GUEST POST – Too Much of Nothing
Working under the name Cody and the Machine Elves he recorded several psychedelically tinged cassettes and CDs between 1991-2002 including the classic track Mantra, and is also a historian of the positive music that has changed the world since 1950.
He is one of the co-ordinators of the monthly meditation network – The Network of Light.
“When there’s too much of nothing
Nobody should look.”
December 2009: Rage Against The Machine organise the music buying public into purchasing more copies of their track Killing in the Name than the X-Factor winner Joe McElderry – Simon Cowell’s choice for the Christmas number one.
Cowell, obviously severely miffed, goes on television news and talks of launching a new ‘democratic’ X-Factor type show where the viewing public vote on ‘important’ issues: Bring back hanging? Eat more burgers? Freedom to be obese? That kind of thing?? A media circus ensues.
On such occasions we can often turn to Bob Dylan for a commentary – he’s usually been there, mapped out the territory and sung wisdom from his soul. In this case it was one of those misrepresented (by his record company) Basement Tapes recorded at Big Pink with The Band in 1967 after he withdrew from the mercurial maelstrom of 1966. The first verse of one of these songs Too Much of Nothing explains our predicament:
“Now, too much of nothing
Can make a man feel ill at ease
One man’s temper might rise
While another man’s temper might freeze
In the day of confession
We cannot mock a soul
Oh, when there’s too much of nothing
No one has control”
Doesn’t that just say it all?
Over the Christmas holiday 2009 there was far too much of nothing on our freeview/Sky/freesat televisions and on the churning airwaves of our digital multi-choice radios. The cultural fragmentation stimulated and aided by the Internet, I phones, Wii, Twitter and all the rest, means the centre not only could not hold but had melted and flown before our eyes. About 10 million people did watch David Tennant’s Doctor Who on Christmas day but that was about it (and that apparently featured another ‘end times’ scenario for good old planet earth).
It is no surprise that Dylan chose to follow the first verse of his Basement Tape song with a chorus that featured T.S. Eliot’s wives Valerie and Vivienne –
“Say hello to Valerie
Say hello to Vivienne”
Vivienne Haigh-Wood married Eliot in 1915; Valerie Fletcher became his second wife in 1947. This was undoubtedly a nod to The Wasteland, Eliot’s epic poem of emptiness. Of course Dylan had already featured Eliot fighting with Ezra Pound two –years earlier in his own epic Desolation Row. Some critics have written off Too Much of Nothing as a lightweight mundane little song, Paul Williams even positing that the musicians sound bored with the whole thing. However, according to Michael Grey’s research Dylan is drawing from Ecclesiastes when he sings
“Now, its all been done before,
It’s all been written in the book”
which could be taken as a tired philosophy on the pointlessness of it all or as Dylan’s commentary on the treadmill he had found himself on during his break-neck touring and three albums in eighteen months period, for after he’s name checked Eliot’s wives he sings:
“Send them all my salary
On the waters of oblivion”
In Dylan’s case the Basement Tapes represent his quest to escape from the void of nothingness:
“Lost time is not found again”
Odds and Ends
“We’re so alone
And life is brief”Tears of Rage
“Pick up your money
And pack up your tent
You ain’t goin’ nowhere”You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
“Nothing is better, nothing is best
Take heed of this and get plenty of rest”Nothing Was Delivered
“And after every plan had failed
“And there was nothing more to tell”This Wheel’s on Fire
These songs lead us on to the redemptive journey through John Wesley Harding to Slow Train Coming and Oh Mercy.
What Dylan is showing us here is that this emptiness, the lack of true culture, the underpinning of a real spirituality leaves society open to all kind of ills. ‘Can make a man feel ill at ease’ – all around we see the fear and anxiety present in the world, which in the third verse of Too Much of Nothing can turn the individual into a liar or make him mean.
Strangely many critics choose not to comment on this song, for example Christopher Ricks and Greil Marcus. Yet it was the first of the Basement Tape songs to be covered by Peter, Paul and Mary charting in November 1967. We could wish for a good strong beefed-up cover version of this song during 2010. It would not chart or sell millions but it would re-contextualise and throw light on the cultural collapse we are currently experiencing. Oh for such intelligence to be given a mainstream voice at this point.
There have been 21 comments.:
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March 25th, 2010 at 9:27 am
”A man would simply have to be as mad as a hatter,to try and change the world with a plastic platter*”-Todd Rundgren 1973 (*or cd,download etc!)
Yes Paul,I agree with you in spirit that we are living in a morally and spiritually bankrupt age,and I despise the agents of control as much as anyone,but how in effect can you change the way people think and feel when those very same do not acknowledge the need for a change in feeling.
I grew up as a teenager in the early seventies,and my consciousness was completely changed by the emerging remnants from the tail end of the 60s,alongside the massive shifts in context and personal identity expressed by the glam era artists like Bowie ,Roxy,leading on to the vast shift in feeling engendered by the punk thing.I cant ever say I was a massive Dylan person,but liked his play with the media and his surreal wordplay.My first exposure would probably have been Ferrys cover of Hard Rain,which certainly recontextualised a few of the messages there.
Having seen how in certain periods that say Hendrix could cover Watchtower and get it into the charts,and also how very what I percieved to be cutting edge statements could reach the mainstream was wonderful to behold,but I think it can only ever reflect the way you feel.Like you say,maybe a ”Beefed up cover”would not chart or sell millions”,but what would your opinion be if Joe McElderry was to cover say,”Gates of Eden”’(ouch!)?.
I think the vast machinery around music which is business and accompanying ideology enclosed prevents those shatterings of contexts which used to occur in popular music-A case of Rage WITH the machine ,not against it.Also the idea of cultural ”intelligence” of Dylan, I would question if this would resonate with a wider younger audience who probably have there own heroes-I think the problem is a very complex one,and I know I feel very wary of any political party,and whether I may even actually vote-which would probably have annoyed the hell out of Frank Zappa!!
The idea of a ,’true culture’ is maybe an impossiblity bacause of the fragmentation which has enveloped society-,I have always dreamed of having connection with a loose shifting conglomeration of like minded souls,which is probably why I was drawn to music in the first place,as I felt like an outsider when I was younger(and probably still feel to some extent),but I really dont these days feel that huge swathes of the populace feel the same way.Maybe it is down to a false conciousness engendered by the barrage of reality tv,but I think ,hopefully new contexts will present themselves.I very much hope so.
March 29th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Nice post. As far as I am concerned, Dylan’s brief snippets of mostly gibberish turned out to be among his best writing.
Too much of nothing in particular. One must listen to all the versions, you will see there is in fact a “better and best” and one day hopefully a big box set will reveal them all. Two much of nothing, but a few takes of each!
Dull Tool Dim Bulb
March 30th, 2010 at 12:55 am
The argument is a good one. Although personally, I can’t help but feel rather embarrassed when I listen to people of – ahem – a certain age arguing that Dylan is some sort of philosophical giant.
I could do the same for, say, Pete Shelley. Except that I’m too aware that this says more about my own formative years than it does about my favourite pop star’s intellectual reach.
‘oh for such intelligence to be given a mainstream voice at this point’.
Um – you just need to listen to more contemporary pop, grandad. The trouble is not that there aren’t equally ‘intelligent’ voices out there. It’s that the form, and the dominant modes of its consumption, have been comprehensively swallowed up by individualistic, consumerist culture. Words, in pop songs, on their own, aren’t enough to change anything very much.
Still a good article, mind. Did I say that already?
April 1st, 2010 at 8:15 am
I agree Mikey;I was listening to Rock n roll with the Modern Lovers the other day,and it sounded so full of wisdom,I nearly put forward a treatise on ‘The Godlike Wisdom of Jonathan Richman!Having said that,I still love one Dylan song in particular-”Desolation Row” which seems to be a florid list initially of poets and other cultural and mythical figures,but has that heartbreaking realistic denoument at the end of recieving the letter and the doorknob breaking-now that is one heavy SONG!!
If it wasnt for my English teacher at school i would probably never have bothered with Dylan,he borrowed a healthy dose of Roxy’s FYP,and I ended up giving a lecture to class on the ”significance” of Strictly Confidential.
April 2nd, 2010 at 6:17 am
I do some lyric writing, and so I spend time deconstructing writer such as Dylan, and his contemporaries. These songwriters give us a narrative. I most admire Jackson Browne. Brilliantly crafted.
Lovely book you’ve got. And Glastonbury…my!
April 8th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Just heard that MM has died of cancer earlier today-how sad,and what a great loss to culture-didnt always agree with him but my god did he galvanise a whole cultural explosion of ideas and ideologies.I was always on the side of the Lydon camp until the departure of Keith Levene from PIL,subsequently I have grown to side with Steve Jones (He said such lovely things about Roxy in that bbc4 doc) and McLaren.He was so funny in that ITV prog recently about electing someone to run a community.Two sides to every story indeed.
April 9th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
My brain does not speak – ugh- but here are a few words on comments made about Fletcher’s piece. I like the, I assume, unintentional irony of Dylan and Shelley -Pete not Percy – rather than the usual Dylan and Keats but surely your missing the point why Dylan is chosen to illustrate the argument of cultural collapse,and the value of words in pop. Mclaren and Pete McNeish are part of that mob that ate itself and left nothing! This is where we must be more than revisionists in the ‘schoolboys’ history of 50 years of pop! For example- without John Cale VU and Lou Reed were just bad Blonde on Blonde. Sure Sister Ray moved matters on but didn’t last beyond Cale and Reed having a row. However back to Pete – There is no love in this world anymore – Shelley. His ironic belief left hopelessness and this is not what is to adduced from Too much of Nothing, whilst Dylan points to the disease, Shelley moans the symptoms.
April 10th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I actually feel proud to be associated with alternative histories of schoolboy revisionism,all the most visceral experiences I had in pop started back then,so obviously my memories are indelibly integrated with the Saints Marks Place scrap initiated by Sister Ray-I know Dylan was an influence on the early Velvs,but they soon transcended those folky roots to evolve their landmark sound,which has had a maximal impact on the sound of too numerous bands to mention since.I actually quite like some of Dylan’s toons,but find his cultural messiah status laughable-why should we put these constant oppositions between artists in the way of liking music,which is essentially all we are left with.
I think McLaren is a different cultural figure than Dylan,and has had far more influence on the youngsters of the parish than Bob Dylan ever has,and its not stictly through music(the all important ATTITUDE)-and no,I didnt approve of some of his statements,but you got to admit he altered the consciousness of people,not necessarily by intent.
How can you say Dylans music,and I mean the SOUND here has influenced anyone?Minimal at most,apart from a few soundalike popsters who mimicked his George Formby down a mineshaft scrapings(!)
As for Pete,well,hes all for revolution in inter personal relationships,and how you can say thats not as relevant as Dylan,I dont understand.Dylan isnt so culturally pure either,having starred in (I think) a perfume advert not long ago(or was it panties or bras,or something like that)Still doesnt stop me loving some tracks though.Too Much of Nothing indeed!Monday Nothing,Tuesday nothing,Wednesday Nothing….hell,whats wrong with NOTHING!
April 15th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
@m.mitchell- There is nothing wrong with nothing as Oscar Wilde said it is the only thing he knows everything about. You seem ignorant about Dylan! I will leave the problem of voice, a usual carp from the early 60′s His wild mercury sound on LARS, Tom Wilson, and BOB (Blonde on Blonde) was New York-Nashville (folk rock?, wasn’t that 1964?) Listen to Lou Reed’s guitar playing and sound on VU first album straight off BOB. The 1966 tour with the Band started the ‘Rock’show as confrontation in Free Trade Hall, not the lesser one 10 years later. Get with the real history and not with 1976 as 1789 and year zero! (Paul Fletcher will have to publish his book!) Landmark sound? Tom Wilson who produced Like a Rolling Stone did the first VU album. The VU 3rd album is folk-rock! And Loaded is s**t. VU was Cale’s viola, legacy from his Cardew/La Young days, and Andy Warhol’s catholic warnings on sin and decadence. Look at Nico, she should have kept it with Bob’s rather than get lost in Manx a sad refugee from European memory. Lou Reed is just a bad journalist, feeding off scraps of glamour, a surbuban voyeur covering lies and hate with masks of comment. I quite like a few songs of his but you aint got an alternative history you have the received revisionism from the bog of 1976, but that is another story completely. Unlike JS, I don’t think rock and roll without MMclaren we would have had a sharper pub rock. Punk was going to happen, McLaren’s london version was germinated in Manx and there is a different tale to tell. I think he betrayed it as Lydon did, ever had the feeling you;ve been had! MM altered the consciousness of people? So did Hitler! So that is a red herring. McLaren sucked deep off the branch of exploitation, into the drugs, sex, and decadence that destroyed both hippies and punks! I was a punk before Mclaren, it wasn’t the clothes, yeh it was an d is the attitude. No false heroes! MM had no roots he wasn’t even a branch or a leaf on the tree of rock n roll he was a parasite. SHow me someone who is not a parasite and I will go out and say a prayer for him (Bob on BOB). Dury said, I suppose only a sharp pub rocker, you need Rock and Roll as well and Sex and Drugs. Just Sex and Drugs kills rock and roll. You need to discern through the charisms of see the legacy. MM got rid of Matlock from the Pistols, who wrote the music for the best singles! And look at MM’s guardianship of Sid Vicious! Ronnie Biggs? MM split Adam and the ANts with bow wow wow. And all those songs that were plaigarised. Gee gimme a break with the hagiography. Some things are worse than nothing. And on Pete Shelley – Revolution of inter-personal relationships? What does that mean? What more so than Dylan? How do you evaluate that? Is it if you are a misogynist or Gay, or like odd sex? Gee I thought it was if you treated people kindly? Hmm ask him about kicking out Garth, his best school mate from the b’cocks. Revolution indeed!
April 29th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
BTW I do like Pete Shelley and his songs. Fiction Romance is the tops! He was the first guy I ever saw play an Electric Guitar live. It was at our school, he was a year or so above, and he was on the stage where the headmaster lorded and berated us and did the assembly. The thrill and power of yes we had the stage! That was punk and Pete always was and is of that spirit! How we argue over legacy aint personal, and at the time I did share the belief there is no love in this world anymore but that died with Curtis and I returned to …we sit here stranded though we all do our best to deny it….as a more mature way to face nothing.
May 3rd, 2010 at 9:40 am
As far as I am concerned ,rock,punk,whatever started with the Who’s My Generation lp,which had drones on it before anyone was out of nappies,and this ridiculous myth that Dylan in 66 with his wild titatanium dross created rock as we know it has been perpetrated by biographers with vested interests in following leaders and not using their ears.Tom Wilson only produced Sunday Morning which is a lovely song,the Kill Yr Idols quality of the rest is down to Dolph and Licata.There is no real history anymore,only myths of omnipotent Dylanologists-I was a punk before you,so there,and I dont care!
May 3rd, 2010 at 9:50 am
Oh,and if you think McLaren is all nothing -listen to the marvellous Paris album,which has melodies and beauty in equal measure,and is probably his greatest work-I’d put it up there with Bringing it all Back Home as a classic of its kind-you just gotta have ears to listen.
May 6th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Actually Syd Barrett knocks the socks off Dylan for me(I know,I know….Bob Dylan Blues….snore..zzz….)
May 25th, 2010 at 6:04 am
@m.mitchell” And yet, Cale later recalled that it was Tom Wilson who actually produced nearly all the tracks on The Velvet Underground & Nico.”The band never again had as good a producer as Tom Wilson,” -Victor Bockris & Gerard Malanga; Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga (1996) [1983]. Up-tight: The Velvet Underground Story. Omnibus Press. The Who were Mods. Mods had fights with Rockers, look it up on wikipedia. BTW Verdi was the first punk, Va Pensiero! Rock lives in the event, see Alain Badiou, not the lp/album. But then maybe you don’t get out much anymore given your need for some zzz’s. A bit like Syd before he pegged it! On yer bike (Norman Tebbit).
May 25th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Got,got,not got,dont care!If I need to sleep I just put on the most overrated rock lp of all time,Exile on Snooze St-always thought going out was a pretty nebulous concept anyway(Julie Burchill).Liar,you lie lie lie lie lie lie(Nick Clegg) Ciao
May 25th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Looking forward to the mod bash on Bank Holiday Monday down Brighters ;I will be sporting a Brand Neu! t shirt.hope I dont get my vespa stolen as I spent all the money I was saving for Dylan lps on that.Most of the mods I met recently are heavily into Metal Machine Music,you know,the remix by Donnie Elbert(little Piece of Chromium meggamix).
May 25th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
keep taking the tablets mitch
May 25th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Talk about the pot calling the kettle!Would those tablets perchance be those handed down on high from the DylanGod himself?
May 26th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Actually I think the Dylan connection is sprouting wings at the moment-have you heard the new Roky Erickson lp w/Okkervil River which is like a sublime cross between Skip Spence’s Oar and better bits of Bobby D or Z.Honestly,its the best record I’ve heard since the Neu vinyl box set or the Metal machine remaster.MMMnn-Dylan influence on Roky-thats one to write a thousand theses on!
May 26th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Now, too much of nothing
Can make a man feel ill at ease
One man’s temper might rise
While another man’s temper might freeze
In the day of confession
We cannot mock a soul
Oh, when there’s too much of nothing
No one has control
May 27th, 2010 at 8:49 am
” Dont it make ya wanna,OPEN UP AND BLEED”