Monday 27 June 2011

Monday music .......... my desert island disc collection part 8

It's a busy time of year, so this the track this week will be one to remind me of my roots. I am very proud to be Welsh and as they say 'you can take the girl out of Wales, but you can't take the Welsh out of the girl' - or something like that!

On my island I would want something Welsh and have chosen this Richard Burton reading Rev Eli Jenkins poem  from Under Milk Wood. It would also remind me of my late father, who wasn't an academic, but loved to read and write poetry. I regret not having many of the poems he wrote over the years.


Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea in 1914, and died in New York in 1953, at the young age of 39. Like Burton, he was a heavy drinker.

Under Milk Wood is considered by many as his greatest ever single work. He had a home, the Boathouse in Laugharne, south west Wales, where some of Under Milk Wood was written in his 'writing shed'. The Boathouse, together with his writing shed, have been turned into a museum.




The Boathouse, perched on a cliff overlooking the estuary.



The interior of the writing shed, as it was left by Dylan Thomas.


Dylan Thomas is buried in the churchyard at Laugharne, and has a plaque dedicated to him at Poets'Corner in Westminster Abbey.

I spent 4 very happy years living a few miles away from Laugharne, and have great memories of this beautiful part of Wales.



This is also the time to own up and say that I am 'a bit of a fraud'. When I started my Monday Music I had no intention of sticking to the Desert Island Disc rules of just 8 tracks. I figure that in MP3 format I could take thousands of tracks stored on something even smaller than the original  recordings.

Listen on ..........

Perhaps sometimes I might ask some of you to choose a track for me!

Let me know if you have one, and why it is important to you, and I'll see what I can do......

12 comments:

  1. Well if your going to do it properly you can now have one book to go alongside the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible and one luxury, so get thinking!

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  2. That will be hard........... and the single luxury too! Do I take something cold in a glass or some body creme? You'll have to wait until I have finished my reports to find out!!!

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  3. Hello Gaynor:
    How lovely to be starting the week listening to the voice of Richard Burton reading from Under Milkwood as, surely no-one else is able. Wonderful.

    In all our years of living on the Welsh Borders we never, shamefully, visited Laugharne. How very silly of us for it must be the most magical of places and we so love the work of Dylan Thomas.

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  4. I love Richard Burton's voice, wish I could play this but my speed here in France is sadly too slow!! Diane

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  5. The most perfect voice ever. Have you ever heard "Black" singing "Wonderful life"? I love it, especially so as no one else has ever heard of it!

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  6. Meant to give you the link sorry:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyfu_mU-dmo

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  7. Thanks for posting that Gaynor... UMW [the BBC recording] is one of my favourite albums... and only the Great God Burton ever does it justice. We've also got the cartoon version of UMW which uses the BBC version as its soundtrack... great!

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  8. Jane and Lance, Diane, Craig and Tim,

    Glad you all enjoyed this little snippett of Richard Burton's performance from Under Milk Wood.
    Diane :o(



    .

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  9. Craig,

    I checked out the link. I didn't recognise the title but as soon as I heard the intro I remembered. Good choice!

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  10. Tim and Pauline,

    Isn't there a Polly Garter in UMW?

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  11. That's where she gats it from...?
    I have wondered... I look forward to Pauline's response.
    Heat here riddunculus... just under 40 this afternoon. I have just finished working outside... the only way to get work done.

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  12. There is a story about my aunt once meeting with and talking to Dylan Thomas in New York back in the day, so I would love to visit his cottage sometime. Sounds like a wonderful area of Wales you lived in.

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