Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 5th August 2014, 11:04 PM

Well, you see, Jean Nicot was really Jimmy Brown. When the song was anglicised Jean became Jimmy.

The writer of this song was French, and one day he was wandering through a graveyard and he saw Nicot's headstone, and at the same time he heard church bells, he was struck by the thought that our lives are marked by the church bells for birth (christening), marriage and death (funeral) :- the three bells. So he went home and sat down at his piano and wrote "Les Trois Cloches" :- the story of all of us. Apparently the English language version that was the one that made it popular was a very abbreviated and altered version of the original, but it still tells the story, maybe only in precis.

This is as it was told to me, and I thought I'd make a riddle out of the rather boring posting of some Mojo era bronze, so I tested "Three Bells + Jean Nicot " on Dr. Google and he gave me over 100,000 answers. As I said, you were close Rick, if you'd asked Dr. Google he would have told you.

Yep, there's not a bad track on that album, and this one is technically very, very good, but the atypical "Both Sides Now" ---dunno how that ever made it into the mix --- is possibly one of my favourites, along with "--- Blue Eyes" and one of the all-time greats "Wabash Cannonball" ---first song I ever learnt at about age four. Like I said, I grew up on this stuff. But I prefer the Carters cut of Wabash:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMiU_aknPDA

and here's another great railroad song:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3H_TLmsQUo

and don't nobody try to tell us that ain't ethno-graphic, this music is a blossom of a great culture. So is this:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzhyVwkmjKw

This lady is perhaps the best of the female kroncong singers --- others would argue with me --- the song was almost an anthem of the Indonesian freedom movement.

5th August 2014, 11:04 PM	#11
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,979	Well, you see, Jean Nicot was really Jimmy Brown. When the song was anglicised Jean became Jimmy. The writer of this song was French, and one day he was wandering through a graveyard and he saw Nicot's headstone, and at the same time he heard church bells, he was struck by the thought that our lives are marked by the church bells for birth (christening), marriage and death (funeral) :- the three bells. So he went home and sat down at his piano and wrote "Les Trois Cloches" :- the story of all of us. Apparently the English language version that was the one that made it popular was a very abbreviated and altered version of the original, but it still tells the story, maybe only in precis. This is as it was told to me, and I thought I'd make a riddle out of the rather boring posting of some Mojo era bronze, so I tested "Three Bells + Jean Nicot " on Dr. Google and he gave me over 100,000 answers. As I said, you were close Rick, if you'd asked Dr. Google he would have told you. Yep, there's not a bad track on that album, and this one is technically very, very good, but the atypical "Both Sides Now" ---dunno how that ever made it into the mix --- is possibly one of my favourites, along with "--- Blue Eyes" and one of the all-time greats "Wabash Cannonball" ---first song I ever learnt at about age four. Like I said, I grew up on this stuff. But I prefer the Carters cut of Wabash:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMiU_aknPDA and here's another great railroad song:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3H_TLmsQUo and don't nobody try to tell us that ain't ethno-graphic, this music is a blossom of a great culture. So is this:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzhyVwkmjKw This lady is perhaps the best of the female kroncong singers --- others would argue with me --- the song was almost an anthem of the Indonesian freedom movement.