Being a man with modest means means that I have to rely on my own imagination to amuse my little son Tony. I can't afford to buy the Toner those fancy things that you can suspend above a baby so they can practice using their hands. I can't afford those little toys that you press the button and a kid's ditty can be heard. I have to amuse and educate him the old-fashion way using my memory of things I saw growing up and using my imagination. This is when I can thank fate or the gods or God for being a Sinatra fan.
Thanks to Sinatra, I have some knowledge of the popular music before 1955. There is this thing called the Great American Songbook that the likes now of Rod Stewart are looking to for material to sing. It is where I go when I think of things I can sing to my Tony. I couldn't imagine trying to sing, to Tony, having knowledge of only of "Smoke over Water" or "Spank the Hoe". Thankfully, I have heard of trips "to the moon on gossamer wings". I want something that my parents and their generation may have listened to - it is the sort of musical knowledge that was incorporated into the cartoons I watched growing up like Bugs Bunny.
The knowledge that went into the shows and books I was exposed to by my parents growing up is in danger of being taken for granted and thus forgotten. When, I took to listening to Sinatra and to collecting all his albums, I received a musical education that I never got in my dumbed-down public education. Hopefully, I can transfer my imperfect knowledge to Tony and he can improve on it.
2 comments:
You really want his education to come from a song about misleading a woman to get her into bed, and then abandoning her? I think that is just as bad (if not worse) than calling a woman a ho.
Subject mater is subject matter. The point of the entry is that the quality of music has gone down. I was brought up on the belief that music before rock was square and boring. I have come to believe that there was more craftsmanship in popular music back then then now. I want to expose my son to the full spectrum of music from the classical till now. I find the notion that I should like music that is only of my generation to be a limited and ahistorical way of looking at the world. To write off previous generations as hypocritical and square is to limit one's outlook on existence. It is also very unsophisticated and uncivilized. To at least clothe instincts in poetic language and great lyrics is much better than to give into "unhypocritical" and barbaric impulses. The Beatles and Sinatra sung mostly of the same things. But there was a reaction to the Beatles because of their low musical quality - often, a Beatles tribute band can sing better than the original. (although I will grant that the Beatles were great song writers. But it is hard to defend the awful singing and gimmickry of Yellow Sumarine)
Post a Comment