Writes Bob Dylan, in "The Philosophy of Modern Song" (discussing the Johnny Cash song, "Don't Take Your Guns to Town").
May 14, 2023
"Don’t be too smart. Always let somebody else think that they are smarter than you."
"Don’t give somebody too many choices. If you have an entire alphabet of letters, just give somebody the A and the B."
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Good advice, Bob.
Oh,Ruby
Don't take your guns to town.
I had this very discussion last night with a landlord choosing paint for his tenants. He picked two paint swatches so his tenants had a choice, without overwhelming them with every color we offer at Menards.
The problem is, that in the real world--unlike in the alphabet--there's usually a choice of doing something between A and B. We saw that with LBJ when his advisors kept offering him a choice between total withdrawal from Vietnam or all-out war. With a politician's instincts, he kept choosing half-measures, something between A and B.
What's up, doc?
People with IQ's under 120 buy records too.
"......is simply that one should never be
Where one does not belong"
Fun fact: Mel Tillis wrote the Kenny Rogers hit 'Ruby (don't take your love to town).'
He was such a goofy, fun-loving guy to have written such a dark song...
Applies to restaurants, too. Menus that are several pages long are several pages too long for me to find anything I want.
"Don’t be too smart. Always let somebody else think that they are smarter than you."
Makes me laugh to remember the Dylan of "Don't Look Back" who made sure he knew how stupid every stupid reporter was who asked him a stupid question. Apparently he realized he was so much older then, and is younger than that now.
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" was first recorded in 1966. The Kenny Rogers version is from 1969.
Johnny's "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" is from 1958.
It will be remembered that the 1st person character in "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" wanted to use his gun on Ruby right there in their rural locale: "if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground."
'It will be remembered that the 1st person character in "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" wanted to use his gun on Ruby right there in their rural locale: "if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground."'
Like I said, dark as hell for Tillis.
But it's a brilliant song...
the 1st person character in "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" wanted to use his gun on Ruby right there in their rural locale: "if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground.
Yeah, but I thought it was cuz Ruby was this like, psycho-chick gun lover, but she could be really sweet too sometimes and she was super-hot, I mean like, Wow! and the crippled guy was like, 'Dude, I got it bad for Ruby, but let's face it, I'm never going to score with her, plus she's fucking nuts' which was all pretty tough on him like emotionally. So then Ruby was wigging and he was trying to like mellow her out, but it wasn't working and on top of all that they didn't have good cell coverage way out there so then he realized he was like the only person who could prevent another horrific mass shooting incident followed by the inevitable MSM attack on the 2nd Amendment, which he hated that shit because he had like, fought for freedom and stuff? But Ruby had duct taped him into his wheel chair and pushed it into a corner so he was all like, 'Now what? Fuck.' You know what I mean? Anyway, it is a sad song, right? all this shit coming down on the poor guy? It's a lot for anyone.
Wilford Brimley said it best "Don't be too smart. I'm pretty smart myself."
I assume Dylan is also alluding to songwriting format: only give them verses and a chorus. No bridge for you.
Faber & Malish took this idea of giving a choice only between A&B, and used it in a book, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk.
My wife discovered it through a wise friend, also a mother, when talking about our rollicking, rambunctious, sometimes really annoying first toddler. It works well in business settings, with immature but fully grown adults, too.
Always let someone (your audience) think they are smarter than you.
That is good song writing advice, and Mystery writing advice.
When Patsy Cline sings a song, the listener knows that the listener could have done better than Patsy did.
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