There are many of our universe's many awe-inspiring puzzles still left to crack: the existence of the elusive Higgs Boson; whether String Theory is an accurate proposition and defining precisely how many additonal dimensions it contains; the continued popularity of Alan Carr, etc. One puzzle, though, fills our lives, every hour of every day, and yet, despite its never-ending presence, still proves as slippery to pin down with a qualified definition: what is Rock n' Roll?
It doesn't take us rock n' roll explorers, or anyone with basic computer-operating skills and limited internet orientation savvy, long to throw in a quick wiki search and dig up explanations. Me being one of those sorts, here's what Mr. Web imparted: rock n' roll evolved "in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, with roots in mainly Blues, Country, R&B, Folk and Gospel music," it has its typical contents spelled out like a felon's belongings in an arrest report (2 x electric guitars [one lead, one rhythm], 1 x saxophone [optional], 1 x string bass or electric bass guitar, 1 x drum kit - backbeat accentuated by snare), and it is even heralded as being "one of the best selling music forms since the 1950s." However, these are mudane, definable facts. They don't elicit a similar heady rush or dynamic crackle of static as rock n'roll and they certainly don't explain why leather trouser-clad middle aged men regularly risk yeast infections in its name.
First and foremost rock n' roll is magic, and, unless you're Derren Brown, magic is very hard to explain. How do you detail the essence of that which burns the eternal teenage flame in all of us; that which soundtracks all the ups, downs, ins and outs of our lives; that which is just as happy to unravel, open and bear an artist's heart and soul, as it is to rip, kick and tear our own all apart? Wiki has exposed the facts, but I want more. I want to find what it means to those who do the supplying: the passion, the dynamic, the secret behind its enduring appeal and power. So, musical compadres, fetch your bullwhip and fedora, we're taking this to ground zero: the lyrics. After all if something so vital is worth shouting about, then I must understand exactly what is being shouted.
For this exercise I'm going to take five examples of rock n' roll lyrics with an attempt to pin this unbridled, wailing, mutha down. For my experiment I will be taking a carefully selected rock cross-section as the prompt for my analysis. And what analysis is that? Simply to live my life through them, as if rock n' roll were indeed the purest hedonistic religion and the lyrics its deeply-held life instructions. Only then, by putting rock n' roll into practice in accordance with its scriptures, can I find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or, more pointedly, half a pint of snakebite, a charcoal infested spoon and a crumpled spent johnny at the foot of my bed.The rules for the study were very simple: chose one default hard-assed purveyor of all things rock (and roll) as the datum, the source by which all the others must be judged, contrast this with an assortment of variants that are located intellectually north and south of that datum, and chuck in a placebo example to ensure there are no environmental quirks, spiked drinks or paternity cases threatening me, or what I'm about to find.
Join me in my next instalment to find out whether I get my rock n' roll back, or whether it remains a long and lonely time until I do.
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