tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post9019894269175964365..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: Should Cultural Appropriation By Elvis Be Condemned?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-36070501694896288972017-06-27T16:19:52.738-04:002017-06-27T16:19:52.738-04:00Let me second the idea that Elvis did not appropri...Let me second the idea that Elvis did not appropriate anyone's culture. He may have been a significant figure in early Rock and Roll, but he did not, despite the legend, appropriate Black music to do so. That may fit the reality of the urban North, but not small town Tupelo. I grew up there, but after Elvis. Still, many of my school teachers had their Elvis stories. <br /><br />When I returned from living in Japan, nearly all of my White college friends liked Soul Music, but, given the politically correct attitudes of the day, could not tell me what it was. But one day, listening to James Brown, one of them said that he really loved soul music. Then I understood. When I was growing up in Tupelo, we just called that music. Despite segregation, it was all around. Just turn on the radio. Yes, there were certain identified popular musical genres: gospel, country-western, jazz, boogie-woogie, and rock'n'roll, but there was a lot of just music. Gospel and jazz already had no racial connotation, despite their origins. Country-western was White. I suppose that boogie-woogie was Black, but nobody ever told me that. I identified it with some mean piano playing. Jerry Lee Lewis played boogie-woogie, as far as I was concerned. Elvis grew up in a sea of musical fusion, which was part of his, and everybody else's culture. He was an original. To become the King of Rock'n'Roll he did not have to appropriate anything.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-30162799117793416532017-06-21T20:24:01.100-04:002017-06-21T20:24:01.100-04:00When Vernon went to jail Elvis lived in a low inco...When Vernon went to jail Elvis lived in a low income area in the midst of black people. He came by black music that way.<br />BTW, I give all gentiles permission to perform the music of the Gershwins, Mahler, and Robert Zimmerman.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01843290249295183564noreply@blogger.com