Standing on a Corner.....

(Firstly, let me apologize for the lack of posts. I am intent on finishing the thread on information and we're still sifting through the wreckage of our computer (Hal) crash of a month ago. I'm hoping to post again this weekend.)

The Growlery has a very interesting post up called Riding the (Carrier)Wave. He also has a second post since many, like ourselves, apparently found his discussion worthy of comment.

While there are a number of issues discussed there, it is the use of "quotes" from popular songs that most intrigued me. I suddenly realized where I had seen this before. Of course, it is scattered throughout Renaissance literature from Erasmus to Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. The only difference is that the "quotes" here are from popular songs while there they are from classical tests, most often Horace, Cato, Cicero, etc. The author that quotes most deftly I find to be Montaigne. And, since he lets you into his personal life, it is pretty easy to see that his references are simply embedded in his life, just as popular songs are embedded in our lives, particularly from our youth. Or, as Montaigne himself says:

I quote others only in order the better to express myself.

The main difference is that when we write in blogs we can ever so easily crosslink.

So, "that will be the day" and "bye bye love." Or, my very favorite, since it evokes an entire era, "Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona,..." (Jackson Brown as covered by the Eagles.)