Is there any way to figure out what books will live for posterity? “The idea that, although you will be dust, your words will outlive you is a potent one. Potent, but vain. The fate of most books, even successful ones, is a fairly swift rendezvous with Lethe.
Realistically calculating the odds in the posterity stakes: ‘A writer’s ambition should be to trade 100 contemporary readers for 10 readers in 10 years’ time and for one in 100 years’.”
Tag: 07.06.03
Yesterdays Are Made Of…
Where did Paul McCartney get the tune for “Yesterday”? “The origins of ‘Yesterday’, which has been recorded by more than 2,000 artists and played on the radio more than six million times, has always been a mystery – not least to McCartney himself. He woke up in his flat in London in May 1965 with the song in his head. He realized that he might have borrowed the arrangement from another song and asked friends if they could suggest any similar tunes. They convinced him it was his and that it had come to him in a dream. Now musicologists have identified echoes of Answer Me, the 1953 U.K. hit for both Frankie Laine and David Whitfield, which was later covered by Cole.”
Goodbye To The Rock Bass?
The electric bass has been a staple of the rock band. “In the past, the bass has played a role in most rock bands of any consequence. Music history has given us legendary bassists from Paul McCartney and Sting to Geddy Lee, from Bootsy Collins to Chris Squire.” But the trend today is bands without basses – and the instrument may have hit a low point…