“Kibble is fodder. Meat is food!”
As music, I think it is the quintessential American song. It retells the story of American diligence and redemption every eight bars – that’s what makes the rest of it work so well. It’s written in I-V-IV, very gaelic, where almost all pop music is in I-IV-V. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, also written for the movie, is also in I-V-IV. Two incredibly simple, very American songs, both huge hits for multiple acts. The Nobel Prize was a sad joke, but the man is the best uniquely-American composer since Gershwin.
At the risk of being boring, this is why Wagon Wheel works as a truly American song: This is the song for guitar, with the capo on 2:
G D Em C
G D C CThat’s it, eight bars repeated throughout. But it’s a tight little three-act benedy in music: That E-minor is the second-act crisis, and the last two bars are the resolution and redemption – hard work paying off. That’s a lovely story, one we never tire of hearing.
I could say more, and Wagon Wheel makes up around 20% of my own guitar time: It’s a song I like to whistle with my fingers, this because it is a work song, a traveling song, a song for getting things done.
We are moved by small things we take no account of. The image of a wagon wheel – rolling ever westward, taking every shock from the cracked and corrugated deserts – that’s America. The metaphor sells it, the music sells it, but it is that American idea – hard work pays off – that sells it so well that you share the good news by singing or playing it while you work.
In other news:
The Seattle Times: Downtown Seattle’s troubles go beyond the pandemic.
City Journal: Squalor By the Seaside: Homelessness and RV fires have overrun Venice Beach, California.
Monica Showalter: Pete Buttigieg finally comes out of the woodwork on supply chain mess — to complain about Tucker Carlson.
American Thinker: The Unvaccinated Are Looking Smarter Every Week.
City Journal: The Very Intersectional Caterpillar: Lefty children’s literature is coming to a library near you.
