Careful, sweetheart! The etymology of that idiom has much to do with sheep being “dipped” in nasty concoctions to rid them of unwanted critters, which could ruin the fleece.

And as Shakespeare hath proclaimed (at least, I hope it was Shakespeare), “If music be the food of love, play on…”

It is one of many songs that I didn’t like so much at the time (I was more jazz and R&B leaning, and this faze of the Doobies, pre Michael MacDonald, seemed a bit white bread) and love now. Sometimes I think that, as I was an instrumentalist, I was always a little suspicious of music that was primarily vocal in its arrangement.

One of my favorite songs to hear live (where, just a couple of bars into the song) the beat feels like it’s come from the inside out rather than the outside in) is “Black Water,” in which I’ll be dipped if I can hear a grandiose message being communicated. However, let me tell you…hearing this song live is a treat for the soul.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KqZ95a249p0

And as much as I found the Greatful Dead’s instrumental music enchanting, when they broke into vocals, I broke into sweat. Monitoring systems of the seventies were just pale compared to now, the problems of group singing in giant stadiums with primitive PA systems can not be ignored.

I was once on the same bill as Steven Stills, and just before the show I was VERY drunk. I had noticed Stills name on the “dressing room” (university classroom) next to mine and had been waiting for him to show up so that I could profess my undying admiration. As the lights were on and the door was ajar, I stumbled in where I found the man alone, wearing guitar and getting ready for his bit. I started gushing something and he cut me right off with very explicit directions on where I should go.

Brad, you have made me ponder about times in past history when a particular set, and/or movement, of artists cast deep shadows over what came after. But if music is, indeed, a means of communication (to what purpose still being discussed), our subjective judgments as to what is “good” may be so much hooey. Perhaps, musicologically, we should simply be interested in finding what the message is and how it is being communicated.

When I saw them in concert, however, they were positively hideous–out of tune, out of balance, and out of their minds (possibly). I was so disappointed! It’s good to hear them live (I’m assuming) and sounding like they should have…..

One heartening thing: I have friends in their teens and early-mid twenties who openly appreciate this stuff. Gen X had to spurn their parents’ music, in the nearly-compulsory rituals of adolescence, but the latest folk when exposed to it are able to embrace it, given the sufficient separation.