~ ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS ~
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| "One wonders sometimes where Watt thought he was.
In a culture park?"(77) from the novel Watt (1953) by Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989) |
What's one good way to encapsulate the popular culture of an era: write a long list of world events, social conventions, inventions, historical figures, keywords, and so forth; make it rhyme, set it to music, and all systems are "go" for cultural transmission! Last month, I posted "Your're the Top" by Cole Porter (1934), "Do You Remember These?" by the Statler Brothers (1972) and "Reasons to be Cheerful" by Ian Drury (1979) -- and before that "I Am Waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1958) -- four long literary lists of cultural highlights.
Here are three more sing - along lists: "Prime Time" by Don McLean (1977), "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel (1989), and "Welcome to the Internet" by Bo Burnham (2021) -- storing knowledge, making it accessible, and encouraging us to memorize the words and sing along. Interestingly, Steve Ettinger's point about "We Didn't Start the Fire" applies perfectly to all of these songs:
Billy Joel captured the major images, events, and personalities of this half-century in a three-minute song . . . It was pure information overload, a song that assumed we knew exactly what he was singing about . . . What was truly alarming was the realization that we, the listeners, for the most part understood the references.Do we remember these? Yes we do!
For a decade or so (circa 1967 - 77) each evening during television's prime time, when the viewing audience was the largest, Americans of all ages (yes, even children such as myself) were stunned by the Viet Nam Era nightly news, as it plunged every few seconds from the truly terrifying to the ridiculous. Don McLean's "Prime Time" (1977) illustrates this jarring juxtaposition of tragedy and inanity.
In a 2019 interview, McLean explains that he was "trying to capture the insanity of America. . . . I’m not a political person in the sense that I’m a believer in any politician — I don’t trust any of them. But I am a believer in America and very interested in America, and so I tried to capture that insanity."
Prime Time
Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime Time
This is livin' the American way
I was ridin' on the subway in the afternoon
I saw some kids 'a beatin' out a funky tune
The lady right in front of me was old and brown
The kids began to push her, they knocked her down
I tried to help her out but there was just no way
A life ain't worth a damn on the street today
I passed the ambulance and the camera crews
I saw the instant replay on the evening news
Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime Time
This is livin' the American way
Well will you take the car, or will you take the trip?
Remove annoying hair from your upper lip
What's it really worth? Does she really care?
What's the best shampoo that I can use on my hair?
Hey what's the real future of democracy?
How're we gonna streamline the bureaucracy?
Hey, hey, the cost of life has gone sky-high
Does the deodorant I'm using really keep me dry?
Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime Time
This is livin' the American way
Well spin the magic wheel and try to break the bank
Think about your life when you fill in the blank
Here's a game that's real if you wanna try
One spot on the wheel that says you must die
American roulette is the game we play
But no-one wants to have to be the one to pay
You get to pass "GO"and you get to pass away
But before we start our show, here's our sponsor to say:
"Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime Time
This is livin' the American way"
Well down in Mexico, the laundry's on the line
There's where you can go if you land on the nine
Canada is nice if you're fond of ice
If you land on the two then we'll send you there twice
We interrupt this game for a news release:
A man has gone insane and been killed by police!
Now back to the game, that's a dangerous play
'Cause if they see you in C-U-B-A you must pass away
Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime Time
This is livin' the American way
My supper's on the stove, the war is on the screen
Pass the bread and butter while I watch the Marine
The shot him in the chest -- Pass the chicken breast!
The general is saying that he's still unimpressed.
"We had to burn the city 'cause they wouldn't agree
That things go better with democracy!"
The weather will be fair, forget the ozone layer,
But strontium showers will be here and there
Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime Time
This is livin' the American way
Well livin' in the country watchin' shadows fall
My reception ain't too good in a power stall
Bombers in the air, missiles in the sea
Chemicals in everything, including me
They don't keep their promise in the promised land
It's getting mighty hard to find an honest man
But coming very soon, a show you'll die to see
It's called "The End Of The World" on channel "C"
Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime time
This is livin' in the U. S. A.
Well this is life, this is Prime Time
This is livin' the American way
Don McLean (b 1945)
See also American Pie & Magdalene Lane
In 1989, twelve years after "Prime Time," Billy Joel was bold enough to query: who started the fire? And who tried to fight it? Here's a visual and verbal explanation behind all 119 historical references, ranging from 1949 - 1989, included in the song.
We Didn't Start the Fire
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana, goodbye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather homicide, children of thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, Payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
"Lawrence of Arabia," British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK – blown away, what else do I have to say?
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
"Wheel of Fortune," Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shore, China's under martial law
Rock and roller, cola wars, I can't take it anymore
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on, and on . . .
Billy Joel (b. 1949)
How did we keep up with "anything and everything" before the internet? Well, as the above songs attest, before the internet, there was Life Magazine, the Top 40 Countdown, and Prime Time Television. Then, along came the 21st Century; and, twenty years in, along came COVID. In 2021, serving as a sinister tour guide of internet craziness, Bo Burnham offered this task list of on-line options for getting through the pandemic:
Welcome to the Internet
Welcome to the internet
Have a look around
Anything that brain of yours can think of can be found
We've got mountains of content
Some better, some worse
If none of it's of interest to you, you'd be the first
Welcome to the internet
Come and take a seat
Would you like to see the news or any famous women's feet?
There's no need to panic
This isn't a test, haha
Just nod or shake your head and we'll do the rest
Welcome to the internet
What would you prefer?
Would you like to fight for civil rights or tweet a racial slur?
Be happy
Be horny
Be bursting with rage
We got a million different ways to engage
Welcome to the internet
Put your cares aside
Here's a tip for straining pasta
Here's a nine-year-old who died
We got movies, and doctors, and fantasy sports
And a bunch of colored pencil drawings
Of all the different characters in Harry Potter fucking each other
Welcome to the internet
Hold on to your socks
'Cause a random guy just kindly sent you photos of his cock
They are grainy and off-putting
He just sent you more
Don't act surprised, you know you like it, you whore
See a man beheaded
Get offended, see a shrink
Show us pictures of your children
Tell us every thought you think
Start a rumor, buy a broom
Or send a death threat to a boomer
Or DM a girl and groom her
Do a Zoom or find a tumor in your
Here's a healthy breakfast option
You should kill your mom
Here's why women never fuck you
Here's how you can build a bomb
Which Power Ranger are you?
Take this quirky quiz
Obama sent the immigrants to vaccinate your kids
Could I interest you in everything?
All of the time?
A little bit of everything
All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy
And boredom is a crime
Anything and everything
All of the time
Could I interest you in everything?
All of the time?
A little bit of everything
All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy
And boredom is a crime
Anything and everything
All of the time
You know, it wasn't always like this
Not very long ago
Just before your time
Right before the towers fell, circa '99
This was catalogs
Travel blogs
A chat room or two
We set our sights and spent our nights
Waiting
For you, you, insatiable you
Mommy let you use her iPad
You were barely two
And it did all the things
We designed it to do
Now look at you, oh
Look at you, you, you
Unstoppable, watchable
Your time is now
Your inside's out
Honey, how you grew
And if we stick together
Who knows what we'll do
It was always the plan
To put the world in your hand
Hahahahahahaha
Could I interest you in everything?
All of the time
A bit of everything
All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy
And boredom's a crime
Anything and everything
All of the time
Could I interest you in everything?
All of the time
A little bit of everything
All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy
And boredom is a crime
Anything and everything
And anything and everything
And anything and everything
And all of the time
Bo Burnham (b 1990)
Each of these songs unto itself provides a short course in American history; study all three and you've got a semester's worth of research, worthy of 3 - hours credit. If you looked up all the people, places, and things listed here, the connecting search threads would keep you occupied endlessly. Taken all together -- my last post, this one, and the next -- you will not only be culturally literate; you will have a B.A. in Popular Culture, and be really good on Jeopardy!
Tuesday, March, 26th
Everything You've Been Waiting For
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Tuesday, May 28th
Cultural List - eracy, Part 1:
Make Your Own List
E. D. Hirsch, T. S. Eliot,
Cole Porter, The Statler Brothers, Ian Drury,
Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Next Fortnightly Post
Sunday, July 14th
Cultural List-eracy,
Part 3: Master Class
Ted Lasso, Steven Colbert & James Taylor
Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blog posts
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com ~ Listing / Listening, Part 2
Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com
