The Songbook inevitably has to analyze modernity, precisely because it is interested more in what rock reveals about our overall sociological and spiritual situation than it is in rock itself. So what follows are two organizing posts concerning this. Here, I’ll quickly lay out my . . . . Continue Reading »
Jeffrey Polet kicks back on his rocker, and proceeds to shred a whiny-but-poignant-sounding Atlantic article, about motherhood refused and about the true consequences of the sexual revolution denied, to pieces. In a gentlemanly way, of course. Not to be missed. . . . . Continue Reading »
For never are the ways of music moved without the greatest political laws being moved. Plato, The Republic, 242c And so they say, this the golden age . . . U2, “New Year’s Day” At this point one might well wonder why I am bothering with rock, having abundant reasons to dislike the . . . . Continue Reading »
The Poetic Wisdom Paradox, which I abbreviate as the PWP, works as follows. A wise poet, let us say Homer, wants to convey wisdom in his poetic creation. Unlike the bohemian model of the underground poet satisfied with a tiny audience, we assume he begins with the poet’s traditional desire to . . . . Continue Reading »
“Friends of Mine” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON-F0i69_8k is a song in which the narrator has an appreciative yet ultimately ambivalent attitude towards marriage, and towards “pairing off” more generally. Officially, that is, judged by the meaning of the lyrics alone, it is a . . . . Continue Reading »
The songs that make up Odyssey and Oracle could be analyzed in two ways. First, we could interpret them as distinct songs only superficially or incidentally linked in lyrical content—and then we’d say a lot more about which of the two Zombie songwriters, Rod Argent or Chris White, penned . . . . Continue Reading »
The song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc7b62El_fk) isn’t great, but a mixed bag. A gorgeous chorus, tasty instrumental parts, but the song’s feel is too characterized by the embarrassingly breathy “ahh” sound that punctuates the verses. If (as Will Farrell fans know) there . . . . Continue Reading »
Is it surprising that in an age with so few binding commitments postmodern men and women seek symbols of permanence etched into their bodies? Continue Reading »
If any further proof were needed that the Woodstock generation has taken over the federal government, President Clinton’s “AIDS Czar,” Kristine Gebbie, gave a speech a few months ago at a conference on teen pregnancy that should put the matter to rest. (Her office attempted to rewrite the . . . . Continue Reading »
What is it that Christians ought to say and do about the issue of sexual relations between single people? This question currently presses most painfully upon the life of the churches. The real issue is not whether the churches ought to adopt a new sexual ethic, but whether the new sexual ethic they . . . . Continue Reading »
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