Re: Humor: QUOTES BY FAMOUS MUSICIANS

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Responding to the message of <F221ekzabtneqdGSyMp000033af (at) hotmail(dot)com>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
> 
> >"I think popular music in this country is one of the few things in the
> >20th century that have made giant strides in reverse."
> >-Bing Crosby
> 
> 
> Actually, judging from the recent (I think basically sympathetic) biography 
> of the first half of Crosby's life and career, it was *Crosby's* music that 
> took a consistent, and *deliberate,* path "backward" (from somewhat 
> inventive/fresh/jazzy to mass-market shlocky) in the course of much of the 
> century.  But then, unlike his biographer (Gary Giddins, I think--a writer 
> w/ many jazz credits, anyway), I never cared for Crosby at all.  He's the 
> (in, granted, stereotypical but I think not totally invalid terms) 
> WASPy/cool/nonvulnerable/don't show your feelings counterpart to, at his 
> best, Sinatra's intense/vulnerable singing.  You *never* see right into 
> Crosby's soul, or heart, when he's singing--and he wanted it that way.
> 
> I guess what his statement comes down to is that the movement from "White 
> Christmas" and "Would You Like to Swing on a Star" (though Crosby _did_, 
> anomalously, sing Yip Harburg's "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?") to 
> "Violets of Dawn," "Mr. Tambourine Man," and "Both Sides Now" ("Clouds") is 
> a *downward* movement of meaning, richness, depth, metaphor, or what have 
> you--and I could, of course, pick any of *hundreds* (or thousands) of songs, 
> from dozens or scores or hundreds of other, mostly lesser-known songwriters, 
> for my last three examples.
> 
> Just more of that Golden Age crapola (er, on the Victrola) --
> 
Like him or not, I doubt that an Irish Catholic like Crosby would have 
appreciated being called WASPy.  I'm also pretty sure I'm not the only one on 
the list who admires Bob Dylan (and Joni Mitchell), as well as the Golden Age 
'Alley' writers.  It's a very different approach, granted, but the man was and 
occasionally still is brilliant.  We all have a right to our own tastes, but 
certainly Dylan (Mitchell, too) has enough intelligent admirers to suggest that 
there's something there worthy of respect.  Go to your local Borders or Barnes &
Noble or better yet an independent bookseller and see to whom the most 
biographies are devoted (in all categories, not just musicians).  If Dylan's not
#1 (he was when I check a couple of weeks ago), he'll be close.

I won't take the time here to explain why I'll always love classic Dylan (I know
a little bit about music), but when Polin 16 comes out, you can read my article 
on Wolf Krakowski in which Dylan gets a pretty full treatment.



Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)

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