[Ads-l] dancing about architecture

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Fantastic! Thanks for searching and sharing your valuable results,
Bill. I added the two citations to the QI article. I also rewrote some
sections. The acknowledgement now includes you.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/11/08/writing-about-music/

With appreciation
Garson

On Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 4:52 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Today was Thelonius Monk's birthday, and he is sometimes associated with the saying "Trying to explain music is like trying to dance architecture."
>
> QuoteInvestigator pushes the saying back to Sep/Oct 1979, where it is attributed to Martin Mull:  "writing about music is, as Martin Mull put it, like dancing about architecture."  It also has been previously discussed on the list:
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-January/thread.html#95796
>
> New sources have come on line since (presumably) the research for the above was done, so Garson's site can be antedated in a couple of places:
>
> _Detroit Free Press_ 18 Feb 1979 p 19C col 5
> "Martin Mull . . . Comedian-Musician on music criticism: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." "
>
> Cleveland OH _Plain Dealer_ 10 Oct 1980 p 36 col 1.
> "He thinks talking about music is like singing about football." ["He" refers to David Coverdale of the rock band Whitesnake.]
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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