Should ideas be ownable?

The other day, in response to a comment on this blog, I wrote that “ideas should be ownable”. Another commenter disagreed, citing how laws that govern ownership of ideas are so complicated that the only beneficiaries are lawyers and how our Constitution only specifies protections for ideas that “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts,…”.

All this got me to thinking.

First up, da law.

To get a better handle on how ideas are protected, I started reading up on patents and  copyrights, but mid-research I decided that there was a more important issue on the table than HOW ideas should be protected, which was SHOULD ideas should be protected. In other words, should my ideas belong to me, if I can establish that my ideas are indeed my own? I think the answer is YES. Granted, the process of establishing an idea as one’s own can get complicated, but that is not a good reason to simply deny anyone the ownership of his ideas (or ones he’s purchased or otherwise legally acquired).

Consider: If people like me were not protected by copyright and patent laws, then we would always be at the total mercy of those who had the most capital. Always. Say, for example, I wrote a song and Coldplay wanted it. Under current law, they couldn’t have it unless I let them. However, if ideas were not ownable, they could just take the song, use their massive capital to record it, distribute it and promote it and capture all royalty payments. I would get nothing. Or think about business: let’s say I have an idea for a fundamentally better approach to memory in a computer (think Rambus). Without patent protection, Intel could just take my idea and integrate with their latest processor design and reap all the rewards. I would get nothing

No, ideas must be ownable. Otherwise, those who own today’s best ideas would always own tomorrow’s, too. And our culture would stratify far worse than it already has, then stagnate, with those in the highest strata would always stay put.

Now, what about The U.S. Constitution, which states that The Congress shall have power… To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries…

Honestly, I have problem with this bit of Founding Father folly. Specifically, I don’t like giving the government power over subjective concepts, such as “progress” and “useful”. I mean, to the Taliban, “progress” is a return to the caveman culture and “useful” could be applied to the Koran, while the Bible, well, that’s not so useful. Instead, I think we would all be better off if ideas were simply ownable, provided one can prove beyond a reasonable doubt to jury of his peers that he indeed either came up with the idea in question or acquired it legally.

Stepping off my pedestal. Thoughts?

Oh, and here are some definitions!

PATENT

the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years.

COPYRIGHT

the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death.

The Fall of the Wall and the rise of the Internet.

On this day, twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall fell. I don’t really remember it. But a few short years after the Fall of the Wall, I moved to Munich, Germany, where I lived for four years. In 1993, just over a year before I returned to the States for good (it seems), I took the train from Munich to Berlin to teach English to former East German border guards. My two-week English class was part of a broader curriculum designed to help these former “shoot-first-ask-questions-later” types to become security guards department stores. The family I stayed with was headed by a former Volkpolizist, which translates as “people’s police”. My days were spent teaching from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. My evenings were my own, and every day after class ended I boarded the train for Zoo Station, the heart of West Berlin, or Alexander Platz, the heart of East Berlin. Through it all, I learned that while The Wall had fallen a few years before, there were many more walls yet to fall.

The highest wall of all was the wall between people: everywhere I went in the East people were quiet. There were no boisterous conversations on the trains and buses, pubs were nothing like the Biergartens in the West, my students didn’t talk about their personal lives at all. People were not about to share so much as a hello, for the culture they had grown up in made them afraid to share. If you said something someone else decided was anti-government, you were reported and life got bad fast.

Keeping to oneself the way East Germans did was deeply odd to me. More significant, however, was how at odds the East Germans were with the times in general. The whole rest of Europe was in thrall to the promise of unification via the European Union. Everyone basck in Munich talked about the Union, the freedom it would bring as border controls were relaxed and currencies combined, the work opportunities, change. Sure, there were doubters. The Germans fretted over the coming demise of the D-mark, the French worried about their culture being watered down, the Italians nervously sipped cappuccino and wondered how much more of their country would soon be owned by wealthy Germans. The English said bollucks to the whole thing and pouted on the sidelines. The doubters were wrong. From what I can gather here in Fortress America, Europe is more open and prosperous than ever, and East Germany is a borderline only in memory.

In fact, looking back on it all, The Fall of the Wall and the rise of the European Union, I now see it all as a prelude to the Internet Age. Call me an idealist, but The Fall of All Walls is coming. In our heart of hearts, people want to be free to engage with other people and to find happiness wherever it may be. Even East German border guards, who, twenty one years ago today would shoot you on sight under the right circumstances and today will happily tell you where to find the bathroom. In English, no less.

Look at this damn THIEF! (A few thoughts on file sharing.)

According the record industry, I’m a thief and a blight upon society. Why? Because I have occasionally used peer-to-peer file sharing programs.

I tried Napster in its heyday, but found Limewire years ago and have used it exclusively ever since. I also visit Dimeadozen with some frequency, where I can find all sorts of live performances, all in the lossless FLAC format for maximum quality.

When I first tried Napster, I felt a little soiled, it just did not seem right. All that music for nothing? Even though I had grown up trading cassettes with friends, there were always three factors present that were missing with Napster: 1) I knew the people I was trading with, and we spent hours talking music, debating guitar players, dissing lame “sell-outs: 2) the trades were exactly that, TRADES, in that I would let friends tape albums of mine and they would let me tape albums of theirs; and 3) it was WORK, taping was a real-time operation, so one hour of music took one hour to record, plus the vinyl record had to be cleaned, the noise reduction selected (Dolby B or C?), the tape bias set (high bias, metal?), and given that everything took so long, reading material was of high importance, so album artwork got scrutinized. Oh, and all tapes had to be properly labeled (artist, album, bias, noise reduction) and all tracks written in tiny type on the cassette label. But Napster? Well, all you had to do was point and click.

Limewire wasn’t much different from Napster, but I quickly discovered a key difference: Limewire contained bootlegs! Man, I have found so many killer performances on Lime, and most all of the performances I have downloaded are not available on any official release. More important, I make it a rule not to steal music I can buy and actually want. Sure, I have downloaded many a track to “try before I buy”, but if I like what I hear, I am off to Amazon.

So, am I truly a thief and societal blight? I don’t see it that way at all. 90% of the music on my computer (all in lossless!) also sits under my bed on CDs, CDs I purchased. In fact, a recent study, pointed out to my by my friend Dave Tutin and again by blogger Boby Owsinksi, reveal that I am not at all unusual, for according to the study:

“…those who admit to illegally downloading music spent an average of $125 a year on music  – that's $54 more than those who claim that they never download music dishonestly.”

If the survey is right, then going after illegal downloaders is to go after music’s biggest fans and customers. So, what of the occasional downloader? I dunno. I guess my attitude is this: people can get music for free, and from now on this is reality, so we need to educate people that illegal downloading is stealing and is not right. In other words, we need to extend current cultural beliefs about stealing into the musical realm. It will take time, but it can be done. Besides, what alternative do we have? Imprisoning anyone who downloads music illegally? Yeah, that’ll work. Just look at how effective our War On Drugs is.

Can rock and roll be crowdsourced or should you look inside your own head?

Since reading about the announcement of a new ad agency called Victors and Spoils last week, I’ve been obsessing over the idea of crowdsourcing, which Wikipedia defines as:

the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to a group (crowd) of people or community in the form of an open call.

Crowdsourcing is how VS plans to change the ad agency model, moving from one in which all ideas come from in-house teams and the occasional freelancer to one in which ideas are crowdsourced, meaning VS puts out a call for ideas over the Internet, and then sifts through the voluntarily submitted responses. VS hopes that this approach will lead to better ideas. I have my doubts, but here’s a question: can rock and roll be crowdsourced? In other words, is a band or an individual better off writing their own material or sourcing it from others?

To find the answer, all we have to look at is bands that write their own material, such as The Beatles or the Rolling Stones vs. bands that don’t, such as the Monkees or the Backstreet Boys. We can also look at individuals, such as Bob Dylan, one of rock’s most prolific songwriters, vs. Michael Jackson, also prolific, but not above asking others to write material for him. In my opinion, it’s no contest. Artists that write their own deliver far better quality and far more moments of sublime genius than those who do not, or who rely on a combination of their own gifts and their ability to attract ideas from others. Why would this be? I have to think about this. What do you think the reason is? Comments are welcome!

 

Can creativity be crowdsourced?

I’ve been thinking a lot about why the announcement of a new ad agency called Victors and Spoils got under my skin so much, and the simple truth is I don’t know.

Regardless, what of this idea called crowdsourcing, which is how VS plans to develop ad campaigns for its clients? Crowdsourcing is defined by Wikipedia as:

the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to a group (crowd) of people or community in the form of an open call.

Personally, I think crowdsourcing is a fabulous way to gather as many ideas as possible in the shortest amount of time, but there are major caveats:

1) Crowdsourcing will only work if you can attract strong efforts from talented people. VS, because of its ties to Crispin Porter + Bogusky, will absolutely be able to gather lots of great ideas for every call it puts out. Creative folk from near and far will voluntarily subject themselves to great agony, as they wrack their brains to submit an idea that might win them favor with the glory that is Crispin.

2) Crowdsourcing will fail over time, unless there is a clear evidence that the public good is somehow benefitting. For example, crowdsourcing for open source software is sustainable because the end product is shared by all. Another example might be tech support bulleten boards, which essentially crowdsource fixes for annoying, usually minor problems. VS, on the other hand, seeks to crowdsource for individual gain (theirs, their clients’s and their winning contributors) and over time, as people realize that not only are they highly unlikely to submit the winning idea, their compensation is a pittance (guessing here, but I doubt I’m wrong) compared to the “spoils” enjoyed by VS as its clients. As a result, participation in VS’s efforts will drop in quantity and quality, as talented people try less often and put forth less effort when they do try.

So, to answer the headline of this post, I would say Yes (if you can attract ideas from talented people) in the short term and No in the long. In my opinion, the best ad agency model for coming up with really killer ideas remains the independent agency, small or large, staffed by talented people who know how to work together as a team and who have personal networks that can be tapped when the amount of work exceeds the internal teams’ ability to do it.

What the hell does all this have to do with music? Answer tomorrow!

A hard day's night.

 

On Tuesday evening of last week, I headed over to Hyde Street Studios for an evening session with vocalist RodDamnit and engineer Jaime Durr. To steel myself for the night, I had taken it easy all day and thought I’d be able to really put in some solid work without paying too dear a price in terms of my health (even mildly intense work, really of any kind, can lead to headaches, increased dizziness, tiresome fatigue and more).

What a fool am I.

By the end of the evening -- not very late in rock and roll terms, trust me – I was feeling the telltale signs that I might have overdone it. The next morning, as I headed off to my HBOT therapy I was sure I had overdone it. And for the rest of that day, most of Thursday and even part of Friday, I felt as though I were right on the precipice of Bad Day Gulch. I am thankful I never fell in. But life on that particular edge is awful. My mood sinks, my spirits flag, my hopes of being fully well once again some far off day get taken down a notch.

At least the tracks came out good. Everyone was patient with me, Rod sang his ass off and even the technology cooperated (we had no Pro Tools hiccups). And so the work continues. I will finish this album if it’s the last thing I do.

V&S responds. And, hey, I deserve it!

Victors and Spoils has posted my comments (thank you, guys), and Evan Fry, the CD of V&S, has responded. He writes:

Thanks for your comments Jeff. It’s lively and awesome and we love your passion and typing skills. Yes, we have a plan. But not so sure that we owe anyone an explanation. Please just be patient. Or ignore us crazy loonies here as we try to do something that will satisfy all and shape perhaps a way for everyone to be happy (who knows, it’s possible and who knows, we might have a plan). Oh and we’ll respond to your email inquiring about working with us sometime very soon. Thanks buddy.

Super condescending and mean spirited, not to mention lacking in punctuation (yes, Evan should know about comma usage), but I dished it out, so I'll take the hit. Besides, what the hell am I gonna do about it? Yup, nothin'. Unless I get onto Oprah someday and can talk about how I, a Writer, was called a mere typist. Oh, the pain.

Oh, and about my email to these "loonies", it's true, I saw their site, got excited and fired off a note. Then I read more and wrote them another note saying I no longer wanted to have anything to do with them. That Evan... clever bastard for leaving this detail out!

A new advertising agency is born! (warning: off topic, mostly)

Today, I read about a new ad agency called Victor & Spoils. To me, they are the lowest of the low in an industry capable of deep lowness.

In short, V&S claims to be "the world’s first creative (ad) agency built on crowdsourcing principles". Translation:

Rather than hire people and pay them a wage, V&S will offer a chance to some lucky few to donate their ideas to V&S's clients (even to V&S itself). If V&S decides a donated idea is good, they will pay for it, but the amount is solely at their discretion.

In other words, their client could be Coke and you could contribute the new tag line, and for your efforts be paid a penny and you would have no legal recourse to seek more. Worse, when they "buy" your idea, they own it, totally. They can change it however they wish and they are protected from ever having to pay you a dime more. Don't believe me? Here's the V&S contract.

One of the legal terms used in V&S's contract is "work for hire". I'm familiar with this because I use it myself, as does everyone else in the music biz. Record companies LOVE WFH because it means they can hire a guitar player to come in and play on a song and even if he contributes the riff that makes the song, they owe him nothing more than his fee. It's fair, to be honest, if not exactly cool. V&S, on the other hand, goes WFH one better: under the guise of "crowdsourcing" they will source 1000 guitar players and be under no obligation to pay any of them, and if they do end up having to pay because some lone axman delivered the goods, the fee can be as little as a penny (maybe less, I need to read the US contract, but I can't bring myself to).

Am I overreacting? I don't think so, but if someone out there can put a positive spin on V&S, I would like to hear it.

Oh, and icing on the cake: they moderate comments! Unbelievable.

Art vs. craft, one more time (I promise!).

One of the toughest things about “working” from home is that I just don’t have the same opportunities for random discussions about random things as I once did: such as art vs craft. So I deeply appreciate comments, and I thank everyone who has ever commented on this blog. Every comment means a lot to me.

The comments on art vs. craft have been especially good, because just as a great conversation does, the comments have educated me and changed my thinking.

I started out proclaiming that art is the intentional creation of a new form whereas craft is the honing of existing forms. I no longer think this (thank you, Sam). I now believe that craft can be done to a level where it becomes art (thank you, Sara and Dave).

Dave made a key comment on “intent” though that reframes the idea for me and, as a result, has re-wedded me to it: namely, an artist has to be trying to express something.

Oh, and Bret’s notion that art is not inherently more valuable than craft is also something I believe.

One last point: throughout these posts and comments, I think I’ve been trying to define art in a way that would appeal to everyone, probably an impossible task.

So, where am I netting out after all this? For me personally, the best art begins with great craft. As Dave says about Picasso, you have to know the rules before you can break them and craft is all about rules. When I see a piece of art like Jackson Pollock’s, I like it in the way I might like the way rain water looks rolling down a window in certain light. But both are the result of chance, happy accidents, and I’m too much a product of a culture that rewards real work to consider an accident art. I know Pollock tried for years to paint something people would buy, so, yes, he worked hard. But was he really trying to express something, maybe his frustration? I dunno. What is for certain is that he is famous for one kind of painting (I would argue one painting) and nothing else. Whereas Picasso, after mastering perspective and color, went on the participate in and create whole art movements. The difference: Picasso was a master of his craft and therefore had an arsenal of tools that was up to the abilities of his imagination. He had Craft. And he used it to create Art. And for me, this is the path down which an artist-to-be must travel: craft to art.

More thoughts on art vs. craft. And a change of heart.

The other day, I posted about art vs. craft, and boldly claimed that art "is when you try to do something that hasn’t been done before, whereas craft is when you seek to match or improve on what already exists." But two comments have made me believe I was wrong.

First, Sam posted "'bollocks' to having to stand back and consider whether or not something has been done before" and Dave posted that "Craft is an ability. Art is sometimes the end product of that craft."

They are both right, I think. Although I still consider myself a craftsman, because I'm just not ready to believe that my songs go beyond craft to art.

So, here's a question: is an audience required to seperate craft from art, or can the individual decide for himself? I'm going to say it's up to the individual. Obviously, if you want to sell your "art" then the crowd matters, but otherwise, if you find a bottlecap on the ground and think it's special, well, it is. I did not use to think this way. I kept thinking that there must be standards, especially for talent, but over the years, I've learned that there cannot be. Yes, you can say whether singer A is more on key than singer B, but who an individual likes more is individual. So while some folks would swear up and down that Steve Perry of Journey is a "better" singer than Dylan, I say Dylan is brilliant and Perry a windbag/cliché. And I'm right, so long as I'm only talking about what I like.

Any more comments? This is something I can think about all day and all night. I do, in fact.

Art vs. craft: what's what and what am I?

A little while back, I posted a comment on Bobby Owsinki’s blog in response to a post titled Being an Artist vs. a Craftsman. Bobby posits that “Art is something you do for yourself. A craft is something you do for someone else."

I don’t see it this way at all. To me, irrespective of whether or not you have an audience, art is when you try to do something that hasn’t been done before, whereas craft is when you seek to match or improve on what already exists. 

When I posted this definition on Bobby’s blog, he commented back, asking “hasn’t everything already been done?” I don’t think so. There are too many variables, especially in music (voice, instruments, digital wizardry), for everything to already have been happened upon. But more important, intent matters. To me, creating art by accident doesn’t quite cut it (although, I confess, I’m on thin ice here); you have to be acting intentionally. You need to be saying to yourself stuff like “I am going to put paint down in ways it’s never been put down before” or “I am going to create a fundamentally new song structure” etc.

So which am I, artist or craftsman? By my definition, I am definitely a craftsman. I am trying to hone something that already exists, the pop/rock song. I am in no way trying to break the mold, challenge the form or waltz down unexplored paths. And you know what? I’m totally okay with that.

One more thing: I do not pretend for a moment to have ended the art vs craft debate, much less to have come up with a fundamentally correct definition of art! I know it’s all pretty subjective, so I’d love to hear your opinion.

The 7th song.

As an encore post (not that anyone asked!) for My World In Six Songs, my series of posts inspired and informed by Daniel Levitin’s book The World In Six Songs, which posits that music played a key role in human evolution, I bring you the Seventh Song.

For me the Seventh Song is simply a musical experience that combines any number of the six song types Levitin writes about: friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion and love. Truth be told, no song could ever be only one of Levitin’s six; I think every song is a combination, but with a lead theme, so with the Seventh Song all I’m doing is recognizing this fact.

I’ve had a gazillion “Seventh Song” moments in my life, but the most recent was Saturday night. Catherine and I were in Monterey over the weekend visiting her brother and his steady, Morgan, and for dinner Saturday we decided to go to Dametra Café, an Italian/Greek restaurant in downtown Carmel. About midway through our meal, the maitre di and the head chef (I think) serenaded diners with a performance of Besame Mucho (see photo!). The chef sang and the maitre di played an oud, and the dinning room was bathed friendship, joy, comfort and love. Maybe knowledge, too, although I can’t be sure since the song was sung in Spanish.

What a grand moment. Food, friends and song. And if there is no such thing as a Seventh Song then let’s just say I experienced seventh heaven.

 

Migraines, what a headache.

These past few days I've suffered more migraines than usual, three in a row, and just a plain old headache today. As a result, I haven't been blogging or doing much else. Sigh. On the bright side, the doctors at the hyperbaric oxygen facility I'm using theorize that my headaches are the result of changes taking place in my brain because of all the extra O2 I'm getting. They think it's a transition phase, as dormant cells come back on line. Sure hope they're right. In the meantime, I have a few days off from my treatments, so maybe I'll be good as "new" come Monday when the treatments begin --  again.

Does anyone else out there have "six songs"?

Not that I have very many readers, but for those few loyalists (thank you!) and for anyone else (pre thank you!), I'd love it if you would offer up your world in six songs.

To refresh, the song-types are:

Friendship

Joy

Comfort

Knowledge

Religion

Love

The songs you chose should be the ones that have most shaped and are most inspired by the above feelings.

For further reading, visit www.sixsongs.net, which is the site for the book The World In Six Songs, by Daniel Levitin, who formulated the theory that our brains are attuned to music because being musical has been an evolutionary advantage.

My world in six songs: Part six, love.

Part six of a six-part series inspired by Daniel Levitin’s book “The World In Six Songs”, which describes his theory that music is core to being human, and how six types of songs enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. These song-types are: friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love. See part one here. 

There are so many great songs about love, but in the spirit of this list I'm making, which is about songs that have influenced me rather than songs I simply like, I'm going to go with the songs that I've have fallen in love to more than with. So, what follows are the songs I most associate with meeting Catherine, with getting to know her, and with marrying her. (By the way, the photo is of our feet on the sidewalk where I proposed; neither of us knew the writing was there until we were walking back home later!)

Blue, by The Jayhawks, because it's the first song on Tomorrow The Green Grass, which we listened to all the time back when we first met.

Blue - The Jayhawks

The Lifting, by REM, because like Blue, it is the first song on an album that we always seemed to have on the stereo in our earlier years together.

The Lifting - R.E.M.

Strange, Tori Amos, because it is my favorite song on yet another album we listened to constantly called Scarlet's Walk.

strange - Sinfonia Of London, ...

Angel, by Robbie Williams, because we discovered Robbie together through some friends from Great Britain and this song became Catherine's go-to karaoke number during our "Mint" phase.

Angels - Robbie Williams

Here Comes the Weather, me, because love is not perfect and sometimes you fight, which is what this song is about (I wrote it right after a doozy.)

Coming Together (By Falling Apart), me, because I wrote it for Catherine to chronicle how my brain injury brought us closer to one another and because three of my very best friends in the world sang and played it at my wedding.

My world in six songs: Part five, religion.

Part five of a six-part series inspired by Daniel Levitin’s book “The World In Six Songs”, which describes his theory that music is core to being human, and how six types of songs enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. These song-types are: friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love. See part one here.

I grew up in an atheist household, which doesn't mean I was taught to not believe in God, but it does mean I was taught to question everything about him. In the end, I opted to go atheist myself, so as I sit here and contemplate religious music, I do it from the point of view of a non-believer. Here goes:

Amazing Grace, lyrics by John Newton, music by Who Knows, because more than any other song I can think of this is the one that truly feels spiritual, save for the lyrics, which start out great, but go quickly downhill after the first line. One of the things about the Christian religion that really bothers me is that we're all a bunch of losers until we believe in god. I just can't get behind that.

Jesus Gonna Be Here, by Tom Waits, because this is one of the few songs about Jesus I can not only tolerate, but I actually really like. Still, the message is troubling: sit around and do nothing and wait for God to show up and save you. Somehow, I think Tom is aware of the fact that Jesus, might not come, and if he does, he will be a fake, and gives it away with the line "hollywood be thy name".

Jesus Gonna Be Here - Tom Wait...

O Come All Ye Faithful, lyrics by John F. Wade and others, music by Wade and others, because to me this song is Christmas.

Gregorian Chants, by history's monks, I think, because to me these ARE church. Put one of these on, close your eyes, and you are in a cathedral. Moreover, in every cathedral I've ever been in, just the sound of people murmering is like a chant, rerverating off the walls and filling the air with voice.

The Opening Riff to Jumpin' Jack Flash on Get Your Ya Yas Out, by Keith Richards (some say Bill Wyman), because whatever a deeply religious person feels when listening to a hymnal, I feel when I listen to this riff. It sends chills up and down my spine. Moreover, the riff itself was a Holy Grail of sorts for me, and I searched far and wide for instructions of on how to play it. Just a few years ago, I finally found out!

Jumpin' Jack Flash ((Live)) - ...

Next up, love.

My world in six songs: Part four, knowledge.

Part four of a six-part series inspired by Daniel Levitin’s book "The World In Six Songs", which describes his theory that music is core to being human, and how six types of songs enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. These song-types are: friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love. See part one here.

When Daniel Levitin writes of knowledge songs he means exactly what you think he does: songs that contain knowledge. He cites how studies have proven the brain’s capacious power to remember vast written passages when these passages are set to music. In the old, old days, before we had the bright idea of writing, most knowledge it seems was passed down through song. And despite what might think (the game telephone comes to mind and how even one sentence can get mangled by caller six) song was a very accurate way to capture and pass on knowledge. I, of course, grew up armed with pencils, pens, paper and now computers, so the thought of having to remember much of anything puts the fear of god in me. Can’t do it. Even songs don’t help much; I mean, I can’t even remember my own lyrics! So given my generation and my own memory deficiencies, which songs have played a role in helping me to know stuff?

The Alphabet Song, by who the hell knows, because to this day it helps me remember the alphabet.

Jingles, by various ad agencies, because even now, decades on, I remember “two all beef patties”, “have it your way” and “plop, plop, fix, fizz.

Ohio, by Neil Young, because it chronicles how many college students were shot and killed by the US government as they protested shooting and killing.

If You Fall In Love, by Steve Earle, because it tells people exactly what's going to happen if they fall in love.

Pop & Rock Songs in General, by mankind, because this is one of the primary ways with share with others what we have learned.

Next up, religion (Christ!).

 

My world in six songs: Part three, comfort.

 

Part three of a six-part series inspired by Daniel Levitin’s book “The World In Six Songs”, which describes his theory that music is core to being human, and how six types of songs enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. These song-types are: friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love. See part one here.

Yesterday’s rain has passed here in SF, leaving behind blue skies shrouded in white clouds pushed by warm winds. It’s perfect weather to write about comfort, which is the third song-type discussed in the World In Six Songs. Strangely, though comfort is a hard category for me. Nothing really leaps to mind, but here goes:

12-Bar Blues, by mankind, because the most comfortable and comforting thing for me to play on the guitar is a 12 bar blues in E. I can do this endlessly.

Three Little Birds, by Bob Marley, because, like the blues, reggae music comforts me (though I can’t play it well at all).

Für Elise, by Beethoven, because it is a melody I feel I’ve known all my life and as such it grounds me, like freshly baked bread does.

La Grange, by ZZ Top, because there’s just something about the groove of this song that makes me feel gruntled. Maybe it’s the sound, maybe it's the tempo, I dunno.

Mariachi music (but not too fast or loud), by Mexico, because I love sound of it, of the guitars, the voices, the harmonized horns and because I never no what a song is about, so there are no lyrics to ruin the mood.

Next up, songs of knowledge.

My world in six songs: Part two, joy.

Part two of a six-part series inspired by Daniel Levitin’s book “The World In Six Songs”, which describes his theory that music is core to being human, and how six types of songs enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. These song-types are: friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love. See part one here.

San Francisco is awash in rain today, with deep dark skies, heavy winds and water, water everywhere. The rain has me in a down mood, which makes no sense because I like rain, but a mood is a mood is mine is glum. So perhaps it’s oddly appropriate that today I will attempt to list songs I most associate with joy. After all, these are the songs that lift my spirits, put a smile on face, make me feel glad to be alive.

Barbara Anne, by the Beach Boys, because it’s a fun song being sung by a band that is clearly having a lot of fun.

Ode To Joy, by Beethoven, because the only part I know, the BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH bit, is one of the most uplifting melodies I know, and the instruments behind it, could not be more right.

YMCA, by the Village People, because when this song comes on, I don’t care who you are, you smile.

I Want To Hold Your Hand, by the Beatles, because who doesn’t want to experience what this song is about?

I Feel Good, by James Brown, because when you hear it you do. 

Next up, comfort.

 

My world in six songs, part one: friendship.

Daniel Levitin's most recent book, The World in Six Songs, describes his theory that music is core to being human, and how six types of songs enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. These song-types are: friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love.

Levitin is a neuroscientist, so the book goes far deeper than mere musing. In my opinion, he convincingly argues that evolution rewarded the "musical brain", showing how musical ability could be a crucial advantage as we came up from the muck and then down from the trees. Good stuff.

After reading the book, I got to wondering: what is my world in six songs? What song do I equate most with friendship, with joy and so on? In the coming days I will do my best to answer for all six, but I confess, there is no way I will be able to identify only one song for each song-type. Is a limit of five okay? Hope so. (I know, I should do six, but lists are arbitrary, so I'm going with an arbitrary number.)

First up, friendship, which is what the book opens with. Levitin initially focuses on battle and how a group of early humans bonded in song could overcome a group that was not. Those with song had a beat and some sounds, most likely, that served to coordinate efforts and make them more fearsome sounding than they maybe really were. Not having ever been in battle – even in sports really – I can’t speak from any personal experience from this perspective. But, obviously, there have been times when music has affected me and whatever posse I happened to be riding with at the time. So, without further ado, here are my songs of friendship, the songs that get me ready to grab my club and go after a mammoth.

Bad Moon Rising, by Creedence Clearwater Revival, because the opening three chords are the musical equivalent of the word GO.

Jumpin Jack Flash, by the Rolling Stones, especially the Ya Ya’s version, because I have personally witnessed the opening riff of this tune get more people more excited more faster than anything else.

Ride of the Valkyries, by some lunatic named Wagner, because I saw this scene in Apocalypse Now…

The Star Spangled Banner, by Francis Scott Key, because despite its unsingable melody, awkward lyrics and lack of a any groove whatsoever, the Banner packs a lot of emotional wallop.

Alright Now, by Free, because for better or for worse this song is THE RALLY song of my generation.

Well, that’s it. As with every other list I’ve ever made, this one feels incomplete, not as good as it could be, and I am convinced I have forgotten a critical song or two. So, I reserve the right to make a few changes down the road!

Next up, joy.