VLVL2 (Chapter 6) - part 7

[Mike Weaver]

p. 79 "ork"   Pynchon uses this obscure bit of (presumably) forties 
slang,  meaning orchestra, at least twice in Vineland. We've never run 
across it in any of our period reading or listening. However, in 
Kovacsland, a biography of Ernie Kovacs, author Diana Rico makes reference 
to Kovacs' habit of "creating a special language" in a column he wrote, 
briefly, for a newspaper called the Trentonian. ["Special language" = 
"idiolalia." See note on p. 263. A paranoid would connect these, but we'll 
pass.] To illustrate her point, she notes Kovacs' habitual use of the word 
"orks," meaning orchestras. Now Kovacs was writing in 1946, so there are 
two intriguing possibilities: 1) Rico is wrong; Kovacs didn't make up the 
term, he picked it up from hearing it used, thereby verifying Pynchon's 
correct use of it. Or, 2), Kovacs did invent the term, and Pynchon picked 
it up from reading one of Kovacs' columns. (BoW)

"McKinley Ork Plays Most Interesting Dance Music in Biz," Down Beat 16, no. 
3 (Jan. 29, 1947)
 From http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wgdbeat.html
Elsewhere: even small band records were credited to "and his/her 
orchestra"  and
"The piece is called ORK as that's what arrangers use to denote a full 
orchestra"

79.13 'cynical professionalism Army bands are widely known for' - Army
(Navy, Air Force and Marine) bands play full-time. Parades in the day,
officers' parties, shows, etc. They have to be very versatile musicians
with good reading skills. There is a navy base not far from where I live
and I play often with musicians from these bands. (Several well-known
jazz musicians are products of Army bands including Joe Henderson, Elvin
Jones and Donald Byrd.) (Neil Conaty)

79.22 "'I'll Remember April' in G... It changed key a hundred times."
Standard key for that tune. This is one that for some reason is almost
never transposed. (I've been told, but never checked, that this song is
featured in an Abbot and Costello movie.)
It has an unusual form. Most standards follow a 32-bar AABA form. 'April'
is 48 bars with an ABA form. She may have picked it thinking of the A
section which stays on one chord (G) for four bars - long time for tunes
of that era - before changing to G minor (with a Bb in it).  (some
musicians use the Bb note in the third and  fourth bars of G major.) The
bridge has the key changes, beginning abruptly in Bb(!) for 8 followed by
four bars each in G and E major. Unusual key changes and E major is an
uncommon key for this style. (The last 8 of the bridge - the bars in G
and E major - are harmonically identical to the bridge of Jerome Kern's
'All The Things You Are'.) A ballad back in those days, It's now often
played uptempo with a latin beat on the A sections. The only vocal
recording I can think of is by Dinah Washington in the 50's. (Neil Conaty)

79.27 "gave her the O-O"    O-O = the once-over. But the way it looks on 
the page also suggests "the big eye," or in this case, two of 'em. (BoW)

79.33 Them There Eyes
' - recorded by Billie Holiday.
Again an unusual form - ABA 32 bars - the last A is altered and extended
out to 16 bars.

The first four bars:

I fell in love with you
the first time I looked into
them there eyes

((- the next four don't seem to have the same specific relevance to this
story, but the last four bars certainly do))

you've got a certain little
cute way of flirtin' with
them there eyes

they make me feel so happy
they make me feel so blue
I'm fallin', no stallin'
falling in a big way for sweet little you

my heart is thumpin'
since you started somethin' with
them there eyes

you'd better watch those little (dark) eyes if you're wise

they sparkle
they bubble
they're gonna get you in a whole lotta trouble

(Last four)
You're overworkin' 'em
there's danger lurkin in
them there eyes
(Neil Conaty)

80.11 "long-hull Sumner-class destroyer"    More Navy stuff, unlikely to be 
found in newspaper archives. (BoW)