I am reading (for the first time, although I did know of its existence & I think had to read portions of it in class when I was in college a million moons ago) Greil Marcus' "Lipstick Traces" & it is making me realize how much I love music all over again. Not that I forget, but often I am reminded & I swoon.
Like this:
"In Chicago, in 1957, trying to cut 'Little Village,' bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson & his white producer get into an argument over just what, exactly, constitutes a village - an argument resolved only when Williamson shouts, "Little village, motherfucker! You name it after yo' mammy if you like!" As a footnote, this explains why Williamson proceeds to take up much of the song with a discussion of what distinguishes a village from a hamlet, a town, or a city; it also explains a great deal about the evolution of the master-slave relationship. In Memphis in 1954, guitarist Scotty Moore responds to a slow, sensual early take of 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' by calling nineteen-year-old Elvis Presley a nigger; three years later in the same spot, Jerry Lee Lewis & Sam Phillips engage in an hysterical donnybrook over the question of rock 'n' roll as music of salvation or damnation. These moments explain most of American culture."
Just amazing.
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