click photo to enlarge
"It's a new dawn,It's a new day,
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good."
If I were to nominate a song to take the place of Auld Lang Syne as the one to herald in the new year then it would surely be Nina Simone's version of Feeling Good, the song written by the English writers, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, for the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd. It's not for any Janus-like qualities that the song possesses, but rather for how it looks forward and celebrates life. As I mentioned in a recent blog post this is the sort of feeling I have when Christmas is out of the way, the lull leading up to the new year is passed, and January is upon us. So perhaps rather than being sung at midnight, as 31st December tips over into January 1st, it would be sung upon rising, as a greeting to the first daylight of the first day of the new year.
Of course, were Auld Lang Syne to be given the boot and replaced by Feeling Good, a law would have to be passed banning all recordings of the song other than Nina's (that would surely be a blessing!), and people would have to brush up on their scat singing to deliver the approved version with suitable feel and authenticity.
Today's photograph, the first of 2011, was taken on the last day of 2010. Driving along a main road I pulled over to capture this image of three trees briefly revealed in the swirling mist and fog. They were standing along the edge of a field of winter wheat that was rising from the ground despite its weeks under snow and ice.
photograph and text (c) T. Boughen
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 141mm
F No: 6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
