songs in AtD

[Michael Bailey]

robin, a reasoned and interesting analysis

I have nothing to counter with, I'm living like a Thanatoid, few
possessions and watching lots of Tube...
when I get a reference copy of V I will find the song I think I am
referring to...

In the meantime, I meant no disrespect to either Loonies or Floozie

On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 8:19 AM,  <robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:
>          robinlandseadel:
>          Note, however, all the references [more than anywhere
>          else in Pynchon's ouvre] to such classical works as
>          "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis," Chopin's
>          Nocturnes and Offenbach, with a little Richard Strauss
>          on the side.
>
>          Michael Bailey:
>          tho not absent in earlier works, but yes, more here
>
> I know that I'll have to plunge into Mason & Dixon again, just to scrye
> the songs, as they left no mark on my memory. There were classical
> music references, as I recall, but other than Weird ol' Ben Franklin
> at the Glass Harmonium nothing's left a permanent impression.
>
>          R: And yes, compared to "Loonies on Leave," or
>          "Floozy with an Uzi,"—most anything in GR or
>          Vineland or CoL49—the songs suck, at least in
>          comparison.
>
>          MB:
>          de gustibus...
>          I'd hold up "eyes of a new york woman" before loonies
>          or floozy and I like the AtD songs (just have been
>          humming the "Proper Crop o' Propaganda" song)
>
> De gustibus indeed, I'm the proud owner of Benny Andersson's
> "Klinga Mina Klocker"—who am I to argue or to judge?
>
> Almost all of Pynchon's song lyrics serve satirical purposes—GR has
> a few interesting exceptions in Geli's little song and the masterful
> Aqyn's Song. The two songs I cited are choreographed in very
> inventive ways. "Loonies" is is fully staged number from a musical
> that only Pynchon could conceive, fitting in with the many themes
> from movie musicals found all through Gravity's Rainbow:
>
>          (The-Chorus line is divided not into the conventional Boys
>          and Girls but into Keepers and Nuts, without regard to sex,
>          though all four possibilities are represented on stage. Many
>          are wearing sunglasses with black lenses and white rims,
>          not so much to be fashionable as to suggest snow-blindness,
>          the antiseptic white of the Clinic, perhaps even the darkness
>          of the mind. But all seems happy, relaxed, informal ... no sign
>          of repression, not even a distinction in costume so that at first
>          there is some problem telling Nuts from Keepers as they all
>          burst in from the wings dancing and singing):
>
>          Here we come foax-ready or not!
>          Put your mask on, and plot your plot,
>          We're just laughin' and droolin', all--over
>                    the sleigh,
>          Like a buncha happy midgets on a holiday!
>
>          Oh we're the LOONIES ON LEAVE, and
>          We haven't a care—
>          Our brains at the cleaners, our souls at the Fair,
>          Just freaks on a fur-lough, away from the blues,
>          As daffy and sharp as-the taps on our shoes!
>          Hey, we're passin' the hat for-your frowns and
>                    your tears,
>          And the fears you thought'd never go 'way—
>          Oh take it from a loony, life's so dear and swoony,
>          So just hug it and kiss it to-day!
>          La-da-da, ya-ta ya-ta ta-ta &c ... (They go on
>          humming the tune behind what follows):
>
>          First Nut (or maybe Keeper): Got an amazing deal for you
>          here,  American? I thought so, always tell a face from
>          home, saaay. . . .
>
> http://tinyurl.com/4s3uuq
>
> Vineland continues the theme of echos from Movie Musicals
> and choreographed moves with DL's "Floozie":
>
>          . . . . DL came sauntering up to the mike in front of the
>          reassembled Vomitones, having with kunoichi deftness
>          removed an Uzi from its owner's sheath - "Hi, handsome,
>          mind if I borrow this?" - to use as a prop, and, twirling it
>          like a six-gun in a movie, taking time steps and shaking
>          her hair around, sang, to the band's accompaniment,
>
>          Just a floo-zy with-an U-U-zi ...
>          Just a girlie, with-a-gun ...
>          When I could have been a mo-del,
>          And I should have been a nu-un ....
>
>          Oh, just what was it about that
>          Little Israeli machine? ...
>          Play all day in the sand,
>          Nothin' gets, jammed, under
>          Stand ... what I mean —
>
>          So Mis-ter, you can keep yer len-ses,
>          And Sis-ter, you can keep yer beads ...
>          I'm ridin' in Mercedes Ben-zes,
>          I'm takin' care of all my needs ....
>
>          I'll lose my blues, in some Jacuz-zi,
>          Life's just a lotta good clean fun,
>          For a floo-zy with-an U-U-zi,
>          For a girlie, with-a-gun ....
>
>          Ralph loved it, screaming, "One more time!" DL tossed the
>          weapon back to the bewildered gunsel, Isaiah slowed the
>          rhythm down and on the final eight bars hit every other
>          beat with a heavy rimshot, an old show-tune tactic American
>          audiences are conditioned to meet with wild applause, which
>          is what happened, along with cries of "Who's your agent?"
>          and "Are you married?"
>
> Weirdly enough, I stumbled across this pop/punk rendition of
> the song by a band named Lodger, musically residing somewhere
> between the Buzzcocks and Cake:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lRQYaV2S6k
>
> Now, what I want to know: "Eyes of a New York Woman"—
> is this a song in AtD or are you refering to to BJ Thomas' great:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VDki0CBALs
>
> ???
>



-- 
"He ain't crazy, he's a-makin' pottery" - Finley Pater Dunne