Comments on: Carl’s Rock Songbook #23: The Beach Boys, “That’s Not Me”

By: Isabel Wilkerson on Blacks and the South: “They Left” » Postmodern Conservative | A First Things Blog

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 06:17:20 +0000

[...] in Songbook #23, I noted that blacks don’t have very many of the classic “goin’ home” songs [...]

By: Carl’s Rock Songbook #25: Simon and Garfunkel, “Sounds of Silence” » Postmodern Conservative | A First Things Blog

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:46:31 +0000

[...] theistic sympathies, its own answer is not to return to God. We should also notice, in contrast to That’s Not Me, that its own answer is not to return to the rural or suburban “home.” You grow up in NYC, and [...]

By: Carl Eric Scott

Carl Eric Scott — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:42:36 +0000

Well thanks, Peter. And that Midnight to Georgia song does seem a welcome exception to that hypothesis of mine about black “going home” songs–you tube led me to the Gladys Knight version.

And it of course reminded me of “Georgia on My Mind,” a song that illustrates but seems to transcend the problem of black singers being pressured to sing “nostalgic for the South” songs. The most famous version before Ray Charles’ was probably Billie Holiday’s, whose “Strange Fruit” was a deliberate response to such songs.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:55:13 +0000

How could “Midnight Train to Georgia” fit in as a black example of the genre? Seems like it could add a twist since the narrator is leaving her world not owing to her own failure to “make it” but to stay with the man she loves who couldn’t cut it in the city.

For what it’s worth, I really enjoy nostalgic songs, like S&G’s “The Boxer” and “So Far Away” by Dire Straits (a band I think could be a good candidate for some of these Songbooks)

Anyway, I haven’t commented much cause most of the time the blog is over my head but I want to add my voice to those who have praised the new blog. I love the diversity of the content and the willingness of the bloggers to comment on each others’ posts. Keep it up!