Can't Help Falling In Love
  • ReneA
    Posts: 20
    "Can't Help Falling in Love" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley for the album Blue Hawaii (1961).
    It was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss and published by Gladys Music, Inc.

    Recorded 13FEB2022, the day before we depart for Israel, to tour the Holy Land, with Father Mel Strazizich from St Mary Catholic Church in Anacortes, WA.

    A very bare and vulnerable acoustic live recording, from the heart, and for love!!!


    Copyright owners
    MINT_BMG

    https://youtu.be/sAtppoBOkbU
  • Rene,

    Are you suggesting that every parish choir (or group of parish volunteer musicians) can/should attempt something similar, in the interests of meeting the people where they are, or did you intend that we admire the work itself, or the recording by members of your parish when they were off duty?
    Thanked by 2CharlesW Don9of11
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    "Can't Help Falling in Love" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley for the album Blue Hawaii (1961).


    What on earth does this song have to do with worship or anything liturgical? Are you just using the church as a concert venue to perform all your old favorites? I don't understand what your goal is.
  • I confess, I’ve been reticent to say too much, with Rene being such a new member, but as this is a forum pertaining to sacred music, a few of these posts seem a bit out of character for the forum, perhaps more fit for other social media. I do wish him a very blessed and fruitful pilgrimage, however!
  • ReneA
    Posts: 20
    First of all, I want to apologize for making a mistake to post my latest post in this forum - General Music Discussion, especially this Elvis tune.
    I have posted a few songs in the "Amusement" Category.
    Again, I made a mistake and posted on General Music Discussion.


    Second, to answer some of your questions

    I am a Music Minister for St Mary and St Augustine Catholic Churches in Anacortes WA and Oak Harbor,WA respectively.
    My intention is to spread the good news of the gospel, via songs of praise. I am starting to compose songs of praise and wanted to share the message to people.
    I am currently traveling at this time, and we are in Bethlehem, Israel, with a group of pilgrims from St Michael from Olympia WA and St Mary Anacortes WA, and we are visiting the Holy Land.
    One thing we visibly and heartily noticed and realized, is that Christianity, specifically Catholicism is dramatically plummeting its population in the Holy Land. This phenomenon started in the year 2000, with the onset of the suicide bombings in the area.
    The Muslim population is rapidly growing in the Holy Land. We also saw with our own eyes the physical closing of Catholic and Christian churches in the Holy Land, and the rapid construction of mosques. In fact, where there is a Christian or Catholic Church, there is a mosque right beside it.
    Nothing wrong with the pursuit of converting all peoples to the Islam faith.

    With my current eye-opening education in the Holy Land, my personal journey lesson urges me to leave my pride and personal gains here in Israel, and bring home a renewed focus on strengthening my faith, and specifically, looking for ways to spread the gospel with a rejuvenated focus on Catholic conversions.

    Thank you.
    Thanked by 1Don9of11
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Um ... Nathan, I think that was sarcasm. ReneA probably isn't familiar with the convention here that sarcasm is often set in purple text color.
  • (I still don’t know how to do purple. Tried to figure it out but failed.)
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    <font color=purple>"this text is purple"</font>
    produces
    "this text is purple"
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    There is nothing at all wrong with spreading the faith. Notice I said THE faith, not any faith you like or that conforms to your feelings. The trouble with the song mentioned above, is that it promotes Elvis more than it promotes Christ or Catholicism in the minds of most folks who hear it.
  • Rene,

    Can you explain (because I think it makes sense to you, or you wouldn't have posted it here) how Elvis Pressley's Can't help falling in Love is spreading the faith?
  • ReneA
    Posts: 20
    Hi Chris,
    I apologize for making a mistake of posting it in this particular forum.
    I was posting my songs of love and hope and others in the "Amusement" forum.
  • ReneA
    Posts: 20
    Hi Charles,
    I do apologize for posting Elvis' song in "General Music Discussion".
    I was posting in "Amusement".
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • noted. apology not necessary, but welcome. I thought I had begun to lose my mind.
  • Carol
    Posts: 856
    For most of us here, one of the great joys in life is singing a song you like in harmony with others. The chance to blend well, and to hear and savor the parts moving as they should is special. When this occurs for the glory of God it is all the more special. The joy of singing as part of a good ensemble is a blessing and we shouldn't take it for granted.
    Thanked by 2Elmar LauraKaz
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    To illustrate Carol's point with a brief (in terms of time; not in terms of what it evokes) piece of music: one of the great "chestnuts" of the English choral tradition is "O Nata Lux" by Thomas Tallis. The text is a short antiphon, associated with the Transfiguration of the Lord, and nowadays often sung on the Second Sunday of Lent, for which the Transfiguration is the appointed Gospel reading.

    Tallis' setting of the antiphon sounds somewhat, well, strange (perhaps unearthly?), to modern ears, in ways that were characteristic of the English school of polyphony in the 16th century. In my experience and that of other singers I know have experienced, when a schola sings this in a semicircle (or even a circle in rehearsal), there are ineffable physical sensations that can arise from tuning in real time, the sound columns of singers interpenetrating each other, to the point of sensing it happening, and that contribute to the sense of offering worship to God on behalf of God's beloved people:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MADKEN5aL6I
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    [I've changed the category to "Amusements".--admin]
    Thanked by 3WGS CHGiffen Carol
  • jcr
    Posts: 139
    It should be noted here that the song in question was plagiarized and the popular version is a modification of a song written by Giovanni Martini (1741-1816) which can be found in the old Schirmer Anthology of Italian Song and probably several other places. I learned this song as an undergrad voice major before the Elvis recording. The 50's and 60's brought us a few such "borrowed" pieces.
  • JCR,

    Are you teasing us, or is your comment to be taken seriously?
  • I've known “Plaisir d’Amour” and “I Can’t Help” since childhood, including a cover of the former by Mouskouri (1973?) but never until today thought that they are “the same song”. Which I (now) see freely asserted all over the internet...

    But the two melodies have, what, a time signature and one phrase, in common? The rising 5th in Peretti et al is certainly not how Martini's starts. Their bridge ("darling so it goes..") is in a different mode altogether. [J.-P.] Martini's melody ("j'ai tout quitté..") enters the dominant, and then his bridge ("tant que cette eau") is in the relative minor.

    I suppose one could say it “quotes from", and maybe that would be true: but in what sense is the Elvis tune "plagiarized"?

    Thanked by 1jcr
  • Carol
    Posts: 856
    That is interesting. My husband always says "there are only so many notes" and, therefore, only so many permutations of those notes.
  • jcr
    Posts: 139
    One might say "quotes from" in an instance such as this. However, there is a sufficient "borrowed" or "quoted" material to suggest a familiarity with the Martini piece. I'll own that the term "plagiarized" is probably a bit strong, but I'm not suggesting that I'm giving legal advice here. Listen, look it over, and judge for yourself. Actually as borrowed material it was well chosen for the use to which it was put.
    Thanked by 1Carol