Intertextuality in Popular Music After 1965 (By Joseph R. Matson)
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Intertextuality in Popular Music after 1965 A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Joseph R. Matson IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Peter Mercer-Taylor, Advisor December 2016 © Joseph R. Matson 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The present work is the result of several years’ labor, but I did not labor alone. Many people have generously offered me their support and guidance, and without them, this dissertation would not exist. My entry into higher education was not guaranteed. It depended on substantial financial support, first from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which ultimately allowed me to complete a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree from Iowa State University. Then subsequent financial support came from the University of Iowa, where I earned a Master of Arts degree in Musicology, and from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which provided funding for me to complete a German language immersion program. Finally, the University of Minnesota supported the pursuit of my doctoral studies in Musicology / Ethnomusicology. Any degree in higher education requires a significant investment of time and resources, and these institutions have invested in me for more than a decade. During my doctoral studies, I gained valuable professional experience through my faculty appointments at Illinois State University, Millikin University, and Illinois Wesleyan University. Each of these institutions took a chance on me in the early stages of my career, and I am grateful for the opportunities they afforded me and for the faith they placed in me. All six of the above-named universities provided access to materials that would otherwise have been inaccessible, primarily through the substantial collections of resources housed in their various libraries. I especially wish to thank music librarians i Ruthann McTyre (formerly of the Rita Benton Music Library at the University of Iowa) and Anne Shelley (of Milner Library at Illinois State University). They have earned my appreciation repeatedly for the work that they do for their patrons every day. For their incisive questions and feedback, a special note of thanks goes to the members of my dissertation committee: Sumanth Gopinath, David Grayson, Peter Mercer-Taylor, and Mark Pedelty. As my dissertation advisor, Professor Mercer-Taylor read this work in its roughest stages, and he helped me to re-measure, re-cut, sand, and polish it in innumerable ways. At every university that I attended as a student, or that I worked for as a faculty member, the faculty, staff, and student body shaped my thinking in fundamental ways. For the daily inspirations that led me to pursue music as my profession, I wish to acknowledge Jeffrey Prater and Carl Bleyle. For shaping my initial understanding of the field of musicology and for years of professional support, thank you to Christine Getz and Marian Wilson Kimber. For the many thought-provoking conversations and occasional moments of commiseration, I warmly thank all my graduate school colleagues. The members of the Awesome Book Club and the Chicken Pluckers helped me more than they know. As I was working on my dissertation, I imagined writing for an “ideal reader”: her name is Dana Schumacher-Schmidt. Most especially, to Kimberly Beck Hieb and Jessica Narum, who were my writing partners for the last several years of this project. Even after they had both already finished their dissertations, they stuck with me when I began to write, ii when I struggled to write, when I wrote, and finally, when I had written. Their contributions were absolutely essential. My greatest source of support throughout my adult life has been Anne Shelley, to whom this work is dedicated. She knows better than anyone the late nights, the early mornings, the events skipped, canceled, or postponed, and the moments both frustrating and triumphant that went into the creation of these pages. From the years we spent dating, to our wedding, to the purchase of our first home, and to raising our first dog together, she has been waiting longer than anyone to see this work completed. Thank you, Anne, for your patient encouragement. iii DEDICATION To Anne iv ABSTRACT Throughout the twentieth century, literary theorists developed a range of new techniques to analyze written works. In addition to studying a work’s text, analysts became increasingly interested in studying a work’s intertext, that is, its relationships to other texts. Intertextual approaches to music analysis have remained somewhat uncommon, although some commentators, including Christopher Reynolds and Michael Klein, have used intertextual analysis alongside more traditional musical analytical techniques such as Schenkerian analysis or pitch-class set theory. This dissertation applies the notion of intertextuality to the analysis of popular music written after about 1965, focusing in particular on examples that are connected to both classical and popular traditions of Western music. This dissertation explores how the creators of pop and rock music became increasingly interested in incorporating art music traditions into their own works, particularly during the fifty-year period from 1965 to 2015. Chapter 1 provides a brief historical introduction to musical intertextuality, concentrating broadly on Western art music from the medieval period up to about 1965. Both in Chapter 1 and throughout the dissertation as a whole, a small number of examples illustrate central concepts; the coverage makes no attempt to be comprehensive. Chapter 1 also introduces literary theories surrounding intertextuality that are applied throughout the later chapters. After the first chapter, Chapters 2 through 4 follow in approximately chronological order and approach the topic of musical intertextuality from three different points of origin: a genre, a source, and a composer. v The genre is progressive rock, the subject of Chapter 2. Progressive rock artists such as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer created new works that were connected by various means to classical precedents. Examples are chosen from about 1965 to about 1980. The source is Johann Sebastian Bach, whose music is one of the major nexus points for musical intertextuality in many styles. In addition to serving as a source for many progressive rock artists in the 1960s and ’70s (discussed in Chapter 2), Bach’s music has continued to have a generative function for musicians at the turn of the twenty- first century. Chapter 3 examines three contrasting examples: Tenacious D, Stuart Davis, and Chris Thile. The composer is Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, whose music contains numerous allusions to both popular and classical sources. Drawing on examples from 1994 to 2016, Chapter 4 examines connections between the music of Weezer and that of Johannes Brahms, Aaron Copland, and Giacomo Puccini, among others, arguing that intertextuality is a central characteristic of Weezer’s music. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................................ix LIST OF EXAMPLES...............................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERTEXTUALITY IN WESTERN MUSIC........................1 CHAPTER 2: STYLES COLLIDE: THE POPULAR-CLASSICAL FUSION OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK................................................................................................32 CHAPTER 3: EXTRA-GENERIC BORROWING: BACH AS POPULAR MUSIC............................59 CHAPTER 4: WEEZER’S LYRICAL AND MUSICAL ALLUSIONS..............................................95 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................143 APPENDICES......................................................................................................................158 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Selected examples of collaborations between rock artists and classical ensembles................................................................................................45 Table 2.2: Eric Hung’s formal outline of ELP’s Pictures at an Exhibition.......................50 Table 2.3: Selected examples of popular songs that borrow from or allude to classical sources.................................................................................................52 Table 2.4: A partial summary of Nors Josephson’s formal outline of Genesis’s “Supper’s Ready.”.................................................................................57 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: People and albums that combine bluegrass and classical styles.....................83 Figure 4.1: Rivers Cuomo, Songs from the Black Hole (1995): projected sequence of musical numbers, including key indications....................................110 Figure 4.2: Weezer, “Across the Sea,” Pinkerton (1996): draft of lyrics........................127 ix LIST OF EXAMPLES Example 3.1: Tenacious D, “Tribute,” The Complete Master Works (2003): intro. Guitar solo taken from Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven,” Led Zeppelin IV (1971): intro................................................................................68 Example 3.2a: Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven,” Led Zeppelin IV (1971): outro..........................................................................................................68