A FATHER'S DAY GIFT!

As a Father's Day gift to you dads out there I offer two songs. Both are completely inappropriate for the holiday but I'm in a hurry and the songs just happened to be on my mind. Anyway, I know you'll like them, so I won't have to feel guilty for wasting anyone's time.

The first song is The Queen of the Night song from Ingmar Bergman's version of Mozart's "Magic Flute." The young princess has been kidnapped by a lecherous troll so that she may be brought to her mysterious father, who she's never met. Her crazy, vengeful mother, the Queen of the Night, appears and gives the princess a dagger so that she can kill her dad. That's what the Queen's singing about in the video above.

I didn't choose this song because it had any special significance for Father's Day but, coincidentally, the opera...especially this version of it... does take the stand that a good father has necessary virtues that only a male can impart to a child...yes, even if that child is a girl.



Here's (above) another of my favorite Mozart songs, this one sung by a woman in drag, pretending to be a man. It's from "Marriage of Figaro." This also is inappropriate for the holiday but I found myself singing it for days in the shower so it's found a place here.

The lyrics don't fit what the melody is saying very well. Lots of songs were like that up to about 150 years ago...I don't know why. The music without lyrics seems to be pleading for understanding, for some ideal combination of human intellect and passion. That's only partly reflected in the lyrics. Go figure. Anyway, it's beautiful.

So, Happy Fathers' Day all you dads!