San Francisco, CA
Have you ever read Gertrude Stein's "If I Told Him"? Her Picasso tribute was first published in Vanity Fair in 1924. Have you ever heard the piece read aloud? Well, we were driving today from Mendocino to San Francisco and happened upon a local radio station playing an old recording of Stein herself reading the piece.
"If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him. Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it. If Napoleon if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him would he like it would he like it if I told him.
Now.
Not now.
And now.
Now.
Exactly as as kings.
Feeling full for it.
Exactitude as kings.
So to beseech you as full as for it.
Exactly or as kings.............."
It was on the Golden Gate Bridge, actually, where we started to conclude that the whole thing was utter nonsense. This surely must have been Stein's noted playfulness at work, right? Of course, the scholar asked to interpret the piece only made matters worse by seeming to read far too much into it. However, it's entirely too facile to categorize something one doesn't understand as "nonsense." After all, Stein was a literary lioness in every way. Besides, such claims were made of the often impenetrable works of Picasso himself. Oh, so maybe that's the connection - a fractured, fragmented cubism of words, no less, that gave way to The Beats and the vocal histrionics of a Laurie Anderson.
Still, Stein's stilted scat thrust itself at us in a manner also remarkably similar to the rap offerings of Bow Wow and Notorious BIG that we had been sampling earlier in our trip. The fact that Stein's performance had much of the same cadence, rhythm and even anger of a Bow Wow offering was at once curiously revealing and absolutely disturbing.
Okay, take us out Bow Wow...
See man, Bow Weezy right here live and direct
I'm talkin to ya'll young'ns out there baby
I can't wait until I turn eighteen
I know it's the same for ya'll
Man, I know, I know
I'm talkin bout pullin up in them big cars on them 22's
Naw forget that, I'm talkin bout Charlie Woodsens man
I'ma pull up, I'm talkin bout 24's
It's a wrap for ya'll when I turn eighteen
Listen to the hook
The dapper Mr. Smiley is a fixture in Union Square here.
Have you ever read Gertrude Stein's "If I Told Him"? Her Picasso tribute was first published in Vanity Fair in 1924. Have you ever heard the piece read aloud? Well, we were driving today from Mendocino to San Francisco and happened upon a local radio station playing an old recording of Stein herself reading the piece.
"If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him. Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it. If Napoleon if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him would he like it would he like it if I told him.
Now.
Not now.
And now.
Now.
Exactly as as kings.
Feeling full for it.
Exactitude as kings.
So to beseech you as full as for it.
Exactly or as kings.............."
It was on the Golden Gate Bridge, actually, where we started to conclude that the whole thing was utter nonsense. This surely must have been Stein's noted playfulness at work, right? Of course, the scholar asked to interpret the piece only made matters worse by seeming to read far too much into it. However, it's entirely too facile to categorize something one doesn't understand as "nonsense." After all, Stein was a literary lioness in every way. Besides, such claims were made of the often impenetrable works of Picasso himself. Oh, so maybe that's the connection - a fractured, fragmented cubism of words, no less, that gave way to The Beats and the vocal histrionics of a Laurie Anderson.
Still, Stein's stilted scat thrust itself at us in a manner also remarkably similar to the rap offerings of Bow Wow and Notorious BIG that we had been sampling earlier in our trip. The fact that Stein's performance had much of the same cadence, rhythm and even anger of a Bow Wow offering was at once curiously revealing and absolutely disturbing.
Okay, take us out Bow Wow...
See man, Bow Weezy right here live and direct
I'm talkin to ya'll young'ns out there baby
I can't wait until I turn eighteen
I know it's the same for ya'll
Man, I know, I know
I'm talkin bout pullin up in them big cars on them 22's
Naw forget that, I'm talkin bout Charlie Woodsens man
I'ma pull up, I'm talkin bout 24's
It's a wrap for ya'll when I turn eighteen
Listen to the hook
The dapper Mr. Smiley is a fixture in Union Square here.