All photos are of a newspaper my Dad kept and gave to me from the moon landing in 1969
Relatively unknown during his life time, Arthur Russell was a truly amazing musician. This Is How We Walk on the Moon a song from his 1994 album Another Thought is probably one of my favourite pieces of his work.
It's delicate melodic rhythm played out on a cello accompanied by his soft uplifting vocals, trumpets and bongo beats come together to capture in music a feeling of progress, elation, something positive. "Each step is moving, it's moving me up" he sings, and the trumpets also sing out a merry little tune as if in agreement, celebrating the idea. The computerized voice half way through startled me a little on my first listen but now I always look forward to hearing this extra twist.
One evening a few weeks back I took my laptop out onto our patio and played this video under the bright glow of a brilliantly clear full moon. I looked at the video and then looked up at the moon and felt a tingle of pride that we humans have indeed actually walked on the moon. We're pretty cool aren't we.
Arthur Russell - This Is How We Walk on the Moon
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3 comments:
I remember watching this happen on TV.
Must have been amazing. I love this newspaper, I should have taken photos of all the funny ads where companies are trying to cash in on the moon landing as well! Maybe next time I get the paper out I'll do that.
Got caught up in all the coverage of the recent Apollo anniversary and went to see "For All Mankind" at the BFI.
Fantastic and moving piece of film from the 80s featuring unseen NASA footage set to a Brian Eno soundtrack, would definitely recommend if you haven't already seen it.
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