Favorites Lists and a Tenuous Spike Jones Connection (was Warlock (1959))

[davemarc]

I love that passage, Paul--thanks! Maybe it has something to do with my
enthusiasm for Jo Stafford and Charles Trenet.

For those who like Spike Jones: Jo Stafford once cut a funny "hillbilly"
parody of Temptation (a tune largely identified with Bing Crosby). She and
her hubby Paul Weston also had an alternative career as bad lounge singers
Jonathan and Darlene Edwards.

d.

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2006 10:54 AM
Subject: Re: Warlock (1959)


> Favorite books, movies, music, etc.,  are  things we can always count
> upon to bring the p-list to life.
>
> Favorites lists  are a way of defining for ourselves and others WHO
> WE ARE.
>
> I am reminded of quite a perceptive passage in Mary Gaitskill's
> _Veronica_.
>
> The non-eponymous protagonist of the novel describes how her
> taciturn, if not downright morose, father handles self-definition.
>
>
> "My father used to make lIsts of his favorite popular songs, ranked
> in order of preference. These lists were very nuanced, and they
> changed every few years. He'd walk around with the list in this hand,
> explaining why Jo "G.I. Joe" Stafford was ranked just above Doris
> Day; why Charles Trenet topped Nat King Cole--but by a hair only. It
> was his way of showing people things about him that  were too private
> to  say directly. For  a while, everybody had some idea what Doris
> Day versus Jo Stafford meant;  to  give a preference for one over
> the  other signaled a mix of feelings that were secret and tender;
> and  people could sense  these  feelings when they imagined the
> songs  side by  side."
>
> p. 15-16
>