Posted 5:32 PM by Gene

We should have mentioned Mary Travers the other day but then Tom Lehrer said pretty much all one can say about folk music. Regardless, folk, however conscientious and occasionally maudlin, was optimistic. The singers had a fun time protesting, and their fun rubbed off on their audiences. Today's folk music is [C]RAP. The folk movement left behind indelible personalities and tunes. But [C]RAP...pardon my Portuguese but unless your last name is MURDOCH or IMMELT who wants to hear people bitch all the time?

We should be sad that a Mary Travers is gone because it reminds us how many of our cultural forms died before her. Folk basically expired about the same time as jazz and the musical, but where the latter's wounds were partly self-inflicted -- what was that pimp-'n'-pusher noodle peddler Miles but a trend follower? -- folk was bludgeoned to death by the rock musicians who took its gift outright, curdled it with their nonsense lyrics and their pretensions, amplified it beyond reason, and beat a whole three generations senseless besides.