You're the top, you're Mahatma Gandhi
You're the top, you're Mahatma Gandhi,
You're the top! you're Napoleon brandy,
You're the purple light, of a summer night in Spain,
You're the National Gallery, you're Garbo's salary,
You're cellophane!
Music
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Quotable quotes
Barbarous Indian and shrill Western music
In what perfection [Indian] music stands (as I am no competent judge), I could never give my ears the trouble to examine, it seeming loud and barbarous; yet they observe time and measure in their singing and dancing, and are mightily delighted with their tumbling and noise. They as much dislike our shriller music, hardly allowing our waits fit to play to bears, and our stringed instruments strike not their hard-to-be-raised fancies; but our organs are the music of the spheres with them, charming them to listen as long as they play.
Had I not been a classical singer
Had I not been a classical singer, I would have loved to spend my entire life in a garage fine-tuning a Fiat or a Maruti.
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Did you know?
A Sikh Animal
Vic Briggs, a guitarist of the British rock band, The Animals, later became interested in Sikh devotional music and its use of the harmonium. He converted to Sikhism (taking on the name Vikram Singh Khalsa) and has performed at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Fela Kuti and his Professor Hindu
Fela Kuti, often called Africa's Bob Marley, had a spiritual advisor named Professor Hindu who had the power to "kill and wake"—to kill a man and bring him back to life. Kuti turned down a million dollar deal with an American record label on Hindu advice.
Bahadur and Ella
The person credited with discovering legendary jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald was a Bardu Ali, his name a corruption of Bahad(o)ur Ali. He was the son of a peddler from Bengal who had settled in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century.
The Humble Harm-onium
The harmonium was banned on All India Radio's networks between 1940 and 1971. The instrument was deemed incapable of handling the complex notes of Indian classical music and was also dubbed un-Indian.
Cliff Richard and Lucknow
The British pop singer, Cliff Richard, was born Harry Rodger Webb in the King's English Hospital in Lucknow. His family later moved to Calcutta before leaving India for good when he was around eight years old.
Ravi and John Coltrane
John Coltrane, the legendary jazz saxophonist, had a son named Ravi who was named after Pandit Ravi Shankar. Ravi Coltrane is also a saxophonist.
Galactic Mantra
The sci-fi show, Battlestar Galactica, used the Gayatri Mantra as its opening theme and incorporated it liberally throughout the show.
The Baba of Baba O'Riley
The Baba in The Who's Baba O'Riley comes from Meher Baba, an Indian mystic whose followers included guitarist, Pete Townshend.
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