#701 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday July 7)
Good morning,
I thought I’d wrap up Independence Day week with a few final thoughts. First, the words of Abraham Lincoln, of whom I never tire of reading. These words offer context, hope and aspiration. They resonate today:
HONEST ABE
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.”
-- Abraham Lincoln, Address to Congress, Dec. 1st, 1862
AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT THAT ENDED UP ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
On the subject of the dichotomy of America’s ideals, as expressed in the Declaration, and the reality of slavery that continued in slavery more than a half century after most European nations abandoned the practice, the founders knew full well what they were doing. And there were some, most notably, the slave-owning Thomas Jefferson, who tried to incorporate calling out the sin of slavery early on. The bulk of the Declaration is a listing of the injustices of the King (as the representative of all of Great Britain). Here are the words of Thomas Jefferson, in an early draft of the Declaration:
"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither."
The Continental Congress’s decision that any resolution for independence would require unanimity meant that the body would have to acquiesce to the Southern states’ demand that slavery continue. One wonders if the above provision were included in the Declaration, the trajectory of American history might have been quite different.
NON-SENSICAL SONGS
From Bradley Taback-Bank: “And then there is the venerable “Louis Louis” by the Kingsmen which the FCC found to be ‘unintelligible at any speed.’”
From Mark DiMaria: “Boom Shaka Laka” by Sly and the Family Stone.
And thank you, Diane Cairns, for reminding us of “The Witch Doctor.” My favorite version is, of course, the original by Dave Seville and Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Witch Doctor
I’m not going to share attribution, to spare the author, but here is an enlightening (and disturbing) observation about “Tutti Fruity”: “Just for yucks you should google the original tutti fruiti lyrics. It was not nonsense—it was about anal sex. ‘Tutti fruiti good booty, if its tight don’t force it …’ It needed to be edited for radio play. We saw a documentary about [Little Richard] at Sundance and were a bit surprised to hear the original version.”
Oy…
Have a great day,
Glenn