bf jezebell.jpg

Jezebel was literally a fallen woman. She was a queen who manipulated her king to abandon Yahweh and the Biblical prophets. She bore false witness which resulted in an innocent man being put to death. Cut to the chase, she was thrown out of a high window by members of her retinue and her corpse was devoured by stray dogs. Her name has become synonymous with alluring women who lead men astray.

Today's post will be a brief #morgenseiten (cyber-buddy @shortcut 's idea for a morning stream of consciousness post.) As with my post yesterday, this post also relates to @katharsisdrill 's post about rap music.

Zeitgeist

Years ago I read a book that had a chapter about how ideas seems to move into a collective unconscious and spread around the world. I don't recall too many details, but the author laid out multiple examples. Are thoughts more than biochemical reactions in the brain? Is there such a thing as a collective unconscious? Of course I don't know the answer, but my life experience makes me suspect the answer might be yes.

Spoken Word Music

My knowledge of rap music is very limited, so out of curiosity I searched to see when it became a “thing.” The consensus seemed to be 1979 when Sugar Hill Gang's “Rapper's Delight” was released, but naturally its underground history goes back further.

My post yesterday dealt an example with music I was listening to when rap was gaining popularity (James Brown's “Repeat the Beat.”) So I decided to hone in on the year 1979-1980 and some of what I was listening to, and that's why I mentioned the collective unconscious. Brian Eno and David Byrne began recording My Life in the Bush of Ghosts in the summer of 1979, just as rap was being put to vinyl.

Interestingly, they used funky rhythm and lots of sampling on this record. It is noteworthy that they used sampling of the spoken word for some of the lead vocals on tracks. Although it is not rap, there's heavy sampling, emphasis on rhythm, and the spoken word as lead vocal. So I found that to be an interesting coincidence.

The Jezebel Spirit

Today I want to present a track from the album, and I've specifically selected "The Jezebel Spirit," because it was derided by a Rolling Stone critic (I'm not a fan of music critics):

Even more annoying is "The Jezebel Spirit," which utilizes a recorded exorcism. Byrne and Eno latch onto the rhythm of the exorcist's dry laugh for the backup, but they fade out before we find out what happened to the possessed woman — which would have been a lot more interesting than the chattery band track. Blasphemy is beside the point: Byrne and Eno have trivialized the event. Source: Rolling Stone April 2, 1981, by Jon Pareles link

NOT child friendly