Hello hello silver bloggers, music lovers and Hello hivers!
How are you doing?
It is March 17th which is of course St Patrick's Day. No green beer or anything like that for me today. I have an appointment with the doctor to figure our some things tomorrow so it is going to be plain old mince and tatties for me tonight!
We are going back to my Silver Chronicles post of a few weeks ago My Soundtrack for the 80s my favourite decade
Quite a self-explanatory title and it is my inspiration for the next few posts on ttt!
The year is now 1981 and tbese three tunes are a bit different from my norm and all from the soundtrack of the 1981 hit film Chariots of Fire.
It is Tuesday and that of course means that it's #ttt or #threetunetuesday and so it's time to share some tunes with you!
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Long live #ttt đđŒ and #threetunetuesday
The Film - Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a quintessential British classic that tells the true story of two track athletes competing in the 1924 Paris Olympics.
What makes it so compelling, especially for us up here, was the journey of Eric Liddell. He was a devout Christian who famously refused to run on a Sunday. I knew many people from the Hebrides who refused to do many things on a Sunday, and even my father one of the most anti religious people around tried to not do much on a Sunday!
The other athlete was Harold Abrahams, who was an English Jew fighting against the rampant anti-Semitism of the era.
Here we are 100 years later and that anti-Semitism in the UK is even more rampant than ever, and none more so than from our illustrious labour government!
Itâs less about the running and more about the grit, faith, and the different reasons men find the will to win.
These two men would be turning in their graves if they saw the state that their country is in now.
All three of these tunes were released in 1980.
Tune 1 - Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire
The Beach you see where they filmed this was the West Sands beach in St Andrews!
Which is where I learnt to walk and took my first steps many decades later ....
This is the heartbeat of the film. It opens with that iconic, pulsating electronic beat that mimics a runnerâs stride. Itâs synonymous with the famous scene of the athletes training on the West Sands beach in St Andrews. Itâs the ultimate "against all odds" anthem.
The composer - Vangelis - EvĂĄngelos OdyssĂ©as PapathanassĂou
The Greek composer deserves his own wee mention. Being Greek his name was a but of a fluffing mouthful so he adopted the shortened professional name "Vangelis" once his career took off in Western Europe and the United States.
Fun Fact 1
He was Self-Taught ... Despite his complex compositions, EvĂĄngelos never actually learned to read or write music in the traditional sense. He played entirely by ear!
Fun Fact 2
Vangelis recorded the entire score in his own Nemo Studios in London. He was known for a spontaneous style of composing. As you can see he watched the film footage and improvise the music in real-time, capturing the emotion of the scene as he felt it, whilst smoking a cigarette!
Fun Fact 3
He was a "one-man orchestra." For this album, he played every single instrument you hear, which including the Acoustic Piano, the Yamaha CS-80 Synthesizer as well as Drums and Percussion.
Interesting Fact ... The name EvĂĄngelos is Greek for "bringer of good news" (the root of the English word "evangelist"
Tune 2 - Vangelis - Abraham's Theme
This track is much more introspective. It captures the heavy weight of expectation and the "outsider" status Harold Abrahams felt. While the main theme is about the glory of the race, this piece is about the lonely hours of training and the internal drive to prove everyone wrong.
This shows the The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, St Andrews the home of Golf and was meant to be the "Carlton Hotel" Exterior in the film.
Tune 3 - Vangelis - Eric's Theme
Last up we have the piece for Eric Liddell.
He famously said, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure."
This track perfectly captures that sense of spiritual lift and natural grace.
Is it me or does it have a Scottish feel to it?
So there you have it 3 songs released in 1981 from Vangelis's soundtrack from the film Chariots of Fire this week with my 80s Soundtrack post as the inspiration!
Final fun fact ... it won the Oscar for Best Original Score and became one of the most recognisable soundtracks in history.
Which was your favourite tune? Or have you never heard of them?
Note: The 3 YouTube videos that I have shared are not owned by me, I am simply spreading great music on Hive.
I wish that you all have a brilliant happy fun and terrific Tuesday until we meet again enjoy your tunes đ¶đ”đ¶
Thanks for visiting!
The images were were created by AI and Rafiki in InLeo from my prompts as
and ramblings are also from me with some assistance from gemini, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo unless otherwise stated.