Ruining the Joke: Discussing PDQ Bach’s use of the Aspects of Humor in Tex (S.150)

Matthew A. Bardin, MM

Louisiana State University

School of Music

MUS 7921, Spring 2021. Prof. J. Perry

The purpose of this paper is to explore the character of PDQ Bach and break down their use of humor in the composition Oedipus Tex. Towards this goal I will break down the character of

PDQ Bach and its relation to Professor , discuss why humans tend to find certain events humorous, and review details of parody, satire and spoof. I will then move into a breakdown of some of the more noticeable instances of humorous content in Oedipus Tex.

PDQ Bach is a pseudonym for Professor Peter Schickele under which he writes a large amount of music. Briefly speaking, the character of PDQ Bach is one large parody of Johann Sebastian

Bach, and a spoof of Classical music composers in general. The character is a play on the naming tradition that JS Bach and his children are most often referred to in the musical community. PDQ himself is canonically the 21st son of the aforementioned JS Bach, born shortly before the composer’s death in 1750.

The information surrounding PDQ is intentionally skewed in order to help listeners to pick up on the inherent humor in the character. PDQ’s lifespan is always listed as “(1807-1742)?” on musical scores which should be impossible. The pieces that PDQ Bach writes are often based on other compositions of the 17th, 18th and 19th century, which brings its own level of parody to the music1. Even the name, PDQ is a joke. While canonically, the letters are stated as having no meaning (Schickele, 2014) we, the modern listeners will recognize the initials as standing for the phrase “Pretty Damn Quick” rather than actual initials as is the custom when referring to actual members of the Bach family.

1 The canonic reason for this is that PDQ is described as being “exceptionally average”, lazy, and having a general distain towards music in general due to the nature of his family. The relationship between Professor Schickele and PDQ Bach is an interesting one compared to the majority of other artists who tend to create a pseudonym. Rather than assuming the identity of PDQ, Schickele is pretending to be a musicologist who is preserving, notating, and publishing the music of the fictional 19th century composer2. In the case of Oedipus Tex, Schickele is credited as shown in figure 1. (Bach, 1989)

Figure 1. The cover to the piano score for Oedipus Tex.

This persona and world-building goes a long way towards developing the humor of the character.

Schickele has even gone as far as to publish a biography following the fictional life of PDQ Bach and the more exciting exploits of the fictional composer. (Schickele, 2014) These fictional characters and events are intermingled with elements from real world history in order to give them a sense of plausibility, however all of the ‘canon’ elements of PDQ’s history mentioned in this paper and Schickele’s book are as fictional as PDQ himself.

2 I want to clarify that Schickele is only pretending to study the music of PDQ Bach, who is a fictional persona. For Schickele to write these referential pieces requires a fair bit of musicological knowledge and research.

As one might expect, defining exactly what makes something humorous, and why a person or group of people might laugh at an occurrence is no easy feat. There are several factors that go into this that are problematic, if not practically impossible, to accurately research within a normal human lifespan (Walton, 1993). Walton summarizes these points in his article, using the metaphor of a researcher trying to understand what makes members of a fictional Martian society laugh. To this effect, the argument boils down to two main elements the observer would have to identify:

1. What the event is that the observed population find humorous, and

2. Why this group finds the above even humorous.

The first of these is relatively simple, if not potentially time consuming to determine. One would simply have to introduce an event to a group of subjects and determine if they found it amusing

(Walton, 1993) To gain insight into the second element, let’s look into a lecture on humor in music by Leonard Bernstein.

In his lecture (Bernstein, 1961) Bernstein hits on a few key elements that help to understand why people laugh at different things:

1. Jokes build on shared experiences that the audience can relate to, and

2. The punchline/delivery of that joke subverts the expectations brought on by those shared

experiences.

In the opening of the lecture, Bernstein references A Musical Joke by Mozart. As a listener who is familiar with the Western tradition of musical harmony, an average person listening to this piece in the 18th-19th century would expect a certain progression of melody and harmony. Simply put, this would be the shared experience by the audience that would allow them to have a similar context and respond in a similar fashion. However, in the Mozart composition3, Mozart defies the audience expectations and changes the harmonic resolution of the phrase.

I feel that this, broadly speaking, is the key to identifying an instance of humor. In some way, jokes tend to subvert the expectations of the listener through a clever punchline. Take the one below for example:

“Why did the chicken go to the séance?

“To get to the other side.”4

Figure 2: an example joke

This joke, while not particularly "elevated" or "sophisticated" plays on these elements discussed so far. It depends on the listener's shared experience of knowing what a séance is, and deviates from the expectations by referring to another style of joke, wherein the punchline is always "to get to the other side". Without these shared experiences by the audience, a listener would be unlikely to understand that what had just occurred was funny, or what the joke was about.

(Walton, 1993) Understanding this, one could begin to make forward progress into what and why an audience might be able to find something, not even necessarily music, amusing.

3 Specifically, the portion referenced by Bernstein in the opening of the lecture. 4 As much as I would like to take credit for it, this joke came from https://www.rd.com/list/short-jokes/ Now that we have gone over the generalities of why something might be funny, lets briefly discuss some of the specific types of mimicking humor PDQ Bach uses in several of his compositions. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Parody as: “a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule. (Merriam-

Webster, “Parody”) Throughout history parody can be seen in art, literature, music, and almost every medium known to humans. A few examples include:

1. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) parodies the Christian bible’s story of the life of Jesus

and his crucifixion.

2. Michael Gerber’s Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody (2001) parodies the book

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

3. Any song by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovich is a parody of another popular song.

What you may notice about the examples motioned thus far as well as other parodies are a direct reference to something specific: a song, a story, a person, etc. This is the key distinction between parody and spoof. A spoof is essentially a parody on a broader scale. These imitate an entire genre or field rather than one specific instance of it (Betts, 2014). We can see examples of spoofs in things such as:

1. The Onion: a television/internet network that spoofs news and reporters by creations

outlandish headline titles and fake reports.

2. The film series Scary Movie: a 5-film series that parodies various other films in the horror

genre rather than just one specific film.

Lastly, let’s look at the idea of satire. A parody, spoof, or other humor becomes satirical when the new product is designed to create an often-ironic commentary on the original object or person being copied, rather than exist as its own entity independent of that original (Betts, 2014).

We see this clearly in political cartoons which often twist one event or person in such a way as to either make them look good or bad depending on the bias of the author.

Before diving into the details of musical content in Oedipus Tex, the listener should be familiar with what to expect in terms of content and form. Oedipus Tex is an , which can best be described as a relatively short, small scale opera without the theatre aspects. In fact, this composition is listed as a “Dramatic Oratorio or Opera in One Cathartic Act” on the cover of the score (see figure 1). All of the text in an oratorio is sung and is often dramatic or religious in nature. In terms of forces, an oratorio often utilized both an orchestra and , as well as assorted soloists; all of which are utilized in PDQ Bach’s orchestration. I would call this composition a spoof on the dramatic oratorio. It contains enough elements from the original genre, however as we will see it is completely irreverent in its nature and delivery. The absurd content is making fun of the sometimes overly serious nature of the original.

In terms of topic, this oratorio is a telling of the tragedy by Sophocles. In short, the plot of this story follows Oedipus whose parents attempted to defy a prophecy from the gods.5 I do find an interesting reference to the 1927 opera Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky in

PDQ’s work. The Stravinsky is a serious telling of the original play and opens with the chorus singing the text “Oedipus” in multiple rhythmic variations. This same idea happens in the PDQ

5 For more information on the plot of the original Oedipus story, please visit [url] Bach intro, however as we will see shortly, has underlying humorous tones. Because the remainder of PDQ’s work does not directly quote Stravinsky, I feel that this is simply a reference for those familiar with the 1927 composition.

Where PDQ Bach’s interpretation differs from the original story is the setting. Rather than being set in ancient Thebes, Greece, PDQ sets the story in the town of Thebes Gulch, Texas. This change, which may seem small at first glance, has large-reaching repercussions that allow PDQ

Bach to generate a wide variety of humorous moments that would normally have limited effectiveness in a normal setting of the text.

The music of PDQ Bach is comprised of many levels of humor and As such, it is not possible to break down every potential joke and reference within the scope of this paper. With this in mind, I will be focusing on four main areas where I feel the use of parody, spoof, and satire are the clearest for the majority of listeners: The introduction, prologue, the “Goodbye”, and the

Finale.

The first element of humor found in Oedipus Tex is one that does not even appear in the score. In the CD recording, (The Greater Hoople Area Off-Season Philharmonic & The Okay ,

1990) Schickele introduces each composition in a fictional call to a lawyer, attempting to discuss a case against the American Musicological Journal (AMJ) to be readmitted. The Society had expelled him for various reasons involving altering the works of PDQ Bach. In the case of Oedipus Tex, the claim was “Commercializing Art” In short, Schickele sold ad space in the oratorio in order to help promote the composition.6

Figure 3: The payoff to the opening/main joke of the entire composition. Score pg. 67 (Bach, 1989)

This particular instance is satire rather than parody or spoof because of the context given in the introduction. Because Schickele is saying that he had to do this in order to generate enough revenue to have the composition performed, he is making a commentary on the state of the funding of the Arts. While this instance is hyperbolizing the claim to comedic effect, it is offering a direct, ironic statement that Art may not be able to continue to be created without more funding, and possibly donor sponsorship. Without the context of this extra-musical source, this short instance is quickly transformed from a clever satirical comment into a non-sensical throwaway line without any context. It may still be funny on its own to some listeners as the sudden appearance of the line would subvert their expectations of what would happen in the

6 There are several other additional jokes in the short introduction to the performance. A recording of the full introduction as well as the tracks can be found on the audio CD (The Greater Hoople Area Off-Season Philharmonic & The Okay Chorale, 1990) music, but the short introductory recording adds a world of new meaning to a simple case of three eighth notes. It should be noted that this instance is referenced in the program note, but like the recorded introduction, there is no guarantee that the listener will have access to or choose to read the program note.

Where the humorous part of this satire comes into play for this matter is the delivery of this setup. The ironic claim itself is fairly serious, as is the majority of satire (Betts, 2014), but it is the presentation of the joke that turns the satire into the comedic backbone for the entire composition. The joke is introduced before the beginning of the composition7, so the listener would be listening for this moment throughout the entire performance. However, the particular line does not occur until the finale, almost 30 minutes after the setup, and only happens on a beat-and-a-half worth of time in the middle of a fast-paced song. This means that the listener will have likely forgotten about the joke in the first place or may not even notice it on their first listen. This contrast between the weight of the setup and the anti-climax of the payoff is where the inherent humor comes into play in this joke. (Attardok and Pickering, 2011)

Moving back into the opening of the oratorio, we see the chorus open on the line “tragedy” repeatedly. In the B section, the chorus moves onto explaining exactly what will happen in the plot and what will make the story a tragedy. While a chorus isn’t a new feature in the kind of

Greek play that this composition is based on, they are generally used to set the scene for the play.

Part of the inherent drama is that the audience does not know how the story will play out unless they have already seen the story. This opening upends all of that expectation and potential drama

7 The setup for this joke is not even technically in the music as previously discussed. by spoiling the fact that Oedipus Tex is a tragedy and how the protagonist “is gonna suffer a lot before he knows the reason why.” This is the line in the opening that shares a similar rhythmic delivery to the content in the Stravinsky composition.

Jumping ahead in the oratorio we see the aria “Goodbye”. In terms of the story, this aria is Billie

Joe’s reaction to finding out that Oedipus is actually her son and they have been married since he saved the town several years ago. Shortly after the song, the character commits suicide; a very dark turn of events. Where this becomes humorous is the music attached to the aria. The chorus of this song is a fairly blatant parody of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Pictured in figure 4 is the music from PDQ’s score next to the music from Lauper’s (Bach, 1989 and

Hazard, 1983)

Figure 4: Side by side comparison of “Goodbye” (left) and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. (right)

While not exactly identical, the reference to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is obvious both when looking at the music and when only listening to the performance without the score. We can see the same pattern of a descending minor third, a repeated note, and a lower neighbor tone ornamenting the ending of the phrase. While the score to Lauper's version does show more ornamentation and syncopated rhythm, there is enough similarity for the listener to make the connection even if they only have limited familiarity with the original tune. Especially when

Oedipus Tex was originally released, approximately five years following Girls Just Wanna Have

Fun.

Where this instance of parody becomes humerus is in the subversion of the expectations of the song’s tone. As stated in the proceeding recitative, the character Billie Joe is singing this song as she is putting up a noose to hang herself. The audience would expect a possibly sad, somber, or pensive aria about what brought the character to this point, rather than an upbeat, peppy tune about wanting to live your life and not letting other people kick you around. This kind of irreverent subversion is something that leads the composition as a whole to be a spoof of the dramatic oratorio as previously mentioned.

We have already looked at the finale, but now let’s dive into more of the musical content for the majority of the movement. As one would expect, this movement works to wrap up what has happened in the oratorio and expound on the moral of the story. However, the way in which

PDQ goes about doing this contradicts any expectations the listener may have based on listening to other or dramatic tragedies. The movement opens with a direct quoting of the song

The Eyes of Texas Are Upon Which is both on par with the spoofy theme of the oratorio as a whole, and ironic as Oedipus had just put out his eyes at the end of the previous recitative. The

Eyes of Texas Are Upon You is a spirit song for the University of Texas and is set to the theme of the folk tune I've Been Workin on the Railroad. (Berry, 1976)

Following a horn solo8, we see a return of the opening material, reminding the audience that we have literally just finished listening to a tragedy. This is where the “Drink Pepsi” line discussed previously occurs. The C section of this movement begins with the narrator explaining, in song

(with a completely unexpected change of tone, similar to “Goodbye”), the moral of the story that the audience has just finished watching. This is not out of place in the realm of dramatic stories, however, while normally the moral of the Oedipus story is not to fight your destiny, this story’s moral is “Don’t love your mother, pardner, save it for your horse”. This line, as one final stab of irreverence has taken the original theme of defying your destiny and missed it entirely, instead focusing on the idea of “don’t marry your mother” and mixing in the western flair that has been present for the entire composition.

In conclusion, the composition, Oedipus Tex serves as a spoof of the traditional dramatic oratorio that would have been common in PDQ Bach’s lifetime, had he actually existed. This composition utilizes the concepts of spoof, parody, and satire to provide the audience with a wide variety of jokes present in both the music and lyrics. These jokes play off the audience’s expectations and previous experiences whether that be familiarity with classic Greek plays, listening to the composition’s introduction, or 1980’s pop songs. By deviating from the expectations brought on by these references in an often intentionally crass manner, PDQ Bach is able to convey the story, make the audience laugh, and draw attention to the lack of Arts funding all within a single performance.

8 The horn solo in itself is a running joke in the score. The performer begins with just a mouthpiece and short piece of tube, gradually building the instrument over thirty minutes to arrive in this moment. In a way, this has as much build up as the moment shown in figure 3. Works Cited

Attardok, Salvatore, and Lucy Pickering. "Timing in the performance of jokes". Humor 24. 2011.

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