American Pie, "Album" & More

I just took a look at the Major League Baseball current standings and my favorite team, the Chicago Cubs, is still in first place. The regular season ends in about 2 weeks, so cross your fingers!!

Current standings. Clasificación general

Let’s take a quick look at some of the items I’ve discussed during the last week or so…

Music

We continue to look back at the USA’s Number 1 hits. Don McLean made it to the top with “American Pie” during the week of January 15, 1972. McLean’s masterpiece is about the death on February 3, 1959 of three of his favorite musicians who he refers to in the song as “the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” He’s in fact singing about Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, known as the Big Bopper.

The lyrics point to the airplane crash that took their lives and contain some insights into McLean’s life: “February made me shiver, with every paper I’d deliver”…(McLean had a paper route as a boy).

The song also provides some clever references to changes taking place musically in the United States at the time: “Oh and while the King was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown…” Elvis, the King, was losing popularity as Bob Dylan, the jester, was gaining popularity.

He also expresses the sadness he felt for Buddy Holly’s pregnant wife: “I can’t remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride. But something touched me deep inside, the day the music died."

To shiver. Tiritar, temblar
Thorny crown. Corona de espinas
Widowed bride. Viuda recién casada

And don't forget the song performed by Buddy Holly, “That’ll Be The Day." McLean is clearly referencing it at the end of the song’s chorus: “This’ll be the day that I die.”

Business

We recently took a look at how companies can do their part in helping to clean up the environment. Business can benefit from implementing an environmental action plan, which leads to reduced waste and costs. The plan will also benefit the company’s stakeholders.

The environment. Medio ambiente
Waste. Derroche
Stakeholder. Over the past several years, many people have asked me about the word “stakeholder”. One way to define it in Spanish would be: todos los grupos de interés con los que se relaciona la compañía.

The traditional definition in English is as follows: A party with an interest in an organization, e.g. employees, customers, suppliers or the local community.

And be careful! Don’t confuse “stakeholder” with the word “shareholder”.

Shareholder. Accionista

Flashback Friday

This Friday, September 21, we’ll go back to 1971. Where were you in ’71? What music were you listening to? Were you even born then? If so, you’ll recall some of the memories I’ll present this Friday.

To be born. Nacer
To recall. Recordar, acordarse

Victorious Vocabulary

“Album”. We took a look at the origins of this word and how the Beatles employed it in an interesting way. “Album” literally means “white” in Latin. In ancient Rome, officers wrote down official business records on wooden boards covered in white plaster. From here, the idea took on the meaning of a white tablet and then a blank book for collecting photographs. In the 1950s, “album” was used to describe long-playing vinyl records and the music recorded on them. (Yes! “elepé” comes from “LP”, the abbreviation of “long-playing”).

The Beatles’ album that's officially called “The Beatles” -you know, the album with nothing on the cover, no artwork or color at all - well, today we know it as “The White Album.” White = album…

Ah, those clever Beatles.

To write down. Apuntar (phrasal verb!)
Plaster. Yeso (it’s also “escayola”)
Tablet. Bloc

Keep listening and keep learning!

Published by: Drew Crosby