Word: ballads
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Mitchell's forthcoming book Icelandic Legendary Sagas considers the evolution of some 30 Norse epics from prose texts into ballads. In this text, the literature expert examines the function of the poetic ballad in medieval society and the impact the genre had on society at the time, he says...
...says the book will take a new approach to analysis of Norse poetry by following the narrative text of an individual ballad as its characteristics alter over time. In this way, he will discover how the plot has or has not remained faithful to the original poetic form, as well as examining the narrative's changing impact on society...
Richards' lyrics are adequate, if not great. "You Don't Move Me"--a swipe at Mick Jagger for his current reluctance to record with other Stones--is a litany of lines like "It's no longer funny/It's bigger than money." The album's best track, the country ballad "Locked Away," begins with the wonderfully terse summation, "She swears that I'm the only one/What about yesterday?" The singer goes on to suggest that she, he and his friends "ought to be locked away"--she for her faithlessness, he for his insane jealousy, and his friends for their insensitivity...
Olmos pursues his goals with extraordinary concentration. When major studios were reluctant to distribute 1982's The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, he boldly insisted until they caved in. "The odds were against us," recalls Cortez Director Robert Young. "But Eddie believed we could make it work, and we did." More recently, the actor has been negotiating with several major U.S. corporations to make copies of Stand and Deliver available to every library, school and boy's and girl's club in the country...
Olmos' next role was as star of a PBS special, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, a true story about a Mexican cowhand who became the object of one of the biggest manhunts in Texas history, all because of an incorrectly translated word. He threw himself into the part with characteristic fervor, studying old newspaper clippings and photographs for clues to Cortez's inner state. The most audacious touch, perhaps, was the decision to have Cortez speak Spanish throughout the movie -- no subtitles. "I wanted to put non- Spanish speaking viewers in the same predicament as the law-abiding citizens...