For a Lark the Poetry of Songs
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UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA FACULDADE DE LETRAS PROGRAMA EM TEORIA DA LITERATURA FOR A LARK THE POETRY OF SONGS Telmo Rodrigues DOUTORAMENTO EM ESTUDOS DE LITERATURA E DE CULTURA TEORIA DA LITERATURA 2014 Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Letras Programa em Teoria da Literatura FOR A LARK THE POETRY OF SONGS Telmo Rodrigues Dissertação orientada por: PROFESSOR DOUTOR ANTÓNIO M. FEIJÓ PROFESSOR DOUTOR MIGUEL TAMEN Doutoramento em Estudos de Literatura e de Cultura Teoria da Literatura 2014 Acknowledgments The work for this thesis was done under a fellowship granted by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT): the time granted to think is priceless, and I am indeed thankful for being allowed to benefit from it. During this period I have also benefited from the resources put at my disposal by my host institution, the Nova Institute of Philosophy (IFILNOVA). Professor António Feijó has been teaching me since my first year of undergraduate studies and Professor Miguel Tamen since I started graduate studies: I am still to this day amazed at the luck I have for being given the opportunity to work with both of them, and my gratitude for their efforts and enthusiasm in crafting this thesis is immeasurable. As a student of the Program in Literary Theory I must extend my thanks to Professor João Figueiredo, who is an integral part of the Program and with whom I have learnt many valuable things about art. When writing a thesis, a friend who enjoys editing is a blessing one must always be thankful for; in any case, I would gladly dismiss Helena’s editing skills for the friendship which has shaped this work beyond recognition and, necessarily, beyond any written acknowledgment. Shawn Severson read through a final version of this thesis, correcting my English and making insightful comments. Among the people who have helped me along the way it would be unfair not to name Professor Elisabete Sousa, Humberto and Ana, Maria, Filipe, José, Pedro, Sofia (for the faith in Morrissey), and Alberto (for The Germs and other questions). Dora and Júlia are my justifications. Abstract It is commonly accepted that art is humanity’s highest achievement and a definite proof of distinction between humans and other animals. In that sense, the higher the artistic accomplishment, the more sublime the human. The premise for my thesis is that a distinction between high and low art is useless, and, as such, other distinctions must be put in place in order to qualify human beings and the environments they inhabit. My overall argument is that it is not the extraordinary but the ordinary that distinguishes human beings not only from other animals but also among themselves. Ordinariness is the central aspect of our lives and a decisive part of who we are. Many different aspects out of our control condition choices we make, and we are usually led to believe that those aspects are what is relevant for assessing our lives; nevertheless, it is what we choose that is decisive. Taking pop music as an instance of low art, how and why we relate to some things and not others will be discussed; by approximating pop music to the practices of poetry, an instance of high art, it will be shown that most intellectual thought put in the creation of one type of art is present in the other: allegiance to one or the other is a matter of personal choice, not of constituency. 4 Resumo É comum aceitar a ideia de que a arte é aquilo que a humanidade tem de mais nobre e a demonstração absoluta de que os humanos são diferentes de outros animais. Desse ponto de vista, quanto mais nobre a arte mais sublime o ser humano. A premissa da minha tese é a de que a distinção entre arte erudita e arte popular é inútil e, assim sendo, devem ser consideradas outras distinções para qualificar seres humanos e os vários espaços que habitam. O meu argumento geral pressupõe que não é o extraordinário mas antes o comum que nos distingue não só de outros animais mas também de outros especímenes humanos. Aquilo que é central nas nossas vidas, e um aspecto crucial para sermos quem somos, é aquilo que fazemos normalmente. Sendo que as nossas escolhas podem ser condicionadas por muitas variáveis, temos por hábito pensar que o que é importante para compreendermos a nossa vida são essas variáveis; no entanto, são as nossas escolhas que importam. Tomando a música pop como um exemplo de arte popular, serão discutidas as formas e razões que nos levam a apreciar algumas coisas em detrimento de outras; ao aproximar a música pop das práticas da poesia (uma arte erudita), pretende-se mostrar que a maior parte das considerações que dão origem a uma são idênticas às que originam a outra: a inclinação para uma ou para a outra depende da escolha pessoal, não de predisposição biológica. 5 Keywords Pop Music – Bob Dylan – Morrissey – Ordinariness – Poetry 6 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ 3 Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 4 Resumo ............................................................................................................................... 5 Keywords ........................................................................................................................... 6 Foreword .......................................................................................................................... 11 First Words ...................................................................................................................... 14 Literary Flirtation ............................................................................................................ 23 Englishness ...................................................................................................................... 31 Proletarian Tradition ...................................................................................................... 38 Preserving Sanity ............................................................................................................. 47 Fast Cars ........................................................................................................................... 55 Change of Speed ............................................................................................................. 62 The Killer’s Art ............................................................................................................... 70 Dead Souls ....................................................................................................................... 79 Everyday is Like Thursday ............................................................................................ 86 Dandy in Rags ................................................................................................................. 93 Natural Lies ................................................................................................................... 101 The Art of Soccer ........................................................................................................ 107 The Feeling of Emptiness .......................................................................................... 115 Darkness Before the Light ......................................................................................... 122 Notes on Preservation ................................................................................................. 130 7 Why Do Birds Sing? .................................................................................................... 138 Sounds from Wonderland .......................................................................................... 148 The Gardener ............................................................................................................... 159 Strange Fruit ................................................................................................................. 170 The Devil ....................................................................................................................... 177 Prom Dates ................................................................................................................... 190 Blind Willie McTell ...................................................................................................... 201 Season of the Unplugged ............................................................................................ 213 The Dylanologists ........................................................................................................ 226 Afterword: Mea Res Agitur .......................................................................................... 238 Works Cited .................................................................................................................. 248 8 Note: This thesis includes as Annex I a data DVD containing the songs discussed or alluded to in each chapter. 9 You can listen to these songs, Have a good time and walk away. But for me it’s not that easy. I have to live these songs forever. (Daniel Johnston, “Peek A Boo”) 10 Foreword The following thesis is a consequence of a lifetime of listening, talking about and dancing to pop music; it is also a consequence of failing, in many moments, to explain why such activities are relevant for my life. The essays comprising this thesis follow arguments about how and why we relate to certain objects