Nature up close: Wildlife and the story behind "Taco Bell's Cannon"
By "Sunday Morning" contributing videographer Judy Lehmberg.
Many years ago, when my husband and I were still dating, he began introducing me to some of the things he cared about but I didn't. One of those was classical music. I loved rock, and that was it.
He started me off gently with some of the better-known pieces he thought even I might recognize, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," and his all-time favorite, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Then he played Pachelbel's Canon, but I could have sworn he said, "Taco Bell's Cannon." I thought for a second, What the hell did a fast food restaurant have to do with classical music? And who were they going to shoot with that cannon? Yes, I really was that dumb, but it has given us some laughs over the years, and I have come to truly love that music.
I wasn't there when the music genes were being passed out, but there are some pieces that move me, and Pachelbel's Canon is one of them. I guess it is because I love animals of all kinds that every time I hear it, I see a parade of animals – not a parade in the traditional going-down-the-street-with-floats-and-a-brass-band sense, but huge masses of animals running wild on an Earth that existed before humans came along and screwed everything up. Sometimes it's thousands of tarpon jumping in Galveston Bay; or huge flocks of billions of now-extinct passenger pigeons flying overhead, flocks that took days to pass over one spot; or hundreds of thousands of elephants moving across the open savannah of East Africa.
I finally decided to put my vision to the music of Pachelbel's Canon, and the following is the result. Relax and let your mind wander to Africa for a few minutes while you watch some of that continent's stunning animals:
Judy Lehmberg is a former college biology teacher who now shoots nature videos.
For more:
- Judy Lehmberg (Official site)
- Judy Lehmberg's YouTube Channel
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