Tuesday 6 May 2008

Genius: there's no other word for it - Part IX

There was a whole bunch of songs that I considered posting as a little homage to my heroes. "Bankrobber," "The Right Profile," "London Calling," "Spanish Bombs" - God the list is practically endless. This was a good song to start with, but as with the Strangler's cover of Dionne Warwick's "Walk on by," it became a great song. God bless you, Joe.



Addendum:
Oh, "Police and Thieves" was another one that nearly made it, too.

5 comments:

soulful sepulcher said...

what is the true meaning of law and genius and how are the 2 related? and how does it apply to this song ? LOL

Radagast said...

LOL. Do you want the library-approved exam answer?

Law is a system of rules, designed to set down a standard of conduct for society to follow, more or less. Law does not equal justice, because so much depends upon the quality of the rhetoricians presenting the case. Genius, I think, is a matter of taking what one knows, and applying it to novel situations, in order to create something new. It also accommodates the notion of applying what one knows of analogous scenarios to a given situation, in order to fill the gaps in one's knowledge, make sense of the whole, and develop a solution.

I'm not sure how they apply to this song, unless one says that Strummer and Co., fulfil the above rough and ready criteria for genius, and sang about the Law! The Clash wrote quite a few songs about villains, and villainy, of course. "Bankrobber" I mentioned. "The Guns of Brixton," and "Jimmy Jazz" would be other examples. I dunno, The Clash, like other great artists, sang about what they saw around them, and did it in a way that was both original and yet sufficiently familiar for it to strike a chord with anybody who was prepared to listen to that style of music.

He was a keen environmentalist by the way, Joe Strummer. He's got at least one wood named after him, in England!

Matt

Radagast said...

Erratum:
Oops! The Joe Strummer Memorial Forest is on the Isle of Skye, which is most definitely off Scotland's west coast!

soulful sepulcher said...

How cool is that? to have a forest named after you? I think that law is not about justice it is about how people are able to manipulate a law system to advantage or disadvantage.

Radagast said...

Yes, somehow it seems like a fitting tribute to the man. I've got a tree "planted in my name" on Holy Island (also off the Scottish coast), and I'm guessing that Forests for the Future worked on a similar basis (ie, one pays over ten quid, which pays for the sapling and the manpower to plant it, and presumably helps recoup the cost of the land, too). I don't know about Joe Strummer's forest, buy Holy Island was planted using indigenous trees.

Anyway, the Law is the Law, which is to say that the Law has no say in how it is used. If a person has an objective in mind, then there is probably a legal rule(s) that may be implemented to achieve that end. It is then a matter of whether anybody who is disadvantaged by that to find a countermanding legal rule that says that the objective may not be achieved. That is a matter of having the requisite knowledge of the Law (rules), and the minutiae of how those rules have been applied in the past (ie, knowledge of case law). A party with the time and money to throw at it is obviously at a significant advantage, because it will have prior knowledge of how the system works, and it will be able to research caselaw that supports its argument. Ultimately, though, none of this will win against a superior orator, at least not when a jury trial is involved, but then a wealthy party will also be able to afford the best legal advocates, too.

Matt