Auction ... A dangerous book!

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: paddymac
Date: 15 May 04 - 05:48 PM

Your point is well made SRS. An amazing bit of work. The price paid by the poet is, I think, a poetic example of how utterly blind to beauty and unchristian some christians can be. (Not to imply, of course, that christians have a lock on unchrisitan (or any other kind of ungodly) behavior.)

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Deckman
Date: 15 May 04 - 02:57 PM

I've screwed up on the bid board. I intended ONLY to make a couple fo comments, but each time I did so, I RAISED the bid. Stupid me. I've called for help to set the bid back to $14.50. I didn't want anyone to think that I was bidding for my own book. I mean, that would be kinda like chasing a women when I'm already married ... right! Who needs two books ... or wimmen!!! CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Deckman
Date: 14 May 04 - 10:08 PM

Thank you. Bob

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 May 04 - 09:56 PM

Ed Cray is still very much alive.

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 May 04 - 06:43 PM

Forgot the more recent "Life and Times of Woody Guthrie," mentioned above by Joe.

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Deckman
Date: 14 May 04 - 06:21 PM

PLease excuse my ignorance, but, is this the same person that recently committed suicide? Bob

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 May 04 - 05:53 PM

Ed Cray Bibliography:

The Erotic Muse: 1968 1st Oak ed.; Pyramid Ed. 1969, 1972; 2nd edition revised and enlarged, 40 more songs, more melodies, 1992, Univ. Illinois; paperback ed Univ. Illinois, 1999;

Ed Cray, coll., "Songs From the Ash Grove, an outstanding collection of songs, ditties, hymns, rhymes, spirituals, ballads and sundry pieces as sung at that emporium of cultured entertainment, the Ash Grove, together with informative notes on the history and background of all songs with the music to which has been added a variety of guitar chords and a selected discography," 1959, paperback, 47 pp.

English edition, The Erotic Muse:
Anthony Blond, London, 1970, 1st ed. "Words and music from well over 100 songs from the English and American classical repertoire from Bang Away Lulu to Charlotte the Harlot.

Other titles by Ed Cray:
Chrome Colossus: General Motors and its Times.
Burden of Proof - The Case of Juan Corona.
The Failing Health: The Medical Crisis and the AMA.
Levis: The Shrink-to-Fit Business that stretched to cover the world.
The Enemy in the Streets: Police Malpractice in America.
Chief Justice- A Biography of Earl Warren.
The Big Blue Line: Police Power vs. Human Rights.
(with others) American Datelines: Major News Stories from Colonial Times to the Present.
General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman.
Any more?

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Bill D
Date: 14 May 04 - 12:00 PM

SRS...indeed, as with many words, 'erotic' has been watered down and used carelessly to mean anything to do with sex. The English language, after many centuries, is rich and expressive---but the trend is to find a convenient word and lump lots of vaguely related concepts under it, and perhaps convey meaning with tone of voice and expression when talking. ('gross' comes to mind)

erotic, naughty, dirty, smarmy, sexy, 'adult', lascivious, lustful etc., all should convey different ideas, but who bothers?...(besides you & me, that is..*grin*)

very few of the songs in "The Erotic Muse" shold be considered erotic...some are shocking, some are clever & cute and/or naughty....but I guess he had to call it something other than "Dirty Songs You Wouldn't Dare Let Your Mother Hear" in order to get it published!

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Deckman
Date: 14 May 04 - 09:07 AM

My copy says it is a "A Pyramid Special", published by special arrangement with Oak Publications 1969, Pyramid Published in 1972. Bob

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: MAG
Date: 14 May 04 - 01:06 AM

er, what book was THAT from ...

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 04 - 12:16 AM

Er--the point of that last post was that the subtitle of this book, called The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs should be considered by it's subtitle. The last poem I listed above was simply an example I consider more erotic than bawdy, but it isn't in the book.

Sorry for any confusion! (I do like any excuse I can find to post good poetry!)

SRS

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 04 - 12:11 AM

I thought I'd test the bawdy/erotic threshold in this text. In the past I've looked at this book as more along the lines of "bawdy." Just now I randomly opened the book and am looking at page 57. The chorus to the song that is showed as version B of "My Husband's a Mason" goes:

Chorus:
Dance a little bit, fuck a little bit.
Follow the band, follow the band
With your balls in your hand, singing,
Dance a little bit, fuck a little bit.
Follow the band. Follow them all the way home.

My father's a postman,
A postman, a postman,
A mighty fine postman is he!
All day he licks stamps,
He licks stamps, he licks stamps,
And when he comes home, he licks me.

My father's a baker,
A baker, a baker,
A mighty fine baker is he!
All day he creams puffs,
He creams puffs, he creams puffs,
And when he comes home, he creams me.

If I look back to page 55 where the series starts, I see the typical song with bad puns:

"My husband's a mason, a mason, a mason,
A very fine mason is he.
All day he lays bricks, lays bricks, lays bricks.
At night he comes home and lays me.
---Tra la la,
---At night he comes home and lays me."

Okay, that's fine. The "my father" substituted for "my husband" or "lover" or whatever else might be used makes it a bit distasteful, but I get the puns. The song is more (pardon the pun) straightforward in the earliest version (bricklayer/husband).

Bob, there is a difference between what MEN think is erotic and what WOMEN think is erotic. It has been my experience that men like the graphic give-it-a-name-and-visualize-it kind of poem.

This poem appeared in the Paris Review in 1996 and got poet Scott Cairns "unhired" from Seattle Pacific University. Line scan might be off--I have a print copy in a file somewhere, but I found this online. You won't be surprised when I note that my Dad first called my attention to this poem!

Interval with Erato

   That's what I like best about you, Erato sighed in bed, that's why
   you've become one of my favorites and why you will always be so.
   I grazed her ear with my tongue, held the salty lobe between my lips.

   I feel like singing when you do that, she said with more than a hint
   of music already in her voice. So sing, I said, and moved down
   to the tenderness at the edge of her jaw. Hmmm, she said, that's nice.

   Is there anything you don't like? I asked, genuinely meaning
   to please. I don't like poets in a hurry, she said, shifting
   so my lips might achieve the more dangerous divot of her throat.

   Ohhhh, she said, as I pressed a little harder there. She held my face
   in both hands. And I hate when they get careless, especially
   when employing second-person address. She sat up, and my mouth

   fell to the tip of one breast. Yes, she said, you know how it can be--
   they're writing "you did this" and "you did that" and I always assume,
   at first, that they mean me! She slid one finger into my mouth to tease

   the nipple there. I mean it's disappointing enough to observe
   the lyric is addressed to someone else, and then, the poet spends
   half the poem spouting information that the you--if she or he

   were listening--would have known already, ostensibly as well as,
   or better than, the speaker. I stopped to meet her eyes. I know just
   what you mean, I said. She leaned down to take a turn, working my chest

   with her mouth and hands, then sat back in open invitation.
   Darling, she said as I returned to the underside of her breast,
   have you noticed how many poets talk to themselves, about themselves?

   I drew one finger down the middle of her back. Maybe they fear
   no one else will hear or care. I sucked her belly, cupped her sopping
   vulva with my hand. My that's delicious, she said, lifting into me.

   Are all poets these days so lonely? She wove her fingers with mine
   so we could caress her there together. Not me, I said, and ran
   my slick hands back up to her breasts. I tongued her thighs. I said, I'm not

   lonely now. She rubbed my neck, No, dear, and you shouldn't be. She clenched, Oh!
   a little early bonus, she said; I like surprises. Then, So
   few poets appreciate surprises, so many prefer to speak

   only what they, clearly, already know, or think they know. If I
   were a poet ... well, I wouldn't be one at all if I hadn't
   found a way to get a little something for myself--something new

   from every outing, no? Me neither, I said, if somewhat indistinctly.
   Oh! she said. Yes! she said, and tightened so I felt her pulse against
   my lips. She lay quietly for a moment, obviously thinking.

   Sweetie, she said, that's what I like best about you--you pay attention,
   and you know how to listen when a girl feels like a little song.
   Let's see if we can't find a little something now, especially for you.

Of course, you realise that this really doesn't have to do with sex at all. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 May 04 - 11:24 PM

You've got a reprint of the first edition, then. The second (1999, I think) is revised, and contains more material.

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Bill D
Date: 13 May 04 - 11:09 PM

My copy doesn't say anything about 2nd edition...it says "copyright 1968".."special Pyramid edition 1972"...I have had it since about 1980

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Gypsy
Date: 13 May 04 - 10:51 PM

Bawdy is good.....i'm in on this one!

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 May 04 - 10:27 PM

First or second edition? (They are different).

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Deckman
Date: 13 May 04 - 09:51 PM

Bawdy ... Schmaddy! It's all erotic. (the twisted deckman)

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 May 04 - 09:39 PM

Oh, well, I guess you're right - it's more bawdy than erotic. I think you'd have to be a little twisted to find it erotic.
But it's a lot of fun.
Author Ed Cray just came out with a biography of Woody Guthrie. I've browsed through it, and it looks even better than the Joe Klein Woody biography I just finished reading.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: MAG
Date: 13 May 04 - 07:21 PM

So, are these songs truly erotic, or merely bawdy??

Enquiring minds want to know ...

Subject: RE: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Hollowfox
Date: 13 May 04 - 07:13 PM

Yup, it's a good 'un.

Subject: Auction ... A dangerous book!
From: Deckman
Date: 13 May 04 - 12:45 PM

I just placed a dangerous book in the auction. Read it at your own peril! CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson