Skip to main content

Game Theory - Penny, Things Won't

The blues points to a critical question for every person, what do we do with our sadness, pain, and disappointment? Do we use them to see more meaning in things and people? Do we use them to be kinder? Or do we use them to feel the whole world is bad, and to retreat from or lash out at other people? This, Aesthetic Realism explains, is the central fight in the mind of every person between the desire to like and respect the world, and the desire for contempt, which Eli Siegel defined as the disposition in every person to think we will be for ourselves by making less of the outside world.

The blues as musical form is against depression, even as the lyrics may describe that depressed feeling. This is explained greatly in a paper titled Feeling Bad, Good Will, and the Blues by Ellen Reiss, who is the Chairman of Education at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York City.

By looking throughout the history of music, we can see how deep is the desire in humanity to relate pain and pleasure, the somber and the celebratory. A surprising example, which I’ve studied with my high school chorus is NY, is the motet Ave Verum Corpus, by the English Renaissance composer William Byrd. The piece begins in G minor but ends in G major, and throughout we find major and minor 3rds, 6ths and 7ths. And in the last phrase, on the words miserere mei, have mercy on me, we find major and minor actually overlapping. The altos and tenors begin, in G minor.
Source: Why Do the Blues Make Us Feel So Good? by Alan Shapiro


Game Theory - Penny, Things Won't
  • Written by: Fred Juhos
  • Released in: 1983
  • Genre: Rock

"Game Theory was a power pop band which formed in 1982 in Sacremento, California. The band's only constant member was singer and songwriter Scott Miller, vocals and guitar, who led the band through two major lineup changes before he disbanded the group in 1990."

See previous Song of the Day

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jackson Browne - Kisses Sweeter than Wine

Europe has a rich history of embracing blues and jazz music. In the early 20th century, American jazz musicians began touring Europe, introducing the continent to a new sound that was unlike anything they had ever heard before. Jazz became an instant hit among European audiences, and many European musicians began incorporating jazz elements into their music. Today, jazz festivals are held all over Europe, attracting thousands of fans from all over the world. In addition, many European cities have thriving blues scenes, with local bands and musicians performing regularly. Blues and jazz have also made their way to Asia, where they have found a devoted fan base. Japan, in particular, has a thriving jazz scene, with many Japanese musicians achieving international recognition. In addition, China has also seen a rise in the popularity of jazz music in recent years. Jazz festivals are now held in major Asian cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, attracting jazz lovers from all over ...

Veronica Swift - A Little Taste

There has always been an uncomfortable tension between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, a cyclical influence that vacillates between inspiration, appropriation and separation. Popular music has broken off into categories of rock, pop, country, and R&B, each with their own origin stories. But R&B and rock, usually codified as vastly different, Black and white styles, have long been intertwined in ways our historical memory may have us forget.  Despite the innovation that comes from separation, rock and R&B always find their way back to each other. In recent years, rock veterans have turned to the genre’s classics for inspiration. Queens of the Stone Age veered from their typical hard rock with 2017’s Villains, a dance y album inspired by frontman Josh Homme’s love of 1920s jazz and swing, other Black genres that laid the groundwork for the popular music of today. The whitewashing of rock’s history has oversimplified music’s malleability and silenced the voices of Amer...

Emmylou Harris - Orphan Girl

Emmylou Harris - Orphan Girl Released on: Wrecking Ball album Released on: September 26, 1995 Written by: Gillian Welch "Emmylou Harris developed an interest in folk music in her early years, which led to her performing professionally. After moving to New York City in the 1960s, she recorded a folk album and performed regionally. Harris had a continued string of commercially and critically successful albums." See Previous Song of the Day