SOUNDTRACK: THE STATLER BROTHERS-“Class of ’57” (1972).
I don’t know much about The Statler Brothers. They are considered country, although this song is hardly country–it’s more folk with some bluegrass and, the real selling point–great harmonies (especially the bass singer with the big mustache).
The song is a wonderful coming of age song, sad and funny with a list of what happened to everyone in the class of ’57. Like:
Betty runs a trailer park, Jan sells Tupperware,
Randy’s on an insane ward, Mary’s on welfare.
Charlie took a job with Ford, Joe took Freddie’s wife,
Charlotte took a millionaire, and Freddie took his life.
John is big in cattle, Ray is deep in debt,
Where Mavis finally wound up is anybody’s bet.
But the kicker comes at the chorus:
And the class of ’57 had its dreams,
Oh, we all thought we’d change the world with our great words and deeds.
Or maybe we just thought the world would change to fit our needs,
The class of ’57 had its dreams.
And then at the end:
And the class of ’57 had its dreams,
But living life from day to day is never like it seems.
Things get complicated when you get past eighteen,
But the class of ’57 had its dreams.
Vonnegut quotes the entirety of this song in the book and I’m glad he did, it’s a very moving song and really captures American life.
[READ: May 26, 2013] Palm Sunday
After writing several successful novels, Vonnegut paused to collect his thoughts. And Palm Sunday begins: “This is a very great book by an American genius.” It is also a “marvelous new literary form which combines the tidal power of a major novel with the bone-rattling immediacy of front-line journalism.” After all the self praise, he decides that this collage–a collection of essays and speeches as well as a short story and a play which is all tied together with new pieces (in TV they would call this a clip show)–this new idea of a book should have a new name and he chooses: blivit (during his adolescence, this word was defined as “two pounds of shit in a one-pound bag.” He proposes that all books combining facts and fiction be called blivits (which would even lead to a new category on the best seller list). Until then, this great book should go on both lists.
This book is a collection of all manner of speeches and essays, but they are not arranged chronologically. rather they are given a kind of narrative context. What’s nice is that the table of contents lists what each of the items in the book is (or more specifically, what each small piece is when gathered under a certain topic).
Chapter 1 is The First Amendment in which he talks about Slaughterhouse Five being burned and how outraged he was by that–especially since the people so anxious to burn it hadn’t even read it (and the only “bad” thing is the word motherfucker). The first speeches included are “Dear Mr. McCarthy” to the head of the school board where his books were burned and “Un-American Nonsense” an essay for the New York Times about his book being banned in New York State. The next two are “God’s Law” for an A.C.L.U. fund raiser–it includes his confusion as to why people don’t support the A.C.L.U. which is working for all of our own civil liberties. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 