I love YouTubers with their funny and their creative-ness.
I have to tell y'all this. I know the lyrics to the Octet's version of O Fortuna. Yep. Learned them over a period of months, though the last two lines eluded me for some time. Not sure why. I just had a hard time remembering them.
Fun Fact: Singing O Fortuna while walking home on dark and scary nights is a deterrent to crime. Singing it on a packed elevator is an encitement to crime.
O Fortuna Lyrics and Translation
The characters in bold are they lyrics the Octet sang. The normal body text are from Carl Orff's original O Fortuna.
O Fortuna
velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
et decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.
Sors immanis
et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbrata
et velata
michi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.
Sors salutis
et virtutis
michi nunc contraria,
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria.
Hac in hora
sine mora
corde pulsum tangite;
quod per sortem
sternit fortem,
mecum omnes plangite!
O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
and waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;
poverty
and power
it melts them like ice.
Fate - monstrous
and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
well-being is vain
and always fades to nothing,
shadowed
and veiled
you plague me too;
now through the game
I bring my bare back
to your villainy.
Fate is against me
in health
and virtue,
driven on
and weighted down,
always enslaved.
So at this hour
without delay
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate
strikes down the string man,
everyone weep with me!
I discovered, doing research on "Honky Tonky Town/O Joe" that these songs were really old when the original Men's Octet got their hands on them. The music was written in 1916 by Chris Smith of Charlston, NC in, and the lyrics by Charles McCarron of New York in the same year.
I also discovered information on Honky Tonks (original Honky Tonks, not the ones that most of you/us probably know) at the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honky_tonkIt may also be interesting to note that when the Octet sang O Joe, they didn't do solos - according to KennyK, there was a big uproar made by Octet alumni when the group first started to do solos. Not sure why. Maybe because it was...wait. I don't know, so I'm not going to venture to guess. Hahaha. I like solos, but I also like it when all the guys sing together. They both sound awesome.
As I was rewatching the Octet videos, I found out that I have been spreading misinformation about Bohemian Rhapsody. All of this time, I have been confidently asserting that BoRhap was written by a past Octet dude. Apparently new information has come to light.
"This acapella arrangement has been passed along within the group from year to year since the 80's. The original arranger, it is believed, was a member of another Berkeley group in the mid-80's, and the Octet adopted the tune a couple years later."
(((Gasp))) Scandal!!! I have to wonder which of Berkeley's a cappella group arranged BoRhap. My thoughts are that the Octet need to have an official historian. That would be cool. I'd be happy to volunteer for the job.
Because I messed up the title of the awesome CalMatt video about a cappella on yesterdays completely sober-written blog, I also decided to add CalMatt's video MOUTH NOISE-A CAPPELLA IN MOTION, which is a fantastic, informative video about a cappella and featuring award winning Berekely a cappella groups such as the Octet, the Cal Golden Overtones and Artists in Resonance - I love all three groups, actually. If you enjoy it (if, like there's any chance you won't), you can find the second part on related videos or CalMatt's channel. So, believe me when I say "Enjoy!"
And now that it's significantly darker than when I started this post, I think I should post it now.
I'm away from my family this year,and a I am out of school until Christmas break is over, and so I'll probably be spending a lot more time posting. That's not as sad as it sounds. Really. I'm good, but I do have a lot more free time.
If anyone has any Octet related memories (seen a show, were in a show - anything) pics or videos they'd like to share or donate, you can email me at
Scouter227@gmail.com OR
tiffanyannzeisler@yahoo.com.
I'd love to hear from you.
Until next time - see ya 'round the net.
-k bye.
RSS Feed