for Christmas Sam got me a Nikon camera (love to take a pho-o-tograph) and as a result Paul and Art have been in my head for several days. that song is genius. it's about knowledge and seeing. it's about revolutions in perceptions of the world. and its datedness (Kodachrome) is now part of its import. remember when photos could be in colour? (I don't.) How about when HBO and MTV launched? What about your first Apple IIe? BASIC? Pong? electronically mailing friends across campus? it should be used as the kernel of all history/vision/perception lectures, except that none of today's current university students understand or appreciate the joys of the folk harmonising that Paul and Art pulled off. But I'd love to start a lecture with:
What is the connection here, between reading the writing on the wall--clearly a marker of adolescent toilet communication, the space where abstract insults and pick-up lines are traded--and Kodachrome? Is Simon happy about the shiny colours? The greens of summers? How does he communicate his cynicism? What does this tell us about the mood of mid-century popular consciousness? What is lost in the colour? How does nostalgia take shape here? And, why call upon his 'mama'? What kind of threat does she represent?
Ah. we can dream. meanwhile, my camera rocks. My portrait of an M&S mini christmas cake, below.
3 comments:
Rebecca's post seems to presume that everyone has had 'Kodachrome' in their heads for the past week, or that they've been singing the ballad version* of it in bed at night. But I'm guessing that's only true in our household, so for everyone else, here's the actual text:
'When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of edu---cation
Hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall
Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
my sweet imagination
everything looks worse in black and white
Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome
Mama don't take my Kodachrome
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome
Leave your boy so far from home
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away'
*This version made up by Rebecca.
Dude. This song is about drugs, dude. They kept their pot in those plastic 35mm film containers. The thing that's making him think the world is a sunny day is pot. Momma's going to take away his drugs. Not photos. Drugs.
Also, this song is just Paul solo, isn't it? I don't think Art was involved in any way.
Oh, please -- and "Puff the Magic Dragon" is about pot, too, right? Or so my sister told me, dashing my sweet 8-yr-old fantasy life to the ground.
Was anything from that era not about pot?
Oh wait -- no fewer than three of my Intro to Lit students chose to write papers on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" last term...
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