"For the most part, people are not going to like war, starvation, death, prejudice and the destruction of the environment. Then there’s the trap of easy rhymes. Revolution/evolution/air pollution. Segregation/demonstration. John Lennon got away with it by using his cheeky sense of humor to create a postmodern campfire song all about bag-ism and shag-ism. But in less sure hands one might as well write about the periodic table of elements with built-in rhymes about calcium, chromium and lithium."
Writes Bob Dylan, in "The Philosophy of Modern Song" (p. 78).
The song under discussion there is "Ball of Confusion"....
... which he connects to "Give Peace a Chance"...
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42 comments:
'...one might as well write about the periodic table of elements with built-in rhymes about calcium, chromium and lithium."'
I would argue that those don't rhyme...
So...what did Bob have to say about "Ball of Confusion", a great and timely song from our Motown days?
Tom Lehrer disagrees:
The Elements
Ball of Delusion… Contusion… Retribution… Dissolution…
Does he then connect to Tom Lehrer? https://youtu.be/U2cfju6GTNs
@ tcrosse
I'd forgotten that thing. I'm sure Dylan knew it when he wrote that. A subtle dig at Tom Lehrer.
@tcrosse, you beat me to it.
@Althouse, Tom Lehrer is a mathematician as well as a songwriter and entertainer. It is he who should be poking fun at hicks named Zimmerman.
Martin Luther had the best song lyrics
Er ist auf Erden kommen arm,
Daß er unser sich erbarm,
Und in dem Himmel mache reich,
Und seinen lieben Engeln gleich.
(Bach Christmas Oratorio)
You in the market you be losin’ yer shirt
Schwomen walkin’ ’round with their dicks in the dirt
I’m not crazy familiar with Bob Dylan’s work, but I think it’s fair to say that something of his lyric-writing style is seeping into his prose-writing style.
Does Dylan mention the great Googamooga?
Love that song! Unfortunately, too relevant today.
The trick with the Lehrer song is that it’s the tune from the Pirates of Penzance. I’ve heard Lehrer grumble about the fact that of all his oeuvre, why is that the song for which he’s best known.
So...what did Bob have to say about "Ball of Confusion", a great and timely song from our Motown days?
He praises it. Also gives rightful tribute to the songwriters - said something along the lines of, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong never wrote a bad song.
Dylan's "All I Want to Do" is one of the best laundry list songs I know of. And his comment about how such a song looks deceptively easy to do is apt. Billy Joel tried and fail.
i'm happy to say, that i had No memory of Ever hearing that song before.
i'm sad to say, that i now have a memory hearing that song.
Please make it stop! it hurts my ears!
To think, in one year; the music world went from The Archies Sugar, Sugar; to That.. is just sad
That was fun, both musical pieces. I've never seen Give Peace a Chance in all these years. Was that Tommy Smothers on the guitar? And I for sure saw Timothy Leary in there. Turn on, tune in, drop out, baby! His presence there explains a lot. What a trippy time it was.
Rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics, tempo ...
Words? Nah.
Harvard / discovered was a stretch. I prefer "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and "Fight Fiercely, Harvard!" Dooo!
Lehrer is still alive at 94. I can't recall the name of the PBS political songster imitator.
Lots of easy rhyming in the 60s. "War...what it it good for?" "Unreal values, crass distortion, unwed mothers need abortion."
Things are harder now: what rhymes with "election denier" or "erectile dysfunction"?
I prefer the "Peace Through Strength" doctrine of the Strategic Air Command, but anyway, do my eyes decieve me, or is that Tommy Smothers playing guitar? And did I spot a younger Bernie in the party crowd?
I'm guessing lots of people looked like a younger Bernie back then, all it takes is avoiding a haircut or two and hanging around cooler people.
“Does Dylan mention the great Googamooga?”
Yes. 4 times.
@ robother - erectile dysfunction/tax deduction. It fits right into Ball of Confusion.
'Er ist auf Erden kommen arm,
Daß er unser sich erbarm,
Und in dem Himmel mache reich,
Und seinen lieben Engeln gleich.'
Was better in the original German...
John Lennon - opinion
Many praise Lennon as a great mind. He was not.
Evidence:
Yoko
speaking of "....calcium, chromium and lithium."
*******
I began school in a rural one-room schoolhouse near Shanksville, PA.
One teacher, eight grades, 30 students.
Our school was so poor that the Periodic Table of the Elements on the wall displayed only the Alkali Metals and the Lanthanide series.
Calcium and Chromium didn't make the cut.
speaking of "....calcium, chromium and lithium."
*******
I began school in a rural one-room schoolhouse near Shanksville, PA.
One teacher, eight grades, 30 students.
Our school was so poor that the Periodic Table of the Elements on the wall displayed only the Alkali Metals and the Lanthanide series.
Calcium and Chromium didn't make the cut.
Conjunction junction?
Dylan a funny guy. I imagine him laughing while writing nice songs about killers.
John Wesley Harding
Joey Gallo
George Jackson
Hurricane Carter.
Heck, he even wrote a love song about Isis.
Tommy Smothers
I thought I saw Tommy Smothers, and I think Timothy Leary as well.
So, it appears John Lennon invented rap. Every time you post another excerpt from Dylan's book it makes me want to buy my own copy. It seems more insightful than "The History of Rock Music in 500 Songs" (and without all the apologies), which I guess counts as expected. It is Dylan after all. I was never a huge Dylan fan but when I was in college I made a 90 minute mix tape of my favorite Bob Dylan songs which left me wondering how I could put together 90 minutes of great music by someone I thought I didn't like. Even so, I didn't count myself as a fan until I read an appreciation of Dylan in Mars Hill Review (now defunct) that opened with the author list4ening to Dylan when his grade school age walks up and says "remind me again why we like this guy". I don't know if he convinced his daughter, but it worked on me.
Abstract nouns often do rhyme (or sort of rhyme) in English, but they are distant from concrete objects, ordinary experience, and real life. They also pertain more to ideology than to the poetic, prophetic, visionary world that Dylan wants to access. On the other hand, the protest songs about things people hated were often catchier and better than peace and love songs about what they wanted.
Joey, Joey
King of the streets, child of clay
Would make a good Biden campaign song. They'd have to change a few things, though.
robother (10:32am):
"what rhymes with 'election denier' or 'erectile dysfunction'?"
That's easy: Flexible Flyer™ and Extreme Unction. (When you get the E.U., you probably already have the E.D. - the second one, I mean.)
I was in law school the day John Lennon was shot.
Someone posted the chorus lyrics to "Happiness is a Warm Gun" on the main bulletin board.
Needless to say it did not go over well.
I got the book from the library and it's great. I don't agree with everything he writes, but he's fun to listen to and hone your thoughts against.
What Ann hadn't mentioned is that it's beautifully laid out. It's jammed full of photos I've never seen before, like young Elvis looking over the records in a store.
This thought (from "CIA Man") inspired me: "One of the ways creativity works is the brain tries to fill in holes and gaps. We fill in missing bits of pictures, snatches of dialogue, we finish rhymes and invent stories to explain things we do not know." It explains why, when I hear some songs, I'm seeing images in my head that we're there before, or feeling I was somewhere else. I was running music videos in my head before MTV.
"Ball of Confusion" captures the feeling watching the news as a child in the '60s. All this stuff happening that I'm trying to make sense of, like hearing about this guy named King being shot on a balcony. Why is this important? What is civil rights (I was 8 at the time). In my part of Ohio, I never met a black kid. There were no black families in my neighborhood.
Now, I realize almost all of it was caused by liberals cramming their policies down our throats, and ginning up bugbears like "climate change" and "racism" to scare us into running. And now, thanks to the status quo, we've got inflation and shortages and Democrats and GOPe trying to get us running again.
There's no confusion anymore.
No link, but listen to "Everything is Broken" from Oh Mercy by Mr. Dylan
Why do I keep hearing "Biden confusion"?
The natural rhyme of the Periodic Table is written in a 2n^2 meter, where n = 1, 2, 3, 4,.. .
The Rime of the Ancient Elements
I worked with a guy who was a doorman at the 20 Grand back in the day Famous showplace.
Bob Dylan never played there, but Motown ruled...
https://theconcertdatabase.com/venues/20-grand
Many decades ago, The Charlotte Observer, my hometown newspaper, had a big spread about which was the better band...
The Temptations
vs
The Four Tops
And these two art critics in the paper went back and forth about which band was better. Like Siskel and Ebert. One of them was a Temptations guy, and the other one was a Four Tops guy, and it was an interesting (and kind of respectful) debate. I think it was a whole page in the paper, maybe two. I guess they had the space back then.
I don't actually remember much from the newspaper, but for some reason that debate about music always stuck in my brain. It made me want to pick a winner.
The Four Tops have strong emotions and a dominating lead singer. Bernadette is probably their best song. Powerful song, right?
But for me, hands down, man oh man, The Temptations are amazing.
Neo (the apple lady) also thought of Tom Lehrer (she includes several Lehrer YouTubes in her post)
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