Word: patters
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...groups share numerous features; and, in fact, the celebrated G. & S. "patter songs" have their origin in the non-stop pnigos passages in Aristophanes' plays...
...sidelong irony ("Betrayed by a kiss/ On a cool night of bliss/ In the valley of the missing link"); even a certain smarmy desperation ("I'm lost in the haze of your delicate ways"). In live appearances, Dylan has lately converted himself into a sardonic showman, tossing around patter between numbers, glad-handing the audience, carrying on as if he wants to bellyflop straight into the mainstream. Street-Legal has strong pop overtones, and at least two cuts (Baby Stop Crying and We Better Talk This Over) sound shaped for the Top Ten. Dylan's heat still burns...
...song, "You're the Top," "It's DeLovely," "Friendship," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," "Take Me Back to Manhattan," and lesser known though equally delightful gems like, "Let's Misbehave," and "Heaven Hop." Whew. This production adds still another number, a bit of Porter patter called, "The Physician," specifically for Virginia Pasay (and on the basis of her screamingly elegant rendition, I might have given her a few more.) Over the years, the numerous contributors to the book have crammed it with great old gags and one-liners, and they come at you so fast...
...smuggle dope in da celery?" Significantly, this bit of shtick reflects Brooks's earlier days as a Jewish comedian. The voice he uses in that scene is the same one he used as the 2000-Year-Old Man back in 1960. For all his attempts to change his patter, Brooks has to revert to his old stand-by to get the best laugh of the film...
...balance and rhythm of that statement seem characteristic of Vidal at his talk-show best, it is because Teddy O is the author's mouthpiece. Throughout the novel there is a running patter about the things Vidal loves to hate: population growth, women writers who try to write like Henry Miller, hacks, agents, the so-called communications industry, and politicians. By now these subjects are part of the author's reflexology, though as a latter-day Restoration wit he can still bring them to life in cutting caricature...