Beans, etc, PS: The Battle Hymn...

[Charles Doyle]

Which brings up an interesting question for "critical theory": How does a PARODY function if both the performer and the audience are unfamiliar with--possibly, in fact, oblivious to the existence of--the text being parodied? Is it just another iconoclastic song, spun free of its "intertextuality"? Or do performer and audience somehow share a residual awareness of desecrating a text esteemed by adults (in this case, perhaps, cootish adults)? The act of parody itself would ordinarily be an aspect of the iconoclasm.

--Charlie
_____________________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 16:22:46 -0400
>From: Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG>
>Subject: Re: Beans, etc, PS: The Battle Hymn...
>
>We also had "Old Smoky," which is kind of surprising, since the song was clearly decades out of any kind of fashion (this being the Seventies and Eighties). The *only* versions of the song we knew were the satirical ones. I remember hearing the original years later and being a bit befuzzled.
>
>Grant Barrett
>gbarrett at worldnewyork.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org