8+

"Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 - "Pastoral": V. Hirtengesang. Frohe, dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm - Allegretto" by Ludwig van Beethoven (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra & Wyn Morris) which clocks in at 9:47

I am thankful for Beethoven. Oh come on, I am! I swear. I'll put it to you this way: if I had to pick only one piece of music to listen to for the rest of my life (consider this one for yourself sometime), it would be something penned by Ludwig van Beethoven. Not exactly this particular piece of music, but this one's not too bad in its own right. And hey, this one (the 5th movement of his 6th Symphony) is the one that touches on the "giving of thanks", so it's only natural for it to appear here today.

Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 (known as the Pastoral Symphony) is Beethoven's major attempt at program music. Program music is "a form of art music intended to evoke extra-musical ideas, images in the mind of the listener by musically representing a scene, image or mood". Here, we have Beethoven composing with a plot in mind, titling the movements of this particular symphony in a very deliberate manner and putting together instrumental depictions of bird calls, country dances, and - you guessed it - the giving of thanks after the passing of a storm. It's not one of his most overtly popular symphonies, but within certain circles it is often hailed as one of his most beautiful works. About the coda (posted here) Antony Hopkins (not the actor) once said it contained "arguably the finest music of the whole symphony". That's Hopkins giving thanks for the song posted above. Big fan of 8+s that guy.

Me? I'm thankful that my neighbors are out of town. All of them on my floor (I think). See, the people in the apartment directly next to mine recently moved out, and whoever owns that particular unit must have decided it was time for some major renovating. Perfectly normal, lots of noise and smelly men. You know the drill. What wasn't perfectly normal was my reaction to this work being done. I got curious. Like a cat, but worse. So curious was I (in wanting to see what the heck they had done to this apartment to make so much noise for two weeks) that I decided to boldly go where no Matt would normally go before: into the apartment.

It was obvious that the workers had left, if at least briefly. There was no noise whatsoever for a good while. Now, I wasn't actively thinking about this lack of noise and keeping track of how long it'd been since last I heard work, but it did occur to me (yesterday) as I passed by the apartment (to take some cardboard boxes out to be recycled) that perhaps there wasn't anybody in there. I could take a look? As I walked by the now vacant construction zone I smelled sawdust in the air. For whatever reason, I went with my impulse to try the door. If unlocked, I'd set my boxes down in the hall and go insi - UNLOCKED! I went inside.

What I saw in there is going to remain a secret, but let's just say that the apartment has all kinds of new woodworking, appliances, and built-ins. Cha-ching! Whoever moves in next is gonna be thankful for that stuff, better believe it. Yes sir.

I left quickly. And as I walked out the door it occurred to me that I just might run into the neighbors on the other side of this apartment. The only ones on my floor I've never even met before. Imagine that, I'd have to decide on the spot whether to tell them who I really am - their long-time neighbor just snooping around in this empty apartment - or go along with their likely assumption that I'm the new resident, who'd be moving in shortly, and never (ever) let them see where I really live. Again, thankfully, I didn't run into them. They're out of town, I think. I hope. I think I hope they stay out of town for good, it's so quiet lately. Ah, pie in the sky wishes...

I am thankful for pie. Thankful for many things, but pie is high on the list. Especially today, on this, the day of giving thanks and eating turkey and PIE and an assemblage of side dishes and rolls and wine and cranberries. And pie. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, mystery pie - I'd really rather eat any pie than have to mess around with that boring old 17th century buffet of dried out poultry and cooked breadcrumbs that we all eat year after year. Because, it's the pie I enjoy the most on days like today; on any day, but today mostly. Let's face it, the whole Thanksgiving Dinner thing isn't exactly my bag. But Thanksgiving Dessert - yes please! And really, if we're going to have a holiday centered around feasting, then shouldn't it be about eating FUN things like cookies and cake and pie! pie! pie!!?!?

Ask my cat and he'll tell you "no sir, HELLS naw I don't want no pie!" HE stays far away from pie (which, for obvious reasons, is fine by me) and sticks strictly to the turkey. And boy, he sure does love his turkey. He gobbles it up like it's... PIE, for crying out loud.

Which turkey? Any turkey. See, inevitably I purchase for him a can of Fancy Feast Turkey and Giblets Feast (pictured above) for his holiday enjoyment and, just as inevitably, he always manages to score some tasty bits of meat from the real deal. He watches me when I carve the turkey. Each slice of the knife is writing on the wall telling him "bird soon - REAL bird." For this is HIS special day. Taking into account the pies, it's a special day for both of us; however, for him this day rises above all others. I swear, judging by the dazed look on his happily stuffed face, that each year at the end of Thanksgiving day he's thinking something along the lines of "Ya'll see that big bird carcass over there? Yep, that's all me. Caught it, cleaned it, ate it. This MY day bitches! What am I thankful for? I'm so thankful for that turkey! BEOTCH!"

And then he pours himself some Courvoisier, lights up a cigar, and listens to this song as he drifts off to sleep mumbling "tryptophan, take me away mothafucka..." He may talk like a thug, but in actuality I have a very sophisticated cat.

Buy Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 - "Pastoral" & Egmont Overture on Amazon/on iTunes.

EAR FARM's 8+ is a weekly feature that showcases songs longer than 8 minutes. In the recent past these songs were featured on EF's 8+:
Gioachino Rossini - "La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)"
The Fiery Furnaces - “Inspector Blancheflower”
Morrissey - "Moon River"
Miles Davis - "So What”
Tori Amos - "Yes, Anastasia"
Boduf Songs - “Bell for Harness”
8 Bold Souls - "Odyssey"
Artanker Convoy - "Open Up"

***as a special treat for today only, I've re-uploaded "Alice's Restaurant Massacre" to last year's Thanksgiving day 8+, you can listen to it HERE***

To see a full list of every song featured in EAR FARM's 8+ click HERE.