Re: Bacharach (was: What Is Jewish Music?)

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

A clarification:

Everything under the first "Wolf wrote" Wolf wrote.

Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Seth Rogovoy <rogovoy (at) berkshire(dot)net>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 12:43 PM
Subject: RE: Bacharach (was: What Is Jewish Music?)


>> robert wiener wrote:
>>
>> > I would be interested in a justification
>> > of the CD "Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach" on Tzadik.
>>
>> > To me, it is a pure marketing device.
>
>Wolf wrote:
>>
>> Does it accurately and honestly portray the contents of the CD in
any way
>> except as to the ethnicity of the artist ?  I don't think so.
>>
>> Bacharach is a writer (some would say one the great ones) of pop
songs.
>> I would think you could  comb his entire <oeuvre> and not find any
>> Jewish content.  I don't think one would find the word "Jewish"
>> associated with Bacharach during his entire career until the
appearance
>> of the aforementioned CD  !!!
>>
>Bob wrote:
>> > However, the scenarios that provide the mental landscape for many
of
>> > his songs could be seen by some as specifically Jewish, depicting
a
>> > certain   middle-class trans-American Jewish experience
("Seinfeld",
>> > "The Nanny").
>>
>
>Wolf wrote:
>
>> "Each morning I wake up
>> Before I put on my makeup
>> I say a little PRAYER for you..."
>>
>> Does the above lyric contain references to Jewish cultural
practise,
>> ritual observance,  folklore or social history?   Are the musical
grooves
>> especially <haymish>?
>
>seth Rogovoy responds:
>
>Actually I'd hope that anyone talking about this CD has actually
listened to
>it. I have and I find the thesis behind it quite provocative --
Producer
>John Zorn lays it out quite clearly in his liner notes -- and the
execution
>quite suggestive. And I think there is much musical/lyrical stuff to
chew
>on. In general terms, Bacharach's unique musical convolutions can be
seen as
>a cultural critique of pop styles, and one could make the case that
this
>critique is from the point of view of the outsider/Jew. This
especially
>resonates when at the end of disk one on the song "Trains and Boats
and
>Planes," Fred Frith repeatedly intones the line, "You are from
another part
>of the world." Indeed....
>
>p.s. I apologize in advance if I misattributed Bob's comments to Wolf
or
>vice -versa.
>
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