[New-Poetry] "political poetry" (was new on wordstrumpet)
Rachel Loden
r_loden at sbcglobal.net
Wed Jan 16 19:25:09 EST 2008
Tad, that's wonderful -- now the whole thing makes sense to me, in the
context of this comic song. As I think you know, nobody's less enamored of
political orthodoxy than I am. Allergic to the stuff from babyhood, when I
was exposed to way too much of it from all sides.
Political rigidities of the right and the left are mirrors of one another.
We all know this, yes? These people are vogueing, striking poses -- they're
not thinking.
It didn't make sense that Johnny would be hectoring in that seemingly
humorless way but poking fun at human peccadilloes -- absolutely.
Rachel
> -----Original Message-----
> From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> [mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of TheOldMole
> Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 3:23 PM
> To: NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &Views
> Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] "political poetry" (was new on wordstrumpet)
>
> 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
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> 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
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> "Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than
> >> recollects, longer than knowing even wonders."
> >> —William Faulkner, Light in August
> >>
> >>
> >> http://museoffireblog.blogspot.com
> >>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> New-Poetry mailing list
> >> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> New-Poetry mailing list
> New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/new-poetry
>
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