GRGR(5) - the Kenosha Kid

[Michael Arnowitt]

Late last night I had an idea about the Kenosha Kid variations at the
beginning of GRGR(5) ... forgive me if this idea is obvious (or has been
mentioned by others) ...

I felt that I was thrown off by Pynchon's labeling the different versions of
"you never did the kenosha kid" (2), (2.1) etc. which gives the flavor of a
scientific outline or technical manual ... my thought is that it may be no
coincidence that these variations are in the same episode where Pynchon
discusses jazz improvisation...

Think of the Kenosha Kid variations as Pynchon's own very virtuosic bebop
improvisation and now these paragraphs are more than just an intro to the
sodium amytol session.  They foreshadow (or provide another meta-level to)
the discussion of Charlie Parker's jazz improvising on the next page ...
plus, right at the very end of the section, after having gone through the
toilet and diverse places, Pynchon, like any good jazz musician (or
classical composer), brings back the Kenosha Kid theme for one last
permutation --   *You*, Never?  (A pause.)  *Did* the Kenosha Kid?

The structure of this whole section, then, is the standard jazz formula:
the "head," where you hear the tune in a simple version, with perhaps a few
slight variations on the initial repeat -- then improvisations which take us
further and further afield in imaginative fantasy -- then, to make closure
at the end, the tune is brought back in a recognizable version (often, an
identical version to the "head"), plus maybe a little final artistic gesture
like Pynchon's -- with the dramatic "A pause" and then can't you just hear
the final drummer's rimshot?

I always thought this section reminded me of musical performance somehow and
with the many good comments recently posted about bebop, I believe I may
have found what might very well be the direct inspiration for Pynchon's
particular improv on "you never did the kenosha kid," and that is Thelonius
Monk's tune "Straight, No Chaser." (And I think there were earlier postings
regarding Pynchon's admiration for Monk's music.)

What Pynchon is doing here is changing the articulation or emphasis of the
various words of "you never did the kenosha kid" while keeping the words
constant, and Monk does the same with this minimalist theme of "Straight, No
Chaser."  Here's how the tune goes (notes preceded by * are stressed):

C F G G# *A
C F G G#  A Bb *Ab
C F G G# *A
C F G G# *A
C F G *Ab
C F G G#  A Bb *Ab ----(hold longer)
C F G G# *A
C F G G# *A
C F G G#  A Bb C C# D D# E -- F F# G G# A Bb
C F G G# *A ------(hold longer)


-- Michael Arnowitt