Vineland, publishing info, dedication

[Michael Bailey]

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0307&msg=82602&keywords=johnny%20copeland'

is where Toby Levy posted a lot of good johnny copeland info, and I
quote (but not before mentioning the snappy title of that 2003 read -
VLVL2 - and wondering how we will call this current read about which
we're talking about):

To: pynchon-l@[omitted]
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 08:18:50 -0400
Subject: VLVL2 Preliminary: The Epigraph
From: Toby G Levy <tobylevy@[omitted]>

"Every dog has his day,
and a good dog
just might have two days.
        -- Johnny Copeland"

Johnny Copeland was born in 1937, six weeks before Thomas Pynchon.
Copeland grew up in Houston, and showed early aptitude for singing and
playing blues guitar. He began recording in Houston in the late 50s.
Around the time that Pynchon turned over to his editor the massive
manuscript that was to become "Gravity's Rainbow," Copeland entered a
Texas studio and recorded a song entitled "Every Dog's Got His Day,"
backed by The Jazz Crusaders, who were about to reform as just The
Crusaders to broaden their prospects. This was released as a 45 RPM
single in Texas.

Copeland moved to New York City in 1974 and within a few years he had a
recording contract with Rounder Records.  His fame grew within the blues
community, and by the late 80s he was among the most popular performing
blues guitarists.  Kent records put together a compilation of early
singles by Copeland, including "Every Dog's Got His Day," and released
them as an album named "Dedicated to the Greatest" in 1987.  At the time
Pynchon was hard at work finishing up "Vineland."

Johnny Copeland was pleasantly surprised to see himself quoted in the
epigraph that precedes "Vineland."  He decided to re-record the song and
included it on the 1993 album "Catch Up With the Blues."  Four years
after this album was released, Copeland was dead from congenital heart
failure.

It is exceedingly curious that Pynchon gives Johnny Copeland credit for
the epigraph.  The saying has been utilized in popular music for at least
a half a century before Copeland made his first recording of "Every Dog's
Got His Day."  The earliest recording I could find referenced was by
Sippie Wallace in 1925: "Every Dog Has Its Day." Unfortunately I don't
have a copy of this recording, but I do have a copy of Johnny Temple's
1938 country blues recording "Every Dog Must Have His Day." I also have
copies of Charlie Gonzales' 1950 recording "Every Dog Has His Day"
(sophisticated smooth big band blues) and Eddie Bo's 1960 recording of
the same title (wild Little Richard style New Orleans rhythm and blues),
all three of which having completely dissimilar lyrics.

I'm also aware of but not have listened to four other similar recordings
from the 1950s. The saying continued to be used as a song title and lyric
throughout the rock era and into the rap era.

Eddie Bo's chorus winds up with "Old Confucius say: every dog got his
day." I can't document the saying as far back as ancient China but Stuart
and Doris Flexner in a 1993 book entitled "Wise Words and Wives' Tales:
The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk
Sayings Olde and New" say this:

"According to the medieval Dutch scholar Erasmus, the saying came about
as a result of the death of the Greek playwright Euripides, who in 405
B.C. was mauled and killed by a pack of dogs loosed upon him by a rival.
Thus the saying is usually taken to mean that even the most lowly person
will at some time get revenge on his oppressor, no matter how powerful
the man may be. The Greek biographer Plutarch recorded the proverb for
the first time in `Moralia' (A.D. c. 95) rendering it as `Even a dog gets
his revenge,' and Richard Taverner included the first version in English
- `A dogge hath a day' - centuries later in his `Proverbes' or Adages'
(1539).What was virtually the modern form appeared in John Ray's `A
collection of English Proverbs' (1670) as `Every dog hath his day'."

Revenge is a prominent theme in the works of Thomas Pynchon.  The entire
plot of "The Crying of Lot 49" can be viewed as revenge by Pierce
Inverarity against Oedipa Maas because of her rejection of his
affections.  Certainly there are many examples of revenge attempted and
accomplished in Vineland.  Even Zoyd Wheeler's dog Desmond gets his
revenge on the bluejays that steal his breakfast.

But the saying, as used by Johnny Copeland and others (Charlie Gonzales'
chorus includes the lines "Every Dog has his day, and a good dog sure has
two") broadens the definition to the idea of rising to the top, or
achieving a goal.  Indeed, Eddie Bo's idea of having his day is finally
earning some money.  The wrinkle that Johnny Copeland adds to the saying
is that there is a POSSIBILITY that a GOOD dog may get a second day in
the sun.  Many of the characters in Vineland are Sixties refugees
searching for new opportunities to re-shine in the Eighties.

http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/JohnnyCopeland.htm

On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 8:25 PM,  <robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:
>          Mark Kohut:
>          re Epigraph........
>
>          "Every dog, etc."......most famous from Hamlet we know......but
>          Copeland's second half.......
>
>          Q: how long is, generally, the bardo  state?
>
>          (betting you know)
>
> A: 49 days.
>
>
>
>



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