The Lions of Lyon (24)
(Click on this beauty to see a bigger size)
This is the latest in my series of lions from Lyon. It's hard to believe that I'm up to number 24! This has been close to my heart and soon it will be over - I reckon we'll probably get to about 30!
Don't forget to look back over previous posts to see the lions that have already made an appearance. All of my posts are accessible on this same page. You don't need to go digging through the archives, just scroll down and keep going! (For those who don't know about the lions, they featured in an expo in Lyon a few years back, and I happily went around and caught them all on camera).
I've often wondered about this whole thing of having regular series or features on blogs. Do they work? Do people like to come back to see familiar "columns" and attractions? What will I have to replace the lions once they're gone? I am going to have a think and see what I can come up with. I could just post regular shots of Lyon, which is a beautiful city, and one that tourists don't always come to.
I want to resurrect some other regular features I started a while back. One was a literary quiz, with clues given about famous authors. The other was "A Shameless Titbit", which will now be dedicated to strange anecdotes of things that I have experienced or am experiencing. I will try to find peculiar things that spark your emotions. Of course there will always be the odd short story and poem. And music and video will now be a regular feature. Coming soon is a video of memories from my recent trip to New York, with some original piano music to boot.
Re the lions though, don't forget that I will be having a contest to find out which is the best of those presented on this blog. I am going to create a video parade, with all the lions making an appearance to some fitting music - would there be a copyright issue if I played my own version of "The lion sleeps tonight" on the piano? Is it traditional or will it be covered by copyright? I feel a google coming on! But if anyone knows about these things, do let me know.
Anyway, with or without that music, the lions will be all brought together and then you will be asked to vote for your favourite three. So, start having a look back through them now. Try to see which ones you will vote for. In the meantime, enjoy beauty number 24!
11 comments:
I've just googled and found that "the lion sleeps tonight" is covered by copyright! Solomon Linda wrote the song in South Africa many decades ago, and it was performed by his group The Evening Birds. His heirs retain the rights to the music. I shall be forced then to write an original composition that suits a lion parade!
Yes, I remember the song. Like siniging it too. But lions in the wild are considerably harder to find the your lions of Lyon. In fact, after driving aroung a Game Reserve for many hours on three occasions last year, the lions still eluded us.
Saaleha,
I find it's one of those songs that goes right into my "centre". It's nice in French as well. Except in French, instead of saying "the lion sleeps tonight", they say "the lion is dead tonight"! Very peculiar!
"Dans la jungle, terrible jungle, le lion est mort ce soir."
I think it's nicer for kids to hear that the lion is sleeping, not dead.
We also did a safari in Tanzania a few years back, and got to see amazing animals but no lions. They seem to know how to avoid us!
From one kitty cat to another: Roar.
Jessica, did you see the pic of my lovely little miss muffin? Scroll back to September the 2nd!
I did! That blue-eyed Siamese? She is so pretty. Hopefully she's friendly too, I've heard some Siamese can be sort of stand off-ish, but my one girl, Kiwi, is 1/2 Siamese 1/2 domestic shorthair and she's very friendly, but only if she knows you.
Our Miss Muffin is verrrrry charming. She has never take a dislike to anyone. Every single person who comes into our flat is welcomed, be it the man fixing the heating or our friends. She does go a bit crazy sometimes, throwing herself around the room at 350 kilometres an hour, and her claws can slip! She's only one and a half though. We're lucky that - so far - she doesn't have any terrible bad habits. Not one, and Siamese are known for being good at having at least a couple!
Oh I knew it was a South African because I remember hearing on the news a while back that his family were going to court to try and win back the rights to the song. Apparently he got well and truly diddled and died in poverty, so I'm sorry for you, but glad his family got the rights back.
Verilion, absolutely, I'm glad his family took the big corporations to court! And I'm glad he got recognition for being the one who actually wrote the music in the first place. And I don't mind respecting copyright ... it's about respecting the creativity of someone else. Hence, I will be composing something special for my lions!
Miaow! I'll be looking out for the lion parade!
Glad I can count on your vote, Cailleach!
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