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Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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August 11, 2003
Freedom of Conscience 101
John 14:2 - In my Father's house are many mansions.
I reject the notion that I need to justify my appreciation of a song or any other work of art by jumping through hoops to show that it somehow reflects a Proper Political Statement or that it specifically echoes some obvious Truth that I agree with.
Mac Diva has a post here detailing what songs and artists she has banished from her collection for being politically incorrect. Somehow she thinks she's being very liberal and tolerant and open minded in doing so.
It's funny what things are considered horribly offensive. Used to would be that curse words or sexual content were wicked, but they're generally only mildly considered risque today. It's difficult to conjure up any type of sexual description to universally offend the sensibilities of Decent People. As Cole Porter said, anything goes.
Well, almost anything. Anything that even might be taken to be a racial slight by any white guy is totally unacceptable, however. Shhh! Don't tell anybody about those David Allen Coe songs. However, no one would bat an eye about "Folsom Prison Blues," wherein he shot a man "just to watch him die." All kinds of wickedness and badness are OK to depict, except for ones that offend proper sensitivities. I'd like to talk to the guy who decides what those are.
I profit from listening to the Clash with their cheesie commie fantasies and kick-ass songs. They were pretty wicked indeed, though- and not in a good way- to publicly support the Sandinistas, because they were, you know, goddam murdering communists. How about proclaiming how cool Charles Manson was? He certainly didn't do even a small fraction as much murdering as the Sandinistas. Still, London Calling was the shiznit.
David Allen Coe's wicked humorous race songs tickle my funnybone- especially when balanced with some compensatory classic Richard Pryor or James Brown recordings ["Say It Loud. I'm Black and I'm Proud!"]. Yet I dare not even mention the titles of the relevant DAC songs in this public place. That's just asking for a crucifixion.
Well, alright- just one. At the risk of drawing flames for my grievous hate crime, the key song of these underground David Allen Coe records is called "Nigger Fucker." The title alone consigns to hell any listener who enjoys the record. It details in the first person the humiliation of a poor white schmuck whose woman has run off with, um, a black guy. It's a joke, son. I said, "joke." And the honky is the butt of this one. [THIS DAC ALBUM has some good songs, but none of the infamous underground titles, such as the infamously titled "I Made Linda Lovelace Gag." You can find them readily on the net. That's why G-d made P2P.]
Public Enemy's racist rantings excite me. For one brief peak moment, ie Fear of a Black Planet, PE had the noise. That's just a fine artistic statement, even if the whole conceit of the group was racist and demagogic in ways far worse than the silly personal animosity of DAC. Coe was just venting a spot of personal frustration, with humor at his own expense- not purposely fomenting organized racial animosity like PE was at least pretending to do. [See video and song "By the Time I Get to Arizona."] Please do not mistake my appreciation of a good groove, however, as a sign that I've joined the Black Panthers or the KKK.
But see, there I go already- eagerly justifying why it's ok to like DAC.
I also love Elvis gospel, even though I don't really believe in Jebus. Still, there is a sense of peace and fulfillment that comes out of some of these records that he never touched in his secular work. It's a spiritual thing.
But music sometimes moves me by reflecting light into the darker crevices of the soul. David Allen Coe made some highly humorous and catchy explorations of the racial insecurities of white guys- not reflecting us back in the best light.
In short, enjoying the Rolling Stones "Stupid Girl" does not mean that I hate women, nor does an interest in DAC mean that I have issues with black folk.
More troubling to me personally, I have a fairly intense devotion to the 12 minute album version of James Brown's "Papa Don't Take No Mess." I'm all down with James in his pride, but this makes me significantly uncomfortable. The song, after all, can easily enough be seen as a celebration of child abuse.
This is the opposite sentiment from the properly set sensitivities of Suzanne Vega's "Luka." James is praising, celebrating the memory of his father's harsh discipline. "But when we did wrong, Papa beat the HELL out of us. HIT ME!" I'm well aware of how easily proper discipline can cross over into just plain nasty child abuse. Still, there's something in the unique emotional expression of this recording that I can't stay away from. Lots of things. This is a key recording in the whole James Brown cannon. It continues to fascinate me.
Indeed, if I find my own interest in a piece of art troubling, then I take it as a sign that it's something I definitely need to hear and think about. Don't worry though, 100 viewings of Night of the Hunter doesn't mean I'm going on a killing spree. I'm not planning on one right away, anyhow.
In short, art in different forms presents useful reflections and refractions of the human experience from all corners and perspectives, even- nay, especially- when it's showing things that are wicked or dysfunctional.
The King James Bible is another work of art that I put pretty much stock in. I take it with a shaker of salt, however- particularly the book of Joshua, and the stuff about people coming back from the dead. Here's one part, though, that I think particularly wise:
Titus 1:15 - Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
posted by Al at 8/11/2003 03:01:00 AM
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