Wigeon Duckling
I mentioned the song "Cold Missouri Waters" a few posts back. My dear friend Julie sent my Cry Cry Cry's chilling version of it and I am extremely grateful. The song was written by James Keelaghan about the Mann Gulch Fire of Montana in 1949. The lyrics are pretty much the exact story and very little artistic license is taken. Man, this is a strange time we live in, it's cool that you can just google a song and find out the story behind it. However, I wonder if too much demystification is a bad thing? Should we have any information we want so easily at at fingertips? As Joseph Campbell reminds us,mysticism and mythology is important. However Daniel Quinn would argue as he does in "Ishmael" that the wrong mythology can lead to the destruction of a culture and even the world.
For a song that argues for demystification I recommend "Demystification" by the great English anarchist punk band Zounds from the early 80's. I love the line, "I'm not looking for escapism, I just want to escape." Brilliant.
