[New-Poetry] "political poetry" (was new on wordstrumpet)
TheOldMole
Opus40-01 at opus40.org
Wed Jan 16 18:23:28 EST 2008
Written by the great Cowboy Jack Clement, performed by the incomparable
Johnny Cash,
There once was a musical troupe
A pickin' singin' folk group
They sang the mountain ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They were long on musical ability
Folks thought they would go far
But political incompatibility led to their downfall
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear was a Methodist
This musical aggregation toured the entire nation
Singing the traditional ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They performed with great virtuosity
And soon they were the rage
But political animosity prevailed upon the stage
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear burned his driver's license
Well the curtain had ascended
A hush fell on the crowd
As thousands there were gathered to hear The folk songs of our land
But they took their politics seriously
And that night at the concert hall
As the audience watched deliriously
They had a free-for-all
Well, the one on the right was on the bottom
And the one in the middle was on the top
And the one on the left got a broken arm
And the guy in the rear, said, "Oh dear"
Now this should be a lesson if you plan to start a folk group
Don't go mixin' politics with the folk songs of our land
Just work on harmony and diction
Play your banjo well
And if you have political convictions keep them to yourself
Now, the one on the left works in a bank
And the one in the middle drives a truck
The one on the right's an all-night deejay
And the guy in the rear got drafted
TheOldMole wrote:
> I love the Forster quote. The Johnny Cash is from "The One on the
> Right Was on the Left," in which political differences break up a folk
> group. A funny song, but you're right...not good advice. I don't put
> all that much of the political into my poetry -- you just have to
> follow where the words take you, and mine don't seem to take me to the
> specifically political all that often, athough it's all about the
> world we live in, and the weird stuff that impinges on it. But boy, I
> can't stay away from it in my fiction. "Nick and Jake" was about the
> McCarthy era, the one in progress is set in the thirties, and is
> mostly about left wing WPA muralists.
>
> Jeff Newberry wrote:
>> Hi Rachel,
>>
>> How are you defining political? Do you mean broadly, as "of the
>> people?" Or perhaps "having to do with politics?" Or perhaps
>> "having to do with politics with a slant toward one's own political
>> party?" Or perhaps, "not private?"
>>
>> I'm not being snarky. I just wonder. I've heard this line before,
>> "All poetry is political." I suppose that depends on how you define
>> "political."
>>
>> I have a great interest in this debate(?). Is poetry by nature
>> "political?" Again, I suppose it depends on how you want to define
>> "political." Is language "political?" If you buy that line of
>> thinking, I suppose it is. Of course, my great curse is that I
>> always not only see but also feel some sympathy for every side in a
>> debate, be it political(!) or private.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Jeff Newberry
>>
>> On Jan 16, 2008 1:15 PM, Rachel Loden <r_loden at sbcglobal.net
>> <mailto:r_loden at sbcglobal.net>> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks, Tad -- and I was very intrigued by your post "A Low
>> Dishonest
>> Decade":
>>
>> http://opusforty.blogspot.com/2008/01/low-dishonest-decade.html
>> <http://opusforty.blogspot.com/2008/01/low-dishonest-decade.html>
>>
>> I agree with Forster, for the most part, but not with the usually
>> astute
>> Johnny Cash. Folk song and politics are inextricably mixed, unless
>> we want
>> to deep-six "This Land Is Your Land" or "Silver Dagger" just for
>> example.
>>
>> It always makes me laugh when people say they're not interested in
>> (what
>> they like to call) "political poetry." Did they imagine there was
>> another
>> kind? Some fish don't see water, but they're swimming in it.
>>
>> On the other hand, I'm not much interested in what often *passes*
>> for
>> political poetry -- agitprop and sloganeering, I mean.
>>
>> Rachel
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: TheOldMole [mailto: Opus40-01 at opus40.org
>> <mailto:Opus40-01 at opus40.org>]
>> > Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 8:20 AM
>> > To: r_loden at sbcglobal.net <mailto:r_loden at sbcglobal.net>;
>> NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry
>> > News & Views
>> > Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] new on wordstrumpet: nixon vets the
>> > candidates &c.
>> >
>> > As a faithful wordstrumpeter, I had read this and loved it.
>> >
>> > Rachel Loden wrote:
>> > >
>> > > http://wordstrumpet.blogspot.com/
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > * How Would Nixon Vote? Tricky D. Vets the Candidates
>> > >
>> > > * A Poem for Primaries: Milhous as King of the Ghosts
>> > >
>> > > * The Moist Lotus Open Along Acheron: Sappho, psychopomp &c.
>> > >
>> > > * The Important Looking Men (with a Note from Mairéard
>> Byrne)
>> > >
>> > > * Speechless: Woody Allen on the WGA strike; the
>> > "right-to-sing" state
>> > >
>> > > * Rose, Oh Pure Contradiction: Knox, Manguso & more
>> > >
>> > > * The More Things Change Dept.: Some Remarks on Humor
>> > by E.B. White
>> > >
>> > > * Susan Sontag: An Argument about Beauty
>> > >
>> > > * Concord in the Sixties: Hawthorne, the Alcotts, the
>> Civil War
>> > >
>> > > * Poetry and the Theory of Heartbreak
>> > >
>> > > * A Fresh Face, Somebody Who Understands: Nixon and
>> Rumsfeld
>> > >
>> > > * My Wicked Caddywumpus Ways: Blurb-Composition &
>> > other confusions
>> > >
>> > > * A Page from the Dangerfield Playbook: the Stephen T.
>> > Colbert Award
>> > > for the Literary Excellence
>> > >
>> > > * Poetry, Grimness, and Gallows Humor: Mlinko, Brecht,
>> > Lerner, Flarf
>> > > &c.
>> > >
>> > > * Adventures in Heresiology: Patrolling the Perimeter of
>> the
>> > > Avant-garde
>> > >
>> > > * Academy of Fine Arts: Linh Dinh by Jonathan Hill
>> > >
>> > > * Poem in Spanish (with a Note from Paul Hoover)
>> > >
>> > > * M. A. Numminen Sings Wittgenstein
>> > >
>> > > http://wordstrumpet.blogspot.com/
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > New-Poetry mailing list
>> > > New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu <mailto:New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu>
>> > > http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/new-poetry
>> > >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Tad Richards
>> > http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
>> > http://opusforty.blogspot.com/
>> >
>> > The moral is this: in American verse,
>> > The better you are, the pay is worse.
>> > --Corey Ford
>> >
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than
>> recollects, longer than knowing even wonders."
>> —William Faulkner, Light in August
>>
>>
>> http://museoffireblog.blogspot.com
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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>
--
Tad Richards
http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
http://opusforty.blogspot.com/
The moral is this: in American verse,
The better you are, the pay is worse.
--Corey Ford
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