What oft was thought
Here’s a comment about the song “Dust In the Wind,” on the thread about the death of Robby Steinhardt, the violinist for the group Kansas:
Sorry Neo, but that is about the tritest sappiest song there is. As if the thoughts therein had never occurred to everyone on the planet before.
Taste in music – and lyrics – differ, as the music threads on this blog amply demonstrate. But I take issue with that particular comment, and I’ll tell you why.
It’s not that the song is an absolutely enormous favorite of mine, although I do like it quite a bit and so do gazillions of people around the globe. The fact that it’s a very popular song doesn’t make it trite and sappy nor does it mean it’s not trite and sappy. But I submit that it is highly unnecessary for a thought – whether in essay, poem, or song lyric – to be utterly original in order to be worth saying again. As Alexander Pope wrote:
True Wit is Nature to advantage dress’d
What oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d;
Something whose truth convinced at sight we find,
That gives us back the image of our mind.
The new version of the older thought (or the older truth) can serve to create an “aha!” moment in the listener or reader that is sometimes profound – a kind of resonance and vibration at a different speed or pitch. There are few original insights (which is in itself an unoriginal insight), but that doesn’t negate art. Nor is restating them in different form a case of the creator trying to imply that the thoughts “had never occurred to everyone on the planet before.”
In the Byrds’ 1965 song “Turn, Turn, Turn” (there was an earlier one in 1962, but it was the Byrds who popularized the song), much the same ideas are expressed but keeping the words in a much earlier form, that of the biblical Ecclesiastes. The song was also very popular, and I wounder how many people recognized the source. No matter; it bears repeating – and when set to music the same thoughts acquire a different aspect and touch a different part of the heart and mind.
Music can reach us on a deep level. So can words alone, but words set to music enter by a different avenue. Music alone or music with lyrics can cause tears in the listener in ways that the same words alone are sometimes less likely to do. It’s true of classical music or pop music, and some people respond better to one over the other although some people are very fond of both.
You don’t have to like “Dust In the Wind.” You are welcome to think it trite and sappy. But “trite” – meaning “hackneyed or boring from much use : not fresh or original” – and “sappy” – meaning “overly sweet or sentimental” – can be synonyms for “wise” and “meaningful.” I also submit that there’s nothing sweet or sentimental about the “Dust In the Wind” lyrics, but that’s not the point.
The thoughts in that song have been expressed so many times I could not even begin to list them. And yet people seem to want to express them again, in different form. I’ll close the post with one of the more famous statements of the idea. I could have selected any number of verses, but here are a few:
The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes—or it prospers; and anon,
Like Snow upon the Desert’s dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two—is gone…Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss’d
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn
Are scatter’d, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise
To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;
One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies…One Moment in Annihilation’s Waste,
One moment, of the Well of Life to taste—
The Stars are setting, and the Caravan
Starts for the dawn of Nothing—Oh, make haste!…The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
I’m not sure if I can think of other words (like trite and sappy), that make me disregard everything a critic after them. Perhaps banal.
However, if the critic’s aim is to announce they’re an elitist douche-canoe, they’re probably the best of words.
neo:
I agree with you overall, but I’d say “Turn! Turn! Turn!” is a miscue.
TTT, as written by Pete Seeger, performed by the Byrds and heard by audiences, was an anti-war anthem, very different in feel and impact from “Dust in the Wind.”
______________________________________
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late!
–Pete Seeger, “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)”
True Wit is Nature to advantage dress’d
What oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d;
Something whose truth convinced at sight we find,
That gives us back the image of our mind.
Am I the only one who read this to the meter of Wayward Son?
When I first heard it at seventeen way back in 1977, it was reasonably thought-provoking for an immortal suburban kid. Yes, it’s been said before, but we’re all introduced to ideas in different ways.
Plus, it spurred me to learn finger-picking on guitar, which indirectly led to me meeting and marrying the love of my life. I still play and sing it around the campfire. No complaints, even from the most jaded of friends… Except when I try to hit that high “A”
Hearing that song again must have touched something in my mind. In a half-woke state the other day, I was thinking about members of my family who had died. I realized how little I knew of them and how even less will be known by the next generation. I spent a lot of time with my grandfather watching him build furniture in our basement when I was very young, But I never knew anything about him when he was younger. And when my brother and I are gone, no one will know much about my parents, their interests, skills, or values.
huxley:
I’m referring to the Byrds’ version of the Pete Seeger song, and the words are most definitely about life itself (as well as a portion about peace) and are taken directly from Ecclesiastes. The listeners – I was one of them – probably heard the song in many different ways, but I certainly heard it not as a peace song (or only very very tangentially as a peace song, if that) but as a song about life, death, and the whole riddle of existence.
Lyrics:
Ecclesiastes, King James version:
The passage from Ecclesiastes mentions war and peace, too, but is far from an antiwar tract. The emphasis is somewhat different in the song because the “peace” part adds “I swear it’s not too late,” but the song is about a great deal more than that. And note that earlier in the song, right after “A time of love, a time of hate,” it uses the lyric “A time of war, a time of peace.”
expat:
I’ve been thinking about that sort of thing lately, too.
They say that people die twice. The first time when they actually die, and the second when the last person who knew them dies.
For what it’s worth, “Dust In the Wind” is trite and sappy.
On purpose.
Kerry Livgren, per John Bennett’s comment, was… literally doing finger-picking exercises on his guitar. His wife (the subject of the third verse of one of my favorite Kansas songs, What’s On My Mind) heard him, said it sounded pretty, and that he should put lyrics to them. He chose a few thoughts from the Native American tribe the state is named after (the People of the South Wind), put the two together, and created one of Kansas’ monster hits.
I don’t remember which band member said it—probably Phil Ehart—but one of them said “Kerry was great at writing hits, but terrible at knowing when he had.” “Dust in the Wind” is probably the finest example of that point I know.
Paul Snively:
I don’t see how their method of composing makes the lyrics trite and sappy – on purpose or otherwise. Particularly “sappy,” the definition of which is “sweet and sentimental.” I see nothing sweet about those lyrics.
Ive never cared for the song myself. Its central assertion an offputting but perfect blend of ennui and nihilism.
“All we do crumbles to the ground
Though we refuse to see
[Chorus]
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind” my emphasis
A perfect rejection of even the possibility of a beneficent creator, an immortal soul and existence in a far better afterlife in which justice prevails.
A nihilistic triumph set to music.
Released in 1977; Jimmy Carter the new President. Massive Inflation, long, even-odd Gas Lines and the Iran hostages. A seemingly invincible Soviet Empire. The aftermath in Vietnam, America’s first ‘defeat’.
No wonder they were depressed.
I’m a bit surprised that it isn’t the unofficial anthem of today’s democrat party. Of course, there’s still time for its adoption as such.
Ahh, The Rubaiyat! I discovered it in high school. I was never much for poetry in general, but I have always liked it.
neo: I don’t see how their method of composing makes the lyrics trite and sappy – on purpose or otherwise. Particularly “sappy,” the definition of which is “sweet and sentimental.” I see nothing sweet about those lyrics.
That’s a fair point. Maybe the critic was using “sappy” differently than you or I would, to refer to an overabundance of a kind of “faux profundity” that, heaven knows, progressive rock in the 1970s tended to leave itself open to. To be clear, I’m agreeing with you. The point of the story I shared is that Livgren’s wife recognized the beauty in the simplicity of the finger exercises and Livgren himself apparently apprehended the tension between the brightness of the guitar and the theme of the lyrics—or at least so it seems to me. Regardless, I believe it deserved its success, even if there are quite a few Kansas songs I like even more, sometimes for reasons I know are quite idiosyncratic, such as that Lightning’s Hand is, classically, a toccata and fugue.
neo:
Yes, I’m aware that most of the words to “Turn!” are from Ecclesiastes.
Nonetheless I’d say that Seeger’s addition: “I swear it’s not too late” is so radically different from Ecclesiastes that it becomes a positive affirmation turning E on its head, as opposed to the “vanity of vanities” cries from the heart.
Furthermore, by excerpting only those few lines from Ecclesiastes, “Turn!” erases the world-weariness present in E in favor of a Circle of Life worldview.
When “Turn!” came out I was excited to hear that it was based on the Bible. So I read Ecclesiastes and was quite disappointed that it seemed to have little to do with the song.
Also, I’d go with Geoffrey Britain that “Dust in the Wind” only catches one aspect of Ecclesiastes and misses the God part.
Ecclesiastes spreads a bigger table than “Dust.”
huxley:
That line about peace stuck out more for you than it did for me. Obviously. But it’s not a given that it sticks out so much, especially since the song also says “a time for war” earlier.
To me, it resembles Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 very geatly. I don’t see why you say it has “little to do” with it.
Of course it doesn’t capture all of Ecclesiastes. How could it? But it pretty much corresponds to that very famous section.
I didn’t dig “Dust in the Wind” much back in the day, and I’m afraid that hasn’t changed much. The song came off to me like cynicism (why care, nothing matters anyway) wrapped in music that was a bit pretentious. Incoherence between the music and lyrics when you think of it.
The Rubaiyat excerpt made me think of Ozymandias (“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”). One of my very favorites…
Geoffrey Britain; pikkumatti :
I would describe the lyrics of “Dust In the Wind” more as puzzlement and gloom over the mystery of existence and how little seems permanent in the face of death. The lyrics speak of the transience of each human life on earth. The singer doesn’t know what might come later – but he does know what he sees here.
In addition, Ecclesiastes has another famous passage (1) that I think the song recalls. Not the same one as “Turn, Turn, Turn,” but this one:
And then there’s this part (1:14), which in most translations mentions wind.
Is Ecclesiastes nihilist? Some thoughts:
Well, I certainly don’t know either, but it’s there. I think it’s there to tell people that these doubts and fears are often part of life, even the life of someone religious or someone seeking religion and guidance towards religion.
When I listened to the clip the other day, what came to my mind was what I hear every Ash Wednesday: “Remember, O man, that thou are dust, and to dust thou shalt return.”
Not going to say anything about Pete Seeger.
If we’re going to get all elegaic, these lines are more fitting for we backwater blog-commenting bloviators:
Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country’s blood.
Th’ applause of list’ning senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o’er a smiling land,
And read their hist’ry in a nation’s eyes,
Their lot forbade: nor circumscrib’d alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin’d;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,
The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse’s flame.
Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Yet ev’n these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck’d,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.
(Noiseless Tenor might be a stretch.)
Leonard Cohen:
We are so small between the stars
So large against the sky
Here’s the full poem that was cited in part by Can Do! without attribution:
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray, published in 1751.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44299/elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard
I read that aloud to my offspring, who likes the Rubayat, and was told but it’s not ‘thy wit’ it’s ‘your wit’, and then the Offspring went off to the printed copy of all translations. They’re both right. Your is in the 3rd translation.
I’ve always liked the music of Dust in the Wind.
Elaine T:
The version I’m most familiar with is “your wit”, too.
Nice discussion!
Ecclesiastes, Gray, Khayyam, & modern music – where else do we get that kind of range & depth?
Just dropped in to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Still on vacation, and still just as lazy.
This post reminded me of a favorite poem. The God Forsakes Antony by C. P. Cavafy.
http://xyz.cqu.edu.cn/lingshi/cavafy/antony.html
When I searched for a link to that poem the first hit was to a Leonard Cohen site. His song, Alexandra Leaving, is based in this poem. I didn’t know that. He is also a favorite of mine.
https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/alexandra.html
TonyW:
Thanks. I was aware of the Leonard Cohen song, but not the poem.