| When I read about Norman Mailer Dying, I remembered the song by Simon and Garfunkle on the record "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". Made me wonder who all those other people are. So, here is an examination...
LYRICS:
A Simple Desultory Philippic
(Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission) by Paul Simon
I been Norman Mailered, Maxwell Taylored.
I been John O'Hara'd, McNamara'd.
I been Rolling Stoned and Beatled till I'm blind.
I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
Communist, 'cause I'm left-handed.
That's the hand I use, well, never mind!
I been Phil Spectored, resurrected.
I been Lou Adlered, Barry Sadlered.
Well, I paid all the dues I want to pay.
And I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce,
And all my wealth won't buy me health,
So I smoke a pint of tea a day.
I knew a man, his brain was so small,
He couldn't think of nothing at all.
He's not the same as you and me.
He doesn't dig poetry. He's so unhip that
When you say Dylan, he thinks you're talking about Dylan Thomas,
Whoever he was.
The man ain't got no culture,
But it's alright, ma,
Everybody must get stoned.
I been Mick Jaggered, silver daggered.
Andy Warhol, won't you please come home?
I been mothered, fathered, aunt and uncled,
Been Roy Haleed and Art Garfunkeled.
I just discovered somebody's tapped my phone.
Folk Rock. I lost my harmonica Albert...
To start, What's a Desultory Philippic ?
Desultory: 1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
[Origin: 1575–85; < L désultōrius pertaining to a désultor (a circus rider who jumps from one horse to another) Philippic: 1. any of the orations delivered by Demosthenes, the Athenian orator, in the 4th century b.c., against Philip, king of Macedon.
2. any speech or discourse of bitter denunciation. or as we would say today... a RANT...
Norman Mailer wrote "The Naked and the Dead" an account of a soldiers experiences in WW2. "The Armies of the Night" is about 1967 protest march on the Pentagon. He was an Anti-War activist. Publisher of the Village Voice, a newspaper about Greenwich Village, New York City.
Robert McNamara: Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. A major cause of American Soldiers dying, one of the most hated men of the decade. Years later he is famous for saying "We were wrong, terribly wrong"
Maxwell Taylor: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under John Kennedy. Recommended that troops be sent to Vietnam. Advice that the president took and disaster followed... Ambassador to South Vietnam 1964-1965.
John O'Hara: Writer for The New Yorker Magazine and newspapers. His novel Pal Joey was made into a movie with Frank Sinatra. His name rhymes with McNamara... Since Paul Simon lived in New York, we can assume that John O'Hara had local fame...
Ayn Rand: Author of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". Friend of Frank Lloyd Wright, architect. A character in her books is an Architect that is bold, heroic... She is held as the leader of a school of philosophy that feels that people ought to blaze their own trail thru life. Self Reliance. Unhappy? fix your own problems yourself! It's Called OBJECTIVISM. "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." Paul Simon wrote a song about Frank Lloyd Wright. Communist: The Communist party is considered in the "Left Wing" of the political spectrum. Consevatives are considered "Right Wing". Branding someone a communist was done by the House Un-American Activities Committee, lead by Senator Joe McCarthy. During the 1950's many people had their careers and lives ruined by this "witch hunt". There were decades of American foreign policy devoted to "Fighting the Red Menace" aka the Cold War... yes, it seems silly now, but that's what happened in American History.
Phil Spector. Record producer for early 1960's singing groups using the "Wall of Sound" style. Multiple overdubbibg to create a thick texture to the music and vocals... "You've Lost that Lovin Feelin" by The Righteous Brothers. The Beatles: "Long and Winding Road". In the 2000's accused of murdering his wife... mistrial.
Lou Adler: Record producer. Monterey POP Festival. Mamas and the Papas. Record of the Year-Carole King "Tapestry"
Barry Sadler: Wrote and sang "The Ballad of the Green Beret". He was a marine in Vietnam and documented his experiences/feelings in this song. Popular with Americans that thought the Vietnam war was a good idea.
Bruce Died from morphine overdose.
I smoke a pint of tea a day. Tea is a nickname for marijuana.
I knew a man, his brain was so small,
He couldn't think of nothing at all.
He's not the same as you and me.
He doesn't dig poetry. He's so unhip that
When you say Dylan, he thinks you're talking about Dylan Thomas,
Whoever he was.
The man ain't got no culture,
But it's alright, ma,
Everybody must get stoned.
Bob Dylan American Singer Songwrighter. This verse is sung in the classic Dylan style, with a completely different tune that the other verses... Dylan wrote "Ballad of a Thin Man" with the lyrics: Something is happening and you don't know what it is, Do you? Mr Jones... This verse explores the same territory. Dylan also wrote "It's alright Ma, I'm only bleeding" and "Rainy Day Woman #59" with the chorus: They'll stone you when you're ____ ___ _______ (fill in the blanks). I would not feel so all alone, Everybody must get stoned... A paraphrase of the first line of the poem and its refrain was made memorable to an unwitting popular audience in the 1996 blockbuster action movie "Independence Day" during a critical speech by the President Whitmore character (played by Bill Pullman), demonstrating the poem's highly effective rhetorical value.
Mick Jagger: singer in a British Blues band, The Rolling Stones.
silver dagger? an American folk ballad from the 19th century... The 1960 recording by Joan Baez, arguably the most famous version of the song, appears to be a fragment of a much longer song, as the 1907 version contains many additional verses.
Andy Warhol: American Pop Artist and founder of Lou Reed's band the Velvet Underground.
Roy Halee: Simon and Garfunkle's record producer.
Art Garfunkle: 1/2 of Paul Simon's band...
I just discovered somebody tapped my phone... refers to Operation Cointelpro. FBI project for spying on Americans during the 1960's, at that time illegal. A fine movie doumentary is called The US vs, John Lennon. An investigation by the Senate's Church Committee stated that "COINTELPRO began in 1956, in part because of frustration with Supreme Court rulings limiting the Government's power to proceed overtly against dissident groups..." Including Dr. Martin Luther King Students for a Democratic Society- Yippee- Weathermen.
Folk Rock: The Byrds from Los Angeles sang in the folk rock style. David Crosby, Roger McGuinn...
Albert Grossman: Rock music manager. His clients included Bob Gibson and Hamilton Camp, Odetta, Peter, Paul and Mary, John Lee Hooker, Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Richie Havens, Todd Rundgren, The Band, the Electric Flag, Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan. |