Word: lyricizing
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Scientists, like lyric poets, tend to do their best work before they are 30. Einstein produced the first part of his theory of relativity at 26, for example, and James D. Watson was 25 when he helped find the double-helixed key to DNA. Still, it was something of a surprise when the University of Chicago last month promoted Charles Fefferman to full professor of mathematics...
Meantime, a bushman (an authentic one named David Gumpilil) fearlessly traverses the country-the sky his ceiling, the air his blanket-boomeranging lizards and kangaroos in order to eat. Stumbling upon the lost souls, this natural man guides them through his Eden. Walkabout suddenly becomes a lyric travelogue, assaulting the harsh Flinders mountain ranges, trailing the little camels of the red desert near Alice Springs, mooning under the blooming quandong tree. Director Nicolas Roeg, who made his reputation as a cinematographer (Fahrenheit 451, Far from the Madding Crowd. Petulia), shows a precise and delicate Down Understanding. But give him anything...
...Freddy Perren and Deke Richards, who wrote Love Child for the Supremes. The tunes they are given are good black pop, the rhythms authentic rhythm and blues. But it takes some kind of private and personal magic for a twelve-year-old like Michael to sound convincing in a lyric like this...
Among the typically ambiguous drug-related lyrics that Johnson cites are Arlo Guthrie's permissive reference to "a couple of keys" (kilos), the Grateful Dead singing "What in the world became of sweet Jane/She lost her sparkle/ Living on reds, Vitamin C and cocaine." There is also Red Sovine's confession "I'm taking little white pills and my eyes open wide." Asks Johnson: "Well, what is the poor broadcaster to do? Do you think the lyric encourages the use of drugs, discourages it, or takes no position one way or another? The invidious thing about this...
...third "show-stopper" is Alexis Smith's spectacular "Story Of Lucy And Jessie" which is a honky-tonk dance number written in the style of Cole Porter. The lyric (the cleverest in the show if not the best) is all there, but that is all that is there. As soon as Miss Smith is finished with her tongue twisting the orchestra pulls up to an abrupt halt, leaving the listener panting for more...