The sad decline of music: Cole Porter vs. The Beatles

http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=767 ^ | William Briggs

[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...

[razorback-bert]

Cole Porter wrote about cocaine as did Eric Clapner...everything old is new again.

[mattstat]

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.

[Richard Kimball]

I seldom quote Andy Rooney, but I thought his observation upon John Lennon's death was appropriate: paraphrasing, he was a very talented man that unfortunately spent much of his career making drugs attractive to young people. I never thought the appeal of the Beatles was that any individual song was great, but that all of their songs were pretty listenable. In the era of the album, it was standard for groups to have one hit song and the balance of the album to be awful.

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.

[lado]

<> Scream for me, Long Beach!!!!

[Ev Reeman]

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.

[Richard Kimball]

That’s RIGHT! And anybody who didn’t see Cole Porter perform live should STFU, also! (that’s a little sarcasm, there.)

[ReluctantDragon]

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.”

[Ev Reeman]

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.

[Ev Reeman]

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.

[Ev Reeman]

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.

[Ev Reeman]

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.

[SJSAMPLE]

Why would I need to look up a word I know perfectly well?

–verb (used with object), -lied, -lying.

1. to show to be false; contradict: His trembling hands belied his calm voice.
2. to misrepresent: The newspaper belied the facts.
3. to act unworthily according to the standards of (a tradition, one's ancestry, one's faith, etc.).
4. Archaic. to lie about; slander.

As I've said, you claim to be young, but you complain about music like an old fart.

Therefore, your narrow-minded approach misrepresents your professed "youth".

I'm still curious why you cherry-picked simple pop against another's attempt at poetry?

[Richard Kimball]

FWIW, the society about which the writer was talking was in the process of collapsing. Similar writings were done about the Greek and Roman empires when they were in the process of collapsing.

And yes, they did collapse, and yes, another culture displaced them.

[IronJack]

The Beatles were largely hacks whose “talent” was for commercial promotion. Other bands of the time — notably the Rolling Stones and The Who — had vastly greater musical ability. In exploiting the maniacal gullibility of teenagers for commercial gain, the Beatles gave rise to every talentless boy band and schlockmeister from the Backstreet Boys to Michael Jackson.

That fact alone makes them the mortal enemies of decent music.

[Ev Reeman]

Sorry for the multiple postings but it was just a temporary technical glitch.

[Renegade]

Porter died in 64’ when the Beatles were really taking over, sooooo they picked up where he left off .

[fr_freak]

--Attributed to an Assyrian stone tablet, c. 2800 BCE

So you go along with the commies who want to use BCE instead of BC?

[3catsanadog]

When I'm 64? I think that's a clever song by the Beatles.

And "Taxman" is so relevant today.

[Renegade]

Robert Johnson ??

[3catsanadog]

You got the hiccups???