Posted on 07/16/2009 7:11:34 AM PDT by mattstat
Paul McCartney has once again crept upon our shores. He was, of course, vanguard in the original “British Invasion”, which occurred in early 1964. Now, an invasion is something to be resisted, to be fought off, to be repelled. Sadly—quite, quite sadly—we had no Winston Churchill on our shores to boost our morale with stirring words like these:
'We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in New York, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Culture, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender";
and so the invasion was a success, our surrender quick, our cultural defeat total. All that is left is rebellion.
Here is the first of many examples of what appeasement and acquiescence has wrought. Try not to sit too close to your screen when reading the ride-hand column. There is a danger of, what they call on the professional eating circuit, a reversal...
(Excerpt) Read more at wmbriggs.com ...
Durn kids! Git off my lawn!
A short clip from Churchill’s speech into Aces High...
My parents to me: Turn that crap down!
Me to my parents: You listen to old fogey music.
Me to my kids: You call that music?!?!
My kids to me: You listen to old fogey music.
This might be the worst:
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
Paul McCartney wrote “Yesterday”.
Screw Cole Porter.
The interesting insight from your comment, dmz, is that each of those parents is quite correct in their admonitions given that the quality of music has been in retrograde for several generations now.
The decline of music started with punk and acid rock and then deteriorated even more so with the advent of rap and hip hop which thoroughly gutterized music altogether and made such things as misogyny, drug abuse, alcoholism, murder and rape palatable to their audiences. Thank God we still have country music which I like although not the same way that I really enjoyed the classic country music artists such as Eddy Arnold, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, Johnny Horton, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette just to name a few.
The decline of music started with punk and acid rock and then deteriorated even more so with the advent of rap and hip hop which thoroughly gutterized music altogether and made such things as misogyny, drug abuse, alcoholism, murder and rape palatable to their audiences. Thank God we still have country music which I like although not the same way that I really enjoyed the classic country music artists such as Eddy Arnold, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, Johnny Horton, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette just to name a few.
Remember that the Beatles were simply emulating and re-packaging their heros in America - Delta Blues, Elvis, Buddy Holly.
Oh, well said, SJSAMPLE. Witty and trenchant, and of course utterly convincing.
That’s a John Lennon song.
Parents: That Beatles music is turning you into a delinquent.
My reaction: I ran away to Florida with the girl next door.
Good times...
Glad you liked it.
Always great to see an anachronastic musical comparison by those on their way out, desperately clinging to THEIR past.
I’ll stick with The Beatles, thanks.
George Harrison also wrote “Something”, which Frank Sinatra called the most beautiful love song ever written. Paul McCartney wrote some beautiful music, and some was just cute. Cole Porter had his style, and the Beatles had theirs.
Let's not forget "A Day in The Life"
Today, you can listen to Rap (contemporary) or you can listen to Motown classics, or the Beatles, or Led Zeppelin, etc. Sure, it's 40 years old, but who cares?
Truthfully, I think it's odd that music has become somewhat stagnant and that many kids today listen to the music of their grandparents because nothing better seems to have come along lately.
Don’t forget, murron, that Sinatra often drank to excess.
Not “THEIR” past, old boy, OUR past. Our culture.
Incidentally, the Beatles were *before* my time. I came after they did.
Cole Porter’s Night and Day is great. So was Sinatra and U2’s version.
Now let me get back to listening to Ice Tea singing Cop Killer.
“The decline of music started with opera and then accelerated with such crap as Le Sacre du Printemps,” he chanted.
You can actually sing along with a Beatle song. I’d like to see this guy sing along with what passes as music now without rupturing a vocal chord screaming or a brain cell trying to understand the words.
Dude, I’m 30. Cole Porter had wit and sublime lyrics. The Beatles were for kids with no taste. And not one of them could sing worth a darn. My wife cannot stand them.
IIRC, “Yesterday” was voted THE greates single of the 20th century. This was about 20 years ago.
Times change, things move forward (and backward) like the tides. I can accept that.
But, some old geezer posting about the “decline” of music because styles and considerations have changed is ridiculous.
Of course, if he was talking about “Hip Hop” ....
My father-in-law is a professional jazz/swing musician (trumpet) and I’ve been forced to go to old geezer concerts for the past 11 years. Some of it’s OK, but after a while, I start to long for an audience that isn’t using a walker or depends. But, that’s just me.
Cold Cape Cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do it
Even lazy jellyfish do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love." -Cole Porter
Yeah, his songs were so deep. One can cherry-pick songs and lyrics for comparison, but the fact is they all have the same thing in mind: put together a little ditty that will make listeners want to buy it for their own collection.
Nice catch.
Pay attention, now. Reading counts. I explained: I was born after the Beatles became famous. I am not a geezer, not yet.
I notice that you have not yet attempted to contrast the lyrics from the two songs. I await your analysis.
It takes 10, 20, or even 50 years before the really good music from an era resolves itself from the steaming pile of crap that is “contemporary” music of it’s time.
If we went back to the 1930’s and listened to a popular radio station, we would recognize several songs through the day, but most of the music would be unfamiliar to us as it did not withstand the test of time.
“In My Life” by The Beatles is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. period.
Nothing deep about “Let’s Fall in Love”, nor was there meant to be. It’s a clever, witty tune. By design. Let’s compare this Porter tune to the cleverest Beatles song you can recall for a fair comparison.
I am a lifelong record collector of many genres of music and have recordings going back over 100 years. Every generation adapts its own style of music, to the horror of their parents and the derision of their children. I think at least 90% of most music is schlock that deserves to be forgotten. However, some modern forms of noise in the last 30 years are so far removed from musicality that all of it should be forgotten.
This is one of the tests that The Beatles pass with flying colors
That’s exactly my point. The author cherry picked the songs for his comparison.
Why would I attempt to contrast the lyrics between the two?
That’s YOUR premise.
As I’ve already said, different generations, different tastes. The lyrics from the two songs aren’t even marginally similar in content and subject.
Another poster has already posted the simplistic (hardly “sublime”) lyrics from another Porter song, refuting the basic premise of “The Sad Decline of Music”.
It’s the equivalent of standing on the corner and raising your fist at those “new-fangled automobiles.”
The fact that you’re that young (I’m 44) and still engage in such futile comparisons belies your age.
There has been no decline in music. The decline is in the delivery system. “Modern Rock” radio plays AC/DC all day long. That band is 30 years old!
If you take a look at the 20 biggest tours of this summer, 18 of those are headlined by acts whose careers started over 20 years ago. All of whom were exposed to the population by a new thing called MTV in the 80’s.
To be honest, corporate owned radio is too risk averse to fulfill the role they once provided.
I’ve just seen a face
I can’t forget the time or place
Where we first met
She’s just the girl for me
And I want all the world to see
We’ve met
Had it been another day
I might have looked the other way
And I would have never been aware
But as it is I’ll dream of her tonight
Falling, yes I am falling
And she keeps calling me back again
I have never known the likes of this
I have been alone and I have missed things
And kept out of sight
But other girls were never quite like this
Falling, yes I am falling
And she keeps calling me back again
The lyrical flow and fast rhythm changes in this song make it my favorite Beatles song for it’s feeling of joy at love at first sight and it’s clever matching of the music to the subject matter.
If any distractors to the Beatles haven’t seen the Beatles “ Love “ Circe de Soliel in Vegas , they should STFU!
If any distractors to the Beatles haven’t seen the Beatles “ Love “ Cirque du Soleil in Vegas , they should STFU!
Cole Porter wrote about cocaine as did Eric Clapner...everything old is new again.
You might care to look up the word “belie”; just for future use.
Yes, saying one set of lyrics is far superior to another is my premise, one easily proved by a simple reading. Tastes change, yes, but change is not always in a positive direction. I’m still curious why you believe the Beatle’s lyric is superior to the Porter one.
They also experimented. Because of their commercial success, they could get away with doing things other artists couldn't. In the sixties, the song was supposed to be 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes, and there was supposed to be a fade in and fade out so the DJ could talk over the intro and exit. Songs should talk about being in love or something else rather innocuous. Album covers had a (usually bad) photograph of the star, or an attractive girl dancing. The back of the cover had a biography of the group, a list of other albums, and the names of the songs with the time. The Beatles developed enough clout to flaunt industry rules, and they did it.
Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour, with their expensive inserts and custom books built into open folding album covers, couldn't have been done by other musicians because they didn't have the sales clout to demand that kind of expense in packaging from the record companies.
On the negative side, the Beatles really show the decline of western culture. In the White Album, the four 8X10 photos show a group of worn out, ill-kept, guys who can't bother to shave or wear decent clothes. Only Ringo Starr looks like he's vaguely conscious.
While there's a lot of creativity in the later albums, there's also evidence of the sloppiness that comes when drugs and alcohol start to take their toll. Missed notes and stray guitar chords creep in. Compare the Beatles later work to something tight, like Herb Alpert or the steel guitar and fiddle work on Buck Owens albums, and it's clear that whatever you think of the songs, the production work got very sloppy, and the band didn't do the repetition necessary to get a tight recording. Lennon's lead vocals on "Across the Universe" from the Let it Be album are awful, and the background instrumentals include quite a few missed notes.
I have some great music in my collection from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys, from Tony Bennett to Buddy Holly, from Perry Como to the Four Seasons, from Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman to Elvis, from Ray Charles to the Beatles, from Nat King Cole to Herman’s Hermits, from Spike Jones to Petula Clark...just to name a few.
That’s RIGHT! And anybody who didn’t see Cole Porter perform live should STFU, also! (that’s a little sarcasm, there.)
I agree that Porter had wit and sublime lyrics. But I strongly disagree with you that none of the Beatles could sing worth a darn. One of them could.
Whatever you think about the Beatles, Paul McCartney was a great singer. Listen to the Beatles’ version of “Long Tall Sally.” Try to sing along. Also listen to “Wings Over America.” Outstanding vocals, in the days before “Auto-Tune.”
I have some great music in my collection from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys, from Tony Bennett to Buddy Holly, from Perry Como to the Four Seasons, from Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman to Elvis, from Ray Charles to the Beatles, from Nat King Cole to Herman’s Hermits, from Spike Jones to Petula Clark...just to name a few.
I have some great music in my collection from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys, from Tony Bennett to Buddy Holly, from Perry Como to the Four Seasons, from Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman to Elvis, from Ray Charles to the Beatles, from Nat King Cole to Herman’s Hermits, from Spike Jones to Petula Clark...just to name a few.
I have some great music in my collection from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys, from Tony Bennett to Buddy Holly, from Perry Como to the Four Seasons, from Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman to Elvis, from Ray Charles to the Beatles, from Nat King Cole to Herman’s Hermits, from Spike Jones to Petula Clark...just to name a few.
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