Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Modernist narratives and popular music
- 2 Rock and the facts of life
- 3 Changing patterns in society and music: the US since World War II
- 4 “If I Were a Voice”: or, The Hutchinson Family and popular song as political and social protest
- 5 Some thoughts on the measurement of popularity in music
- 6 Elvis, a review
- 7 Home cooking and American soul in black South African popular music
- 8 Rock ‘n’ roll in a very strange society
- 9 African-American music, South Africa, and apartheid
- 10 “The constant companion of man”: Separate Development, Radio Bantu, and music
- 11 Privileging the moment of reception: music and radio in South Africa
- 12 Music and radio in the People's Republic of China
- 13 Towards a new reading of Gershwin
- 14 A blues for the ages
- 15 Graceland revisited
- 16 Dvořák in America: nationalism, racism, and national race
- 17 The last minstrel show?
- 18 The Role of Rock, a review
- 19 Genre, performance, and ideology in the early songs of Irving Berlin
- 20 Epilogue: John Cage revisited
- Index
20 - Epilogue: John Cage revisited
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Modernist narratives and popular music
- 2 Rock and the facts of life
- 3 Changing patterns in society and music: the US since World War II
- 4 “If I Were a Voice”: or, The Hutchinson Family and popular song as political and social protest
- 5 Some thoughts on the measurement of popularity in music
- 6 Elvis, a review
- 7 Home cooking and American soul in black South African popular music
- 8 Rock ‘n’ roll in a very strange society
- 9 African-American music, South Africa, and apartheid
- 10 “The constant companion of man”: Separate Development, Radio Bantu, and music
- 11 Privileging the moment of reception: music and radio in South Africa
- 12 Music and radio in the People's Republic of China
- 13 Towards a new reading of Gershwin
- 14 A blues for the ages
- 15 Graceland revisited
- 16 Dvořák in America: nationalism, racism, and national race
- 17 The last minstrel show?
- 18 The Role of Rock, a review
- 19 Genre, performance, and ideology in the early songs of Irving Berlin
- 20 Epilogue: John Cage revisited
- Index
Summary
In the late winter of 1992, Northwestern University, which houses a large collection of John Cage's manuscripts, papers, art works, and programs, celebrated his approaching eightieth birthday with a week-long series of concerts, lectures, workshops, panels, and exhibits. The following remarks opened the first concert on the evening of 3 March. Afterwards, Cage and I walked back to the hotel where we were both staying. As we were saying goodbye at the elevator – I was leaving the next morning – I asked him, “What do you think about all this fuss people have been making over postmodernism?” In his usual style, he thought for a while, before answering, “I think it's wonderful when people make a fuss over anything.” That was the last time I saw him; he died of a stroke several months later, a few weeks short of his eightieth birthday.
From the late 1950s through the 70s I was involved with John Cage in various ways: at the bridge and poker table; listening to and occasionally performing in his compositions; and trying to write about him. I thought I had an intuitive grasp of what he was doing and why he was doing it, but when it came to putting things into words, I felt that something was eluding me.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Putting Popular Music in its Place , pp. 381 - 385Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995
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