sovay | I can scream like a cicada, gin the seed right out the boll

This thing where I missed out on most of the Western canon in school turns up in the weirdest places. After knowing the song for at least fifteen years, I just learned this morning that the Squirrel Nut Zippers' "Wash Jones" was inspired by—or at least shares a name with—a character in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! (1936), which I have never read. I always just thought of it as a great American trickster song. I was talking to an oak tree when a cypress butted in. Out of car parts, a raven made a nest inside my skin. To understand me better, you all ought to follow me home. I make a wish, I clean the fish, Lord, that's why they call me Wash Jones. It was the first song I heard by the group, even before their legendary "Hell," and it guaranteed I would look for the rest of their music, which did seem to come from some time-slipped, hot-jazz, hallucinogenic South; I like it even in its earlier version. I suppose I should read more Faulkner one of these days.

I hate apartment-hunting, but it is once again my plan for the rest of the day. Autolycus is sacked out on my desk and Hestia has claimed the cool dark space under the bed; they blink at me sleepily as I move around the room. I tell them they have no idea what I do for their sakes. They are good cats, even if you can't trust Autolycus with a yogurt drink.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm often tripped up by how much of the Western canon I'm not familiar with, also, though in my case I'm also not familiar with a lot of American cultural stuff, so these two things combined make a lot of references go right over my head.

The cats never know. I think that's important.

What a great song.

I haven't read Faulkner either, and I too feel like I should correct that one day.

You want a yogurt drink, you guard your yogurt drink. It's the law of the jungle out there.

All I remember about that Faulkner book is that I disliked it a great deal when I had to read it in college (which surprised me, because I'd liked the other work of his I'd read up to that point).

What a great song.

I really think it remains my favorite of theirs. It's one of the songs that feels like there's so much more in it than the lyrics.

I haven't read Faulkner either, and I too feel like I should correct that one day.

I've read some of his short fiction, but I honestly think I have never read any of his novels. I know my brother did in school and so did most of my friends, but I read other things.

You want a yogurt drink, you guard your yogurt drink. It's the law of the jungle out there.

Milky in tooth and claw . . .

The cats never know. I think that's important.

I don't even know what a cat would look like who felt a sense of obligation. Maybe not a cat.

(Autolycus is on my desk once again, curved in a kind of relaxed black fur croissant. I love him very much.)

All I remember about that Faulkner book is that I disliked it a great deal when I had to read it in college (which surprised me, because I'd liked the other work of his I'd read up to that point).

Yikes. So maybe I shouldn't start with that one.

Do you remember if you disliked the language, or the story, or the whole shebang, or what?

I found the book overwritten and the language overly baroque (which I might have had more patience for if I hadn't been reading it for a class). I remember wanting to fling the paperback across the room.

...whereas I have read the Faulkner (my father sent it to me, when I was at boarding school and he was remarrying; it's complicated, but I got a lot of books), and don't know the music at all.

...whereas I have read the Faulkner (my father sent it to me, when I was at boarding school and he was remarrying; it's complicated, but I got a lot of books), and don't know the music at all.

What did you think of the novel? Rather obviously, I recommend the song!

I was ... a little bit consumed by Faulkner. I was a teenager, and willing to be led by the nose by my dad (because he'd left home, and what contact else did we have?), and I am not at all sure at this distance how reliable my judgement was; but Absalom, Absalom! and As I Lay Dying are engraved in my mind as criteria, I guess. This was how the thing was done, and the thing was worth doing, oh so much worth the doing.

Apartment hunting is the worst. I like to imagine that it's better in other places than in NYC, but no – it's terribleness is widespread, inescapable, everywhere to be feared. My sympathies.

Thank you for the song! I'd never heard it before and it's absolutely wonderful. I remember liking Faulkner well enough when I was assigned him in high school (or at least not hating him as much as some of the other assigned readings), but it's been so long that I don't remember any of the details. I thought Light in August was better than The Sound and the Fury, but I don't think I could tell you what either of them were even about.

My sympathies.

Thank you. It is indeed pretty soul-crushing in Boston.

Thank you for the song! I'd never heard it before and it's absolutely wonderful.

You're welcome! It remains my favorite song of theirs and I am restraining myself from being inspired to a mix of trickster songs as we speak.

I thought Light in August was better than The Sound and the Fury, but I don't think I could tell you what either of them were even about.

I'm feeling vaguely as though I should check one of his novels because it is evidently overdue, so I will take this data point under consideration.

I can scream like a cicada, gin the seed right out the boll

no subject

no subject

between us, we have a cicada theme going on

no subject

We do!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject