{"id":18557,"date":"2021-10-16T07:39:57","date_gmt":"2021-10-16T14:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=18557"},"modified":"2021-10-16T07:39:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-16T14:39:57","slug":"overnight-news-why-wagon-wheel-works-enshrining-the-apotheosis-of-american-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18557\/overnight-news-why-wagon-wheel-works-enshrining-the-apotheosis-of-american-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Overnight News: Why Wagon Wheel<\/em> works: Enshrining the apotheosis of American\u00a0songs."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ya

\u201cKibble is fodder. Meat is\u00a0food!\u201d<\/p><\/div>I was talking with Brain Brady on Facebook about why Wagon Wheel<\/em> is the perfect American song.<\/a> I ended up here:<\/p>\n

As music, I think it is the quintessential American song. It retells the story of American diligence and redemption every eight bars \u2013 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,<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

At the risk of being boring, this is why Wagon Wheel<\/em> works as a truly American song: This is the song for guitar, with the capo on 2:<\/p>\n

G D Em C
\nG D C C<\/p>\n

That’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 \u2013 hard work paying off. That’s a lovely story, one we never tire of hearing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I could say more, and Wagon Wheel<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

We are moved by small things we take no account of. The image of a wagon wheel \u2013 rolling ever westward, taking every shock from the cracked and corrugated deserts \u2013 that’s America. The metaphor sells it, the music sells it, but it is that American idea \u2013 hard work pays off \u2013 that sells it so well that you share the good news by singing or playing it while you work.<\/p>\n

In other news:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Seattle Times:<\/strong> Downtown Seattle\u2019s troubles go beyond the pandemic.<\/a><\/p>\n

City Journal:<\/strong> Squalor By the Seaside: Homelessness and RV fires have overrun Venice Beach, California.<\/a><\/p>\n

Monica Showalter:<\/strong> Pete Buttigieg finally comes out of the woodwork on supply chain mess — to complain about Tucker Carlson.<\/a><\/p>\n

American Thinker:<\/strong> Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cKibble is fodder. Meat is\u00a0food!\u201dI was talking with Brain Brady on Facebook about why Wagon Wheel is the perfect American song. I ended up here: As music, I think it is the quintessential American song. It retells the story of American diligence and redemption every eight bars \u2013 that’s what makes the rest of it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,26,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-group-therapy","7":"category-lending","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18617,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18617\/overnight-news-how-take-it-down-takes-it-down-with-or-without-the-lyrics\/","url_meta":{"origin":18557,"position":0},"title":"Overnight News: How Take It Down takes it down \u2013 with or without the\u00a0lyrics.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I managed to surprise Cathleen the other night: I argued that what makes a song great \u2013 we were talking about Take It Down by John Hiatt \u2013 is not the lyrics but the music. That's a claim I would normally dispute: Popular music \u2013 and all music with a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15522,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15522\/me-in-2012-writing-splendors-sound-track-among-other-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":18557,"position":1},"title":"Me in 2012: Writing Splendor’s sound-track, among other things.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been living for years now with my daily calendar system of staying focused on my goals. Some months I do better, some I do worse, but having a regular agenda has proved fruitful for me. These are my daily goals:Work-out with free weights Walk with Cathleen and the dogs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1403,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1403\/cri-de-coeur-meets-the-long-tail-kenneth-branaghs-hamlet-to-be-released-finally-on-dvd\/","url_meta":{"origin":18557,"position":2},"title":"Cri de coeur meets The Long Tail: Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet to be released, finally, on DVD","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"How long is The Long Tail? Long enough, even, for Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, ten long years after its theatrical release. I despair for the state of staged drama, and not just in the chip-on-its-shoulder burgs, but this, in Horace's phrasing, is \"a monument more lasting than bronze.\" The news: Kenneth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12572,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12572\/on-independence-day-2010-look-around-you-and-fill-your-heart-o-what-a-beautiful-morning\/","url_meta":{"origin":18557,"position":3},"title":"On Independence Day 2010, look around you and fill your heart: O\u2019 What a Beautiful Morning!","author":"Teri Lussier","date":"July 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Oklahoma is wonderful because it freely shares that American idea of independence: The idea that simple people can own land and work and produce from that land, independent of the government. This is America, perhaps the one American thing I love most of all. This unfettered opportunity for freedom, for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1095,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1095\/one-of-the-most-pure-channels-of-feedback-you-can-get\/","url_meta":{"origin":18557,"position":4},"title":"“One of the most pure channels of feedback you can get . . . “","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part IV of Inman's real estate weblogging series, this one written by Glenn Roberts, Jr., is about company blogs. Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4548,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4548\/reality-steps-into-view-no-longer-living-lies-in-paradise\/","url_meta":{"origin":18557,"position":5},"title":"… Reality Steps into View … No Longer Living Lies in Paradise","author":"Thomas Hall","date":"September 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"You never know when inspiration will strike you ... for me - in the strangest places. In a comment I posted to Greg's latest post regarding the irony of our President's administration's policies and actions regarding the current financial meltdown, I lamented that when I read the news, blogs and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18558,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18557\/revisions\/18558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}