"Albion"
File:Albionarge.jpg
Single by Babyshambles
from the album Down in Albion
Released	November 28, 2005
Format	CD, 7"
Genre	Indie, Rock
Length	3:28
Label	Rough Trade
Writer(s)	Pete Doherty
Producer	Mick Jones
Babyshambles singles chronology
"Fuck Forever" (2005) "Albion" (2005) "Janie Jones" (2006)
Alternative cover Down In Albion track listing "La Belle et la Bête" "Fuck Forever" "A'Rebours" "The 32nd of December" "Pipedown" "Sticks and Stones" "Killamangiro" "8 Dead Boys" "In Love With a Feeling" "Pentonville" "What Katy Did Next" "Albion" "Back From the Dead" "The Loyalty Song" "Up the Morning" "Merry Go Round"

"Albion" is a song by English band Babyshambles. It was released as the third single from Down in Albion on November 28, 2005 in the UK. The single was released in Japan on March 8, 2006 by Reservoir Records/EMI.

"Albion" deals primarily with the concept of Albion, thought of as a mythical England (or Great Britain), the landscape and life of which is referred to throughout the song. This idea was central to The Libertines and still is to Babyshambles. The song was the first acoustic song Babyshambles released. The song had been used in The Libertines live sets, and thus there was some controversy from fans when it was released. It is always one of the highlights of Babyshambles live shows. The "Albion" is also a recurrent theme in Pete Doherty's music and poetry. A lot of songs contain the word "Albion" in their lyrics: in The Libertines' "Love on the Dole", "Bucket Shop" (both from the Legs 11 Session), "The Good Old Days" (from their debut album Up The Bracket), and in Babyshambles' "Merry-Go-Round" (from their debut album Down In Albion). Most of The Libertines fans discovered the song "Albion" in the 2003 Babyshambles Sessions.

The song's lyrical quality is a reflection of its origin, a poem penned by Doherty when he was 16 (according to Babyshambles bass player Drew McConnell's remark in the November 5, 2005 NME track-by-track guide to Down in Albion, it was the first song Doherty wrote). The lyrics were praised on an episode of Newsnight Review, when critics were reviewing Babyshambles' debut album Down In Albion. The single version differs from the album cut, where the song proper is preceded by a minute-long noise (thought to incorporate the sound of a Hammond organ warming up).

Music video[link]

The promotional video for "Albion" has been directed by Roger Pomphrey and features a variety of live, fly on the wall and backstage footage of the band.

Some of the footage shows Pete Doherty and former manager, James Mullord, together. However due to Doherty's alleged grievances against him, the record label ordered that Mullord be digitally erased from the video, hence when he and Doherty are shown arriving in Trafalgar Square for the Love Music Hate Racism gig in May 2005, Mullord's face is pixelated. At the end of the video, Doherty is seen walking into the distance with his former manager.

Other footage shows glimpses of Kate Moss with Doherty, embracing on the edge of a river bank, as seen previously in the Who the Fuck is Pete Doherty documentary. Doherty is also seen standing up, attempting to thumb a ride from a passing speed boat.

Track listing[link]

• CD Single RTRADSCD260

1. "Albion" (single version)
2. "Do You Know Me"

• CD Maxi Single RTRADSCDX260

1. "Albion" (single version)
2. "My Darling Clementine"
3. "Why Did You Break My Heart/Piracy"
4. "Albion" (Video)
5. "Bonus Footage" (Albion Acoustic)

• 7" RTRADS260

1. "Albion" (single version)
2. "Wolfman"

• Japanese Maxi CD TOCP-66533

1. "Albion" (single version)
2. "My Darling Clementine"
3. "Why Did You Break My Heart/Piracy"
4. "Wolfman"
5. "Do You Know Me"
6. "Albion" (Video)
7. "Bonus Footage" (Albion Acoustic)

Chart performance[link]

References[link]

The white cliffs of Dover may have given rise to the name Albion

Albion (Greek: Ἀλβιών) is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain. Today, it is still sometimes used poetically to refer to the island. The name for Scotland in the Celtic languages is related to Albion: Alba in Scottish Gaelic, Albain in Irish, Nalbin in Manx and Alban in Welsh/Cornish/Breton. These names were later Latinized as Albania and Anglicized as Albany, which were once alternative names for Scotland. New Albion and Albionoria ("Albion of the North") were briefly suggested as possible names of Canada during the period of Canadian Confederation.^[1][2]

Etymology[link]

The derivation of the name Albion is discussed by Eilert Ekwall in an article called "Early names of Britain" in Antiquity 1930.

Gallo-Romance Albiōn (cf. Middle Irish Albbu) derives from the Proto-Celtic * Alb-i̯en-, sharing the same stem as Welsh elfydd "earth, world", together with other European and Mediterranean toponyms such as Alpes and Albania has two possible etymologies, both plausible: either *albho-, a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "white" (in reference to the white southern shores of the island), or *alb-, Proto-Indo-European for "hill".

Attestation[link]

The early writer (6th century BC), whose periplus was translated by Avienus at the end of the 4th century (see Massaliote Periplus), does not use the name Britannia; instead he speaks of nesos 'Iernon kai 'Albionon: the islands of the Ierni and the Albiones. Likewise, Pytheas of Massilia (ca. 320 BC) speaks of Albion and Ierne. But Pytheas' grasp of the νῆσος Πρεττανική nêsos Prettaniké (Britanic island) is somewhat blurry, and appears to include anything he considers a western island, including Thule.^[3]

The name was used by Isadorus Charactacenis and subsequently by many classical writers. By the 1st century AD, the name refers unequivocally to Great Britain. The Pseudo-Aristotelian text De mundo (393b) has:

Ἐν τούτῳ γε μὴν νῆσοι μέγισται τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι δύο, Βρεττανικαὶ λεγόμεναι, Ἀλβίων καὶ Ἰέρνη

"the largest islands they reached were two, called the Britannic [isles], Albion and Iernē."

Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (4.16.102) likewise has:

"It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae.^[4] "

In his Geographia, Ptolemy, writing in the 2nd Century AD, uses the name "Albion" instead of the Roman name Brittania; possibly following the commentaries of Marinus of Tyre.^[5]

In 930, the English King Æthelstan used the title: rex et primicerius totius Albionis regni^[6] ("King and chief of the whole realm of Albion"). His nephew King Edgar styled himself Totius Albionis imperator augustus (August emperor of all Albion) in 970.^[7]

In myth[link]

According to the 12th century Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of The Kings of Britain") by Geoffrey of Monmouth, the exiled Brutus of Troy was told by the goddess Diana;

"Brutus! there lies beyond the Gallic bounds
An island which the western sea surrounds,
By giants once possessed, now few remain
To bar thy entrance, or obstruct thy reign.
To reach that happy shore thy sails employ
There fate decrees to raise a second Troy
And found an empire in thy royal line,
Which time shall ne'er destroy, nor bounds confine".^[8]

After many adventures, Brutus and his fellow Trojans escape from Gaul and "set sail with a fair wind towards the promised island".^[9]

"The island was then called Albion, and inhabited by none but a few giants. Notwithstanding this, the pleasant situation of the places, the plenty of rivers abounding with fish, and the engaging prospect of its woods, made Brutus and his company very desirous to fix their habitation in it." After dividing up the island between themselves "at last Brutus called the island after his own name Britain, and his companions Britons; for by these means he desired to perpetuate the memory of his name".^[10] Geoffrey goes on to recount how the last of the giants are defeated, the largest one called Goëmagot is flung over a cliff by Corineus.

Because Geoffrey of Monmouth's work was regarded as fact until the late 17th century, the story appears in most early histories of Britain. Wace, Layamon, Raphael Holinshed, William Camden and John Milton repeat the legend and it appears in Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene.^[11]

A further legend originating in the 14th century, concerns the daughters of the Emperor Diocletian, the eldest being called Albynia. They are all banished to Albion after plotting to murder their husbands, where they couple with the local demons; their offspring are a race of giants.^[12]

See also[link]

• Perfidious Albion
• Fable (video game series)

References[link]

Three singers-a trio-singing a song while accompanied on a lute played by one of the singers. Das Konzert [The Concert] (c. 1490, Lorenzo Costa).

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing. A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs. The lyrics (words) of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, though they may be religious verses or free prose.

A song may be for a solo singer, a duet, trio, or larger ensemble involving more voices. Songs with more than one voice to a part are considered choral works. Songs can be broadly divided into many different forms, depending on the criteria used. One division is between "art songs", "pop songs", and "folk songs". Other common methods of classification are by purpose (sacred vs secular), by style (dance, ballad, Lied, etc.), or by time of origin (Renaissance, Contemporary, etc.).

A song is a piece of music for accompanied or unaccompanied voice or voices or, "the act or art of singing," but the term is generally not used for large vocal forms including opera and oratorio.^[1] However, the term is, "often found in various figurative and transferred sense (e.g. for the lyrical second subject of a sonata...)."^[1] The noun "song" has the same etymological root as the verb "to sing" and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines the word to mean "that which is sung" or "a musical composition suggestive of song." The OED also defines the word to mean "a poem" or "the musical phrases uttered by some birds, whales, and insects, typically forming a recognizable and repeated sequence and used chiefly for territorial defence or for attracting mates." ^[2]

Cultural types[link]

Art songs[link]

Art songs are songs created for performance in their own right, usually with piano accompaniment, although they can also have other types of accompaniment such as an orchestra or string quartet, and are always notated. Generally they have an identified author and composer and require voice training for acceptable performance. German-speaking communities use the term art song ("Kunstlied") to distinguish so-called "serious" compositions from folk song ("Volkslied"). The lyrics are often written by a poet or lyricist and the music separately by a composer. Art songs may be more formally complicated than popular or folk songs, though many early Lieder by the likes of Franz Schubert are in simple strophic form. They are often important to national identity.

Art songs feature in many European cultures, including but not limited to: Russian (romancy), German (Lieder), Italian (canzoni), French (mélodies), Scandinavian (sånger), Portuguese (canções), Spanish (canciones). There are also highly regarded British and American art songs in the English language. Cultures outside of Europe that have a classical music tradition, such as India, may or may not feature art songs. The accompaniment of European art songs is considered as an important part of the composition.

The art song of the period in which they originally flowered is often a duet in which the vocalist and accompanist share in interpretive importance. The pieces were most often written to be performed in a home or salon setting, although today the works enjoy popularity as concert pieces. The emergence of poetry during this era was much of what inspired the creation of these pieces by Brahms, Schumann, Schubert and other composers. These composers set poems in their native language. Many works were inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Heinrich Heine. Another method would be to write new music for each stanza to create a unique form; this was through-composed form known in German as durchkomponiert. A combination of both of these techniques in a single setting was called a modified strophic form. Often romantic art songs sharing similar elements were grouped as a song cycle.^[3]

Folk songs[link]

Folk songs are songs of often anonymous origin (or are public domain) that are transmitted orally. They are frequently a major aspect of national or cultural identity. Art songs often approach the status of folk songs when people forget who the author was. Folk songs are also frequently transmitted non-orally (that is, as sheet music), especially in the modern era. Folk songs exist in almost every culture.

Popular songs[link]

Modern popular songs are typically distributed as recordings and are played on the radio, though all other mass media that have audio capabilities are involved. Their relative popularity is inferred from commercially significant sales of recordings, ratings of stations and networks that play them, and ticket sales for concerts by the recording artists. A popular song can become a modern folk song when members of the public who learn to sing it from the recorded version teach their version to others. Popular songs may be called pop songs for short, although pop songs or pop music may instead be considered a more commercially popular genre of popular music as a whole.

See also[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Song

• Air (music)
• Animal song: bird song, whale song, zoomusicology
• Aria
• Ballad
• Canticle
• Category:Musical forms
• Hymn
• Instrumental
• Lied
• Madrigal (music)
• Song structure (popular music)
• Vocal music
• Theme song
• Poem and song
• Singing

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Marcello Sorce Keller (1984), "The Problem of Classification in Folksong Research: a Short History", Folklore, XCV, no. 1, 100- 104.

Raymond Keith King (born January 15, 1974 in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired Major League Baseball relief pitcher. King stands at 6'0" tall and weighs 265 pounds. Because of his large size, former Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog playfully referred to King as The Hefty Lefty. He bats and throws left-handed.

High school and college years[link]

King attended Ripley High School (Ripley, Tennessee) and lettered in football, basketball, and baseball. In baseball, he won All-America honors as a senior. The lefty is also an alumnus of Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee.

Professional career[link]

In nine seasons as a professional, King has appeared in 577 games and pitched 403 innings. He is 20-23 lifetime with a 3.42 ERA, 177 walks, 276 strikeouts, 130 holds and 2 saves. As a batter he was 0-6 at the plate, with three strikeouts.

Early career[link]

King's professional baseball career began on June 1, 1995 when the Cincinnati Reds selected him in the eight round of the amateur draft. The southpaw spent the next four seasons playing for minor league affiliates in the Reds, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs organizations before finally making his major league debut on May 21, 1999 as a member of the Cubs.

Milwaukee Brewers[link]

After two different stints with Chicago in 1999, King was dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers the following spring. During the 2001 and 2002 seasons the relief pitcher was a staple in the Brewers bullpen, appearing in over 75 games each of those seasons.

Atlanta Braves[link]

That off-season, King was dealt back to Atlanta for infielder Wes Helms and pitcher John Foster. King showed his durability once again appearing in 80 games as the Braves primary left-handed reliever. He also made his first career postseason appearance that season, pitching a scoreless inning of relief.He was on the move again, however during the winter of 2003 joining the St. Louis Cardinals along with fellow pitchers Jason Marquis and Adam Wainwright.

St. Louis Cardinals[link]

2004 was King's finest season in the majors to date. The rubber-armed lefty appeared in a career and team high 86 games for the Cardinals, and also notched career bests in holds (32), wins and earned run average along the way to a 5-2 record and 2.41 ERA. From May to July, King built a 30-game scoreless streak, another personal best. He also pitched 6²⁄₃ innings that postseason as St. Louis captured the National League pennant.

Colorado Rockies[link]

King joined the Colorado Rockies for the 2006 season after a trade from St. Louis for outfielder Larry Bigbie and second baseman Aaron Miles.

Washington Nationals[link]

King (right) talks to teammate Luis Ayala in 2008.

He joined the Washington Nationals on a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training the following winter. He made the Nationals 2007 Opening Day roster.

Milwaukee Brewers[link]

In September he was acquired by the Brewers in exchange for a player to be named later to help with their playoff run. King completed the 2007 season with a 1-1 record and a 4.76 ERA in 67 games. He became a free agent after the season.

Washington Nationals[link]

On November 30, 2007, King resigned with the Nationals to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. On March 22, 2008, King's minor league contract was purchased by the Nationals, and made the opening day roster.[1] King appeared in 12 games and went 0-0 with a 5.68 ERA during the month of April. On April 24, King was optioned to Triple-A Columbus, but he refused the assignment and declared free agency.

Chicago White Sox[link]

In early May 2008, King signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox, but was released after only four appearances.

Houston Astros[link]

On May 29, 2008, King signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros; he became a free agent at the end of the season.

Scouting report[link]

A lefty specialist with a durable arm, King ranked amongst the top ten National League relievers in appearances from 2001 through 2005. Armed with a late-moving, low 90s fastball and sharp breaking slider, King pitches to the bottom of the strike zone and offers up few home runs. He is also adept at holding runners, and fielding his position, having committed only 7 errors in 577 career games.

Personal life[link]

King resides with his wife Cherie in Litchfield Park, Arizona during the off-season with his son Tyrell and daughter Brookelynn.

Facts[link]

• Despite almost 600 career games, King has only 2 saves and never started a game.
• King holds the second most number of single-season appearances for two organizations; the Atlanta Braves (80 appearances in 2003) and the Milwaukee Brewers (84 appearances in 2001).
• King earned Milwaukee's Manager's Award and the Amanda Curran Award for Community Service in 2004.
• King went 328 games without issuing an intentional walk, spanning over 4 years. This is the longest known streak of its kind. On August 6, 2007, King allowed a leadoff double to Ryan Klesko in the bottom of the 11th inning and intentionally walked Dave Roberts to end the streak. The Giants eventually scored, and King took the loss. While pitching for the Atlanta Braves, King threw a wild pitch on an intentional walk that scored the game's winning run from third base.

External references[link]

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube