pynchon-l-digest V2 #1330

[Jon Clay]

>>------------------------------
>
>Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 19:03:19 +1000
>From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
>Subject: Re: pynchon-l-digest V2 #1324
>
>- ----------
>
>Yeah, I like Elvis too, even 'In the Ghetto', even 'Viva Las Vegas' and all
>those other B-movies, even fat in a sequinned jumpsuit in Las Vegas. But 
>the
>difference and fact of the matter is that however poor Elvis or any other
>white person was in 1952 (or 1962) he or she would have a seat on the bus 
>or
>could buy a soda in the drugstore where Rosa Parkes couldn't, by law ...
>
>What Elvis took from black r&b -- the rhythm, moves, lyrics -- were
>affectations, just like the curled upper lip. The latent sexuality in that
>pelvic thrust was pure Elvis. Nothin' to do with the r&b roots ...
>
>best
>
>------------------------------

This is all true of course, and I wouldn't, of course, want to deny the 
_relative_ privilege of poor white people. I just felt that whoever I was 
responding to (I forget who it was and I apologise for that) was 
oversimplifying. Also, an incidental and minor quibble, I can't see that the 
rhythm could be an affectation because it's integral to the music itself. 
The lyrics I suppose, when he wasn't recording cover versions of older 
hillbilly or blues songs, had become a convention rather than an affectation 
as such. I think.

Cheers,
Jon

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