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Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V5 #245



At 14:00 -0800 10/29/1998, The Who Mailing List Digest wrote:
>
>Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 19:17:44 -0500
>From: "Mark R. Leaman" <mleaman@sccoast.net>
>
>> Dickinson vs. Townshend technicalities apply in this case too (or:
>Whitman too, is
>> a better technical poet than Townshend).
>
>But not a hundredth the musician, as far as I can tell.

Bwah ha ha ha :-D


>Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 00:15:55 -0500
>From: Veelee <vljone0@pop.uky.edu>
>Subject: we are out there
>
>>Hey, I'd just like to say that I'm going to be 18 this coming Saturday, and
>>I'm a Who fan.  I was raised on the ripping riffs of Townsend, the rhythmic
>>beats of Moon, the booming bass of Entwistle, and the angry yet boyish voice
>>of Daltrey, and I loved every minute of it.
>
>Happy Birthday.  I'm 21, a college student, and a rabid Who fanatic.

I'm glad to see younger Who fans anywhere, including on the list.

>As for us
>youngins that listen to the Who, well I won't lie to you and say that we
>are everywhere, because we arn't.  Like you I'm usually the loner when my
>friends talk about their favorite bands and I bring up the Who.

Even at their peak, it was frequently a lonely job being a Who fan.  It was
years before I met anyone else who cared about The Who as much as I did.
If you just avoid "which band is best" arguments you should be OK.



>Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 01:11:14 -0500
>From: Brian <bmcgow01@wild.vill.edu>
>Subject: Re: Pete is the superior
>
>someone seemed to be
>wondering why I decided to attempt to dethrone the mighty Townshend, so I will
>start there.

Not necessarily.  I DO wonder, though, why you DTATDTMT on a Who list.  As
opposed to, say, praising Dickinson and smearing Townshend on a Dickinson
list.

>However, Dickinson was a genius with words, where as Townshend
>was a little above average with them.

I don't have time to get into this in depth, so I'll just say I disagree
with your relatively low opinion of PT's facility with words.

>When
>Dickinson ran into a situation she was having trouble with (i.e. not being
>able
>to find a suitable rhyme), she would invent herself a solution.  If a suitable
>rhyme were alluding her,

That's "Eluding".  For someone who builds his entire case for Dickinson on
her command of words, you are certainly undermining your credentials to
judge.

 she would create a rhyme (i.e. by using like rhymes,
>eye rhymes, exact ryhmes, vowel rhymes, suspended rhymes, etc.)

I feel that it takes more skill to write poetry with pre-existing words,
rather than inventing new ones to suit one's purpose.

>Because
>Townshend never does this in any of his work, that I am aware of,

Commi, commi commi, commi commi, commi ca ca ca ca
Communi, communi, communi commi ca ca ca ca
Communicate...

There are other examples but I'd have to have lyrics sheets spread out in
front of me to cite them.  I don't see that this, by itself, qualifies PT
as a genius writer but apparently it might, in your eyes.  Except that
you're far too gone into your case to entertain the possibility.

AND, I bet Dickinson never used the word "selbstdarstellung".

>I find it hard to believe that Townshend's
>musical ability levels him out, let alone puts him ahead, of Dickinson.

This is just coming down to taste, which there's no disputing.  You like D,
I like T.

>> [Dickinson was] not a hundredth the musician, as far as I can tell.
>
>He did play the trumpet.

huh?

>> How about if it makes one sick to one's stomach? What does that mean?
>
>I'm sorry you have such a poor view of the highest form of non-visual art.  I
>truly am.

You quoted Dickinson as saying "If I feel physically as if the top of my
head were taken off, I know that is poetry."  If you (or she) is going to
use people's feelings as a criterion for poetry it's perfectly reasonable
to ask about the case where the feelings are negative rather than positive.
It doesn't at all mean that Mark has a poor view of the highest form of
non-visual art.

>"'Faith' is a fine invention/ When Gentlemen can see-/ But Microscopes are
>prudent/ In an Emergency."  #185

Oh, my GOD!  Is THIS an example of genius of the written word???

faith IS a FINE inVENtion
duh DUM duh DUM duh DUM
duh DUM duh DUM duh DUM
in AN eMERgenCY

This is doggerel, WAY below anything The Who ever recorded.  Tell me you're
kidding.  YOU wrote this, right...not Dickinson??

>One final point:  When you have a Ph. D. you may spell words any damn way you
>feel like!

True.  But when you have EARNED a PhD, you don't have to, because you know
better.


Alan
Be sure to read _McKendree: A Burning Novel of Murder and Revenge_
by Douglas Hirt, ISBN 0-8439-4184-7  (available at www.amazon.com)