As Johnny Cash sang, Get Rhythm. I Got Rhythm, Fascinating Rhythm, Crazy Rhythm, Beat Me Daddy, 8 To The Bar, And The Beat Goes On..

Looking back over a lifetime of popular music, rhythm has been a major force in defining popular music. From the syncopation of ragtime and Cakewalks, to ragtime, boogie Woogie and Swing and then rock and roll, rhythm and blues, calypso, reggae, disco, rap and now hip hop, everyone's got rhythm.

Like most of us I suspect, I didn't grow up on traditional folk music. I grew up on the rhythms of popular music. And most popular music in this country was dance music, from boogie woogie and jump blues to Moonlight Cocktails and Cry Me A River.

And, what about folk music? I don't imagine many folks danced to The House Carpenter or Mattie Groves. Most folk music got da rhythm, but it don't got da beat. Folk music is more story-songs and ballads, where the words are more important than the rhythm. Of course, there are the work songs, whether they were for lining track or sea chanteys, where the rhythm made the work easier.

I'd just like to start an open-ended discussion about rhythm and how it affects your appreciation of music. I am basically a musical illiterate, so I can't verbalize rhythm by musical notation, but I know others can. Not that I would necessarily understand it, but I'd like to hear it, anyway.

I have a lot to add, myself, just of personal preferences. But, I'm outta here.

It's all yours...

Jerry