Classic Song Of The Week - If I Were A Carpenter...

 "Some songs - Dylan's most obviously- have a special quality of loyalty: except on very rare occasions - as when Hendrix covered "All Along The Watchtower" or Keith Jarret "My Back Pages" - they come fully alive only when they are played by their composer. Others drift from performer to performer, happily, promiscuously."

-- Geoff Dyer from his collection of essays: "Otherwise Known As The Human Condition".


I think Tim Hardin's, If I were A Carpenter, is like that. Here he is performing it at Woodstock:

Fractal Lessons in the Lyrics

Rough fractals takes some modest pride attaching this recent fractal letter printed in the 01/04/09 NY Times. Note: Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, Lessons learned from lyrics: the fractal repetition theme is contained in the letter.

January 4, 2009
Letters: Lessons in the Lyrics

To the Editor:

Bob Dylan is one of my heroes, too, so I enjoyed Ben Stein’s quoting him to great effect in “They Told Me He Never Lost Money” (Everybody’s Business, Dec. 28).

As investors, we may have learned everything we need to know in kindergarten, but those of us of a certain age also had a second chance — call it “Everything We Need to Know 2.0” from our generation’s music icons. You may also recall the Grateful Dead line from its anthem “Uncle John’s Band”: “When life looks like easy street there is danger at your door.”

Steven D. Germain

Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.,

Dec. 29