so I turn on the
magic box and this fellow I have somehow connected to has activated my name
in a post where he is air-raiding me to the void. .... It was along the
lines of "just listened to Dave Graney's somewhat didactic song
"field record me" and was disappointed by yet another ignorant
depiction of the role of linguists and their work of preserving dying languages
through the use of field recordings. What an ignorant rock person.. what would
he know etc etc etc ..."
This is the song...
https://soundcloud.com/dave-graney-lym/field-record-me
https://soundcloud.com/dave-graney-lym/field-record-me
A woman chimed in
with " Wow what a great disappointment this
must be to you"
The fellow shot back
" disappointed, yes…liked him better
when he was a moodist .. but not that surprised at the att.. ignorance is the
fuel of so many a rock sermon!"
The woman returned "Unfortunately maybe Dave's showing
his age. This kind of objectification or essentialising would have been spot on
a few decades ago, just like framing Indigenous people as eternal victims.
(...unless of course he has a specific early 20th C bearded pipe-smoking
ethnographer in mind...)"
I must state I know neither of these two and was not eavesdropping. It was all opened on my social manor.
The man returned " yep, although many old farts manage
not to think in such simplistic terms..there's not much excuse for those
stereotypes really.. just lazy thinking. (Unless we're talking dementia?)"
I felt the need to object! " the song is a cry of
pain, in a world where people can only listen/hear / see music when it is
safely dead or from a foreign clime . Like say, poncey types going on about
primitive cultures or making field recordings of exotic savages. In the song,
the singer is asking them to field record him, in his natural habitat. But they
can't hear him. So you know, one of us is ignorant and its not me. Cheers."
I included the lyrics...
"field record me
put me in the picture, give me a page
put me in a place and time where you can find me
pin me down and forget me
field record me
make me real
treat me as if I was here
field record me
put on your coat with many pockets and stick that pipe in your mouth
and approach me sensitively in my world
field record me
field record me
treat me like a golden bug
and you’ve had the mad luck to be here"
put me in the picture, give me a page
put me in a place and time where you can find me
pin me down and forget me
field record me
make me real
treat me as if I was here
field record me
put on your coat with many pockets and stick that pipe in your mouth
and approach me sensitively in my world
field record me
field record me
treat me like a golden bug
and you’ve had the mad luck to be here"
To me, that's pretty direct and plain language. As a songwriter, you like to get simpler and simpler. Less words. More groove and feel. When I play live I often introduce it as a song about a musicians dream where aliens will be in the audience one day and understand what he's going on about. And take news of him back to their planet. Where he is worshipped as a god. I allude to the educated, rich new Yorkers going down South of America in the 30s and 40s and making field recordings.
I added "I sing songs about my world, not others."
Then lost my cool..." what fucking knobs"
That felt better.
The man came back ...
"Well I suppose I can‘t rightly argue with a creative
about what their own song is about. So, if you say ‘field record me’ is not
about linguists making fieldwork recordings, then fair enough.
Reading the lyrics again though, I find it difficult not to
interpret it as an attack on language documentation, since field recording is
generally something done by linguists. Pretty much the only other people who do
it are ethnomusicologists...Is the song about ethnomusicologists, perhaps?
The poncey character is a cliche. I guess the song was meant to be set in the 19th century. That didn't come through at all. And the phrases you use: ‘exotic savage’ and ‘primitive’ are racist stereotypes. They are offensive to anyone doing actual fieldwork. If that's what you think fieldwork is about, then actually, you are very ignorant".
The poncey character is a cliche. I guess the song was meant to be set in the 19th century. That didn't come through at all. And the phrases you use: ‘exotic savage’ and ‘primitive’ are racist stereotypes. They are offensive to anyone doing actual fieldwork. If that's what you think fieldwork is about, then actually, you are very ignorant".
This guy would not back off! How many ways can he insult me?
Even
though he was obviously a linguist and very well educated, I felt I should
speak plainly…
"why the hell would I be bothered writing a song about
linguists? New York folk lorists went to the southern states of America and
field recorded people like Muddy Waters in the 40s and earlier. All sorts of
folk farmers and the like. The song is about being an Australian singer. Its
set in 2012. I don't give a rats testicle what field work is, like most people."
Silence for a couple of days then he shot back with another tirade (which is now invisible to me- as is he) about it being true that people don't care about his valuable work of preserving dying languages but he does it. (diddums) Also that , perhaps, the song could be interpreted in the way I said, "with the aid of mass scaffolding."
Then he added "ciao".
Excuse me.
"CUUUUUUUUUUNT!"
Yes, thats better. Anyway, whoever he is, he is dead to me. And his bitches too. They had just dropped in to air raid me. Probably, like most people, they don't know where all the flim flam connections pop up.
It was this exchange that worried me though. The fellow professes to be a linguist but he seems to take everything so subjectively. He can't understand English or the local variant. The cadence, the patois. My song was about just that! In the local field, people can't see or hear many things unless there is a precedent from the US or the UK. If it doesn't, it doesn't exist. As invisible as a creep that's been blocked on the interwebs.
What chance do all those dying languages have? In the hands of this ignorant , know-all blockhead?
February 3rd THE DAMES (Clare Moores project w/ Kaye Patterson and Rosie Westbrook) at the Post Office Hotel Sydney Rd Coburg 4-6pm
February 10th - Butterfly Club 204 Bank st sth Melbourne 8pm. Dave Graney and Clare Moore acoustic set (vibes and 12 string).
FRIDAY February
22nd dave
graney and the mistLY at the SOUND LOUNGE/Ocean Grove Hotel.175
Bonnyvale Rd 52551122
Doors at 6pm,show at 8pm.Advance tickets-seating 0408575799
Doors at 6pm,show at 8pm.Advance tickets-seating 0408575799
1 comment:
Back in the early sixties there was an Australian band that thought that it was every bit as good as The Beatles , performing their own compositions which were stylistically similar to the songs of The Beatles . Capitalising on this similarity , they decided to call themselves The Beautles , " beauty " ( more often than not pronounced "bewdy" ) being a common expression of the day . Even though the band themselves thought that they had everything The Beatles had musically , the public ignored them , prefering the music of the actual Beatles instead of that of the antipodian Beautles . In spite of the lack of attention , The Beautles carried on writing songs , performing live as often as they could , most often in small country towns , where the few locals remaining can still tell about the night The Beautles came to town . As well received as they were at their occasional country gigs , in the cities they were ignored . Before breaking up in frustration , The Beautles released one album of the best of their original compositions , which as a thumbing of the nose to the public who ignored them was entitled " Mute the Beautles " which was a self-funded private pressing , paid for with wages earnt doing their day-jobs , 86 copies sold at their final 7 gigs . Copies are extremely difficult to find , mostly found in country towns inland of BFE , as deceased estates find their way to the CWA op-shops .
Dave Graney is rumoured to own a copy . In the eighties there was talk of doing a " Mute the Beautles " tribute concert , but the talk died down and nothing came of it .
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