RARA-AVIS: I Can Hear Music

From: Kevin Burton Smith ( kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com)
Date: 05 Apr 2008


On Apr 5, 2008, at 8:14 AM, rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com wrote:

> It would probably take us outside of the literary realm. When you add
> music to text, there is an endless spectrum of (mainly visceral)
> reactions. And the cult of personality is paramount in popular music.

Sure, if you only look at the surface. But like crime fiction and other pop culture, there are hidden depths there well worth exploring.

Songs about crime have been with us forever.. And Carrie, we have actually discussed this before (with Bill's tolerance, if not his blessing), and the cult of personality, while present in most art, was actually pretty much absent from the discussion.

Among the (usual) suspects rounded up and examined were Waits, Springsteen, Cave, Zevon and Dylan. One more seriously worth adding to the list is Kathleen Edwards, from Ottawa. Every album, so far, has had a tight, terse song about crime, and there are several on her latest. OH CANADA is particularly potent.

And Mario, isn't the reaction to almost all art visceral, at least at first?

I've written about crime music for Crime Spree, the Mystery Readers' Journal, on my blog and the site, and I'm about to start a major series on it in Mystery Scene, so if other's are willing to play, I'll go get my glove.

Kevin

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