Random thoughts on things I've seen while scanning the internet... Ok, am I the only one who read this and immediately started singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite"? (i.e. a comment on Disney and P.L. Travers' talents and ubiquity, not on the suffragette banner itself, which I find fascinating. It takes a very real imagination to understand what you're looking at when you find something like this in a charity shop or Goodwill.)
Forget super models, red carpet premieres, the covers of magazines. Let's face it, if you're a dress designer, the most important model of all time is Vanna White. It's not even really close. Not to mention what she and Pat and the whole Wheel gang have done for basic literacy. The crossword in the New York Times still has a zing in the puzzle crowd, but the Wheel almost certainly has a greater reach simply via the power of tv.
This one will take some thinking. And when you get down to, I'm probably overthinking it. But still, something occurred to me about Pearl Jam's Black. Structurally, it sounds to me an awful lot like they're playing off of Layla.
Note, I do not mean copying. I mean that particular artist's goal of taking in a song, absorbing it, and then writing your response to it.
To hear what I mean, think about the piano break at the end of Layla. So, listen to Black fresh. Then listen to Layla. Now go back and listen to Black again, and listen for the piano, the lead guitar, and how they play against each other, thematically and dynamically. (I only have the youtube version of Layla easily available. If you have it, listen to the original album cut, and the echoes between the songs are more in relief to each other.)
The songs work very well as a conversation with each other, I think. Especially when you add in Eddie's lyrics. I'd be shocked if Eric Clapton hasn't listened to the song, he's famous for having a pretty wide ranging and eclectic ear. It'd be an interesting juxtaposition to hear them all talk about it, given the relatively subtle kinship the overall songs share thematically, if nothing else.