impressive musical resume includes composition of themes for the television daytime dramas “One Life to Live,” and “As the World Turns.”
Mrs. Muldaur began her career singing with the likes of bluegrass/newgrass revivalist mandolinist David Grisman, Bob Dylan and others.
This evening, I viewed a DVD of a 1985 motion picture entitled “Brazil,” in which Mrs. Muldaur and her husband Geoff sang the title track, which was a 1939 copyrighted song, originally with Portuguese lyrics and music by Ary Barroso, with English lyrics by S.K. Russell added in 1942.
The names Desi Arnaz, Chet Atkins, Jimmy Dorsey, Ferrante and Teicher, Les Paul, Buddy Merrill, Reinhardt Django, Ray Conniff and Frank Sinatra hopefully sound familiar. They and others have all performed the hit song “Brazil.”
Licensed through BMI, “Brazil” is a BMI award winning song, and was a 1943 Hit Parade winner, having been introduced by the Eddie Duchin Orchestra, and was on hit records by the Xavier Cugat and Jimmy Dorsey bands.
A bit more about Maria Muldaur, however…
Mrs. Muldar’s musical background includes the musical influences of Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, Hank Snow and Ernest Tubb.
By age five, she was singing Kitty Wells’ “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” while her aunt provided piano accompaniment. During her teen years, the Rhythm and Blues sounds of Fats Domino, Little Richard, Clyde McPhatter and Ruth Brown figured prominently.
Growing up in New York City’s Greenwich Village, she was surrounded by an electic variety of music, including the rural Southern sounds of Doc Watson, Bukka White, Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt. As well, she began forming her own musical direction playing with the likes of Bob Dylan, John Sebastian and David Grisman, a bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist, whom has also collaborated with the late Jerry Garcia, a Grateful Dead lead singer/songwriter/guitarist .
Having migrated south, first to North Carolina, then to Louisiana, she has recorded albums in the musical genres of blues, gospel and swing.
She has also collaborated with Dr. John, Ry Cooder, Paul Butterfield, Lowell George, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Wonder, Jr. Walker, James Booker, Benny Carter, J.J. Cale, Kenny Burrell, Doc Watson, Hoagy Carmichael, Aaron and Charles Neville, Mavis Staples, Bonnie Raitt and Ann Peebles among others.
She also renown for her hit remake of “I’m a Woman,” written by the renown songwriting duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
An interesting note, as one begins to see the names of various artists whom have collaborated with each other, one begins to see a “family” emerge. While unique, their voices and musical styles do show influences of one another.
For example, who would have considered that David Grisman and the late Jerry Garcia, of Grateful Dead renown, would have begun their friendship having met at a Bill Monroe bluegrass concert many years ago?
Now about the DVD movie “Brazil.”
Directed by Terry Gilliam, it’s a delightful fictional, comedy, fantasy drama starring two names of thespian renown, Robert De Niro as Archibald ‘Harry’ Tuttle, and Michael Palin as Jack Lint. Although it’s rated “R,” I cannot understand why. There is no cursing, no gratuitous nudity, and no overtly graphic violence. Where there are less than a handful of scenes with potentially “disturbing” content, I have seen much worse on television. Were I to rate the film, I’d give it a PG-13.
Set in a retro-futuristic totalitarian society, the protagonist Jack Lint, satisfied working at a dead-end job, falls in love with Jill Layton, played by Kim Greist, whom he first envisioned in his dreams. He then becomes motivated toward a better job once he discovers she’s real, and thus begins the comedic and fantasy-element-laden chase to capture the woman of his dreams.
The story-telling is wonderful, logical and easy to follow, and the design and cinematography are outstanding. It is - if not already - bound to be a cinemagraphic classic!
Midnight at the Oasis
ASCAP Title Code: 430218945
Publishers/Administrators:
SPACE POTATO MUSIC LTD/NOTTING
% NOTTING DALE SONGS INC
% PETER CHALCRAFT
8961 SUNSET BOULEVARD
SUITE 1C
WEST HOLLYWOOD , CA, 90069
Tel. (310) 273-230
BRAZIL (Legal Title)
BMI Work #147230
Songwriter/Composer: ARY EVANGELISTA BARROSO
Current Affiliation: SACEM CAE/IPI #: 2193333
Publishers:
APRS- BMI, 1156248
IRMAOS VITALE S A - BMI, 270010914
“Brazil” music by Ary Barroso
English lyrics by S.K. Russell
Copyright 1939 by Irmaros Vitale, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Copyright 1939 Southern Music Publishing Company, Inc., New York, NY, USA
Copyright assigned 1942 to Peer International Corporation, New York, NY, USA
