Dylan and Us: Beyond America – 3. Love, Dancing, Sex, Sadness, part 3

by Wouter van Oorschot

Translated by Brent Annable

Previously in this series…

• Amuse bouche
• Who the book is (not) for – part 1
• Who this book is (not) for – part 2
• Anything but idolatry – part 1
• Anything but idolatry – part 2
• Love, Dancing, Sex, Sadness, TR-63 – part 1
• Love, Dancing, Sex, Sadness, TR-63 – part 2

A topic rarely ever addressed is the equally objectionable mediocre quality of the lyrics to be found in this musical morass. Nearly all of the texts served up to these semi-talents reinforced the aforementioned Christian conservative notions of love and marriage. Is it any surprise, therefore, that these songs contain numerous love songs that put women in their place? Do not think for a moment that I am making this up: from the ‘innumerable millions’ of songs in the unsung Cash Box Archives, named after the music-industry magazine that appeared weekly from 1942 to 1996, I have selected some particularly egregious examples from the years 1955-56, when The Great American Songbook was already so clogged up with muck that it was no longer salvageable.

A woman can find out what she is good for – and what she is certainly not good for – from the trio Don, Dick & Jimmy in ‘That’s what I like’. She must kiss, hold, hug and pet him, and above all, keep her mouth shut:

Don, Dick & Jimmy 

THAT'S WHAT I LIKE 

People worry about the pursuit of happiness,
It's amazing the amount of time and energy they spend,
When there's really only one approach
To the present psychological trend.

Hold me, hug me, pet me baby,
That's what I like!

Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me baby,
That's what I like!
Hold me, hug me, pet me baby,
That's what I like!

You don't have to give me clever conversation,
I just want affection, not an education!
Kiss me, hold me, hug me baby,
That's what I'd like you to do,
And love me, love me, love me baby too!

Ooh that's what I like!
Oh that's what I like!

You don't have to give me clever conversation,
I just want affection, not an education!
Kiss me, hold me, hug me pet me baby,
That's what I'd like you to do,
And love me, love me, love me baby too.
That's right baby!

Amid the blossoming of romance, the Rover Boys already see their life’s journey spread out before them. ‘From a school ring to a wedding ring’ traces a straight line from the first stolen kiss in the schoolyard to the first kiss at the altar, as the wedding bells chime:

The Rover Boys – From a School Ring to a Wedding Ring: 

From a school ring
To a wedding ring
Is the story of our romance
From those bashful looks
Over classroom books
To a stolen kiss whenever we had the chance

From a school ring
To a wedding ring
Are those wonderful youthful times
From a teenage date
By the schoolhouse gate
To the ringing of the churchhouse chimes

I remember how we danced
At the junior ball
While the band played our favorite song
Every time we hugged and squeezed
I remember we we′re teased
By the fellas who we're standin′ around the hall

From a school ring
To a wedding ring
How those years in between rush through
From a school ring
To a wedding ring
To a lifetime of love with you

Once the knot is tied, four white men calling themselves The Four Aces will also show a woman her place in ‘It’s a woman’s world’. She gives herself unconditionally, and just ask any man: it’s a woman’s world, but only because it’s his!

The Four Aces – It’s A Woman’s World

Woman's world, 
It's a woman's world when she's in love
It's a woman's world when she's in love
It's a woman's world, his kiss can make her glow
And that's what makes it so (it's a woman's world)

It's a woman's world, stars dance above
It's a lovely world, his footstep at the door
Just proves it more and more
His hopes, his dreams and his ambitions
All the ups and downs she'll gladly share
She'll give her all without conditions
When he looks around, she'll be there.

It's a woman's world, ask any man
It's a woman's world, and he's so glad it is
For when it's hers it's his!
It's a woman's world, but only because it's his
(It's a woman's world, ask any man
It's a woman's world, and he's so glad that it is)
For when it's hers it's his!

Quite some nerve. It must be admitted, however, that some women do bring it upon themselves. Like semi-talent Teresa Brewer, who damns members of her own sex who dare to show their men the door. In ‘Silver Dollar’, a man without a woman is worthless as a grain of sand, but a woman only realises the worth of her man after sending him packing:

Teresa Brewer – Silver Dollar:

A-rolling, a-rolling
A-rolling, just a-rolling

You can throw a silver dollar down upon on the ground
And it'll roll because it was round
A woman doesn't know what a good man she's lost
Until she throws him down

So listen, listen, listen to me, I'll make you understand
How a dollar always travels from hand to hand
But a woman goes from man to man
How goes from man to man

Oh, man without a woman is like a ship without a sail
A boat without a rudder or a fish without a tail
Oh, a man without a woman isn't worth a little grain of sand
But there's one thing worse in this universe and that's
A woman without a man
A woman without a man

Yes, a woman never knows what a good man she's got
Until she turns him down
And a dollar always travels from hand to hand
But a woman goes from man to man
How goes from man to man

Life's a woman, a woman, yes, a woman
You throw a silver dollar down upon on the ground
And it'll roll because it's round

‘Keep me in mind’ is the kind of plea in which the somewhat more astute and animated Patti Page tells the man of her dreams that she is prepared to give herself to him utterly, provided that marriage is on the cards:

Patti Page – Keep Me In Mind:

If you need someone to lower the light
And then you want someone to hold you real tight
Someone who'll hold you and do it up right –
Keep me in mind!

If you feel lonely and long for a kiss
And then you want someone who'll bring you some bliss
Someone who'll kiss you and never resist –
Keep me in mind!

Give me a call
Knock on my door
Send me a telegram!
Yell down the hall
Beat on the floor
I'll come runnin' wherever I am!

If you need someone to whom you can cling
An' then you want someone who'll mean ev'rything
Someone who'll love you, if you'll buy the ring –
Keep me in mind!

Keep me in mind!

The ineradicable nature of this theme should be apparent from the worst of the worst, the ultimate cowboy tear-jerker from 1968 which, for inexplicable reasons, also somehow achieved popularity outside the United States: ‘Stand by your man’, by the accidental and beehive-haired superstar Tammy Wynette. ‘Love him, be proud of him, after all, he’s just a man’. Indeed:

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman
Givin' all your love to just one man
You'll have bad times, and he'll have good times
Doin' things that you don't understand
But if you love him, you'll forgive him
Even though he's hard to understand
And if you love him, oh, be proud of him
Because, after all, he's just a man

Stand by your man
Give him two arms to cling to
And somethin' warm to come to
When nights are cold and lonely
Stand by your man
And show the world you love him
Keep givin' all the love you can
Stand by your man

I must stop here. And if these are not the worst examples to be found: there is a mer á boire out there. If you do not believe that these songs were not only a dime-a-dozen but a dime-a-thousand, go and browse the Cashbox Archives for yourselves: it is truly nauseating. And these were just the average artists. Big names also appeared who, while they sang a little better – Tony Bennet, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Andy Williams – nevertheless produced a sound that was essentially no different: equal parts saccharine and brash, and just as nauseating. And because monkey-see, monkey-do, the rest of the world proceeded to generate similar musical sludge in other languages, with their own semi-talents. One must be on guard against common anti-Americanism, no?

Pre-eminent black solo artists such as Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington had also mastered this style, and unfortunately needed to conform to it in order to reach a wide enough audience. They had so much talent, however, that in their best work they succeeded in escaping the pedestrian humdrum of the languishing music industry, and rose up above themselves. This ‘best work’ was therefore left unspoiled by string and brass orchestras, but can be found in their collaboration with smaller-scale jazz combos (which, incidentally, did greater justice to the black culture from which they grew as icons, and that ultimately enriched the Western folk music tradition). The most dramatic example comes from Nat King Cole, who debuted with a trio in 1942 and from ‘That ain’t right’ onwards, released a series of nuanced numbers until finally falling prey to the entertainment industry’s orchestral molasses in 1948, with ‘Don’t blame me’. How telling a title!

Another striking example is the enormous quality disparity in the oeuvre of Dinah Washington: her orchestrally-tainted songs are utterly eclipsed by those recorded with a jazz combo. See her masterpiece, For those in love (1955).

continued: DYLAN & US: BEYOND AMERICA: 3. Love, Dancing, Sex, Sadness, TR-63 – part 4

Wouter’s book is only available in Dutch for now:

Dylan en wij zonder Amerika, Wouter van Oorschot | 9789044655179 | Boeken | bol

We will publish more chapters from it in English on Untold Dylan in the coming weeks