Peter, Paul & Mary "I Dig Rock ‘n Roll Music"
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Perhaps the squarest song of all time, from perhaps the squarest vocal group of all time, “I Dig Rock ‘n Roll Music” (mp3), from the pretty good Peter, Paul and Mary record Album 1700 is a source of endlessly conflicted pleasure for me. As an attempt to be hip, it’s well, Peter Paul and Mary, but as an of-its-time intertextual curio and jaunty (yet prickly) pop song, it’s actually pretty fun and well-done. I’ve always seen “I Dig” as the other side, the out side, of The Mamas and the Papas’ name-dropping origin tale (also from 1967) “Creeque Alley” (McGuinn and McGuire, Sebastian, etc.), but expressed from a bitter group of O.G. folkies who were crabby that their pure milieu had gone pop. They’re doing the same sort of “this is who we are and this is what we think” as the M & P’s, but from a purposeful distance, no doubt at a position above the kids they sing about. P, P & M concern themselves most in this song with the deleterious influence of pop music on their beloved folk music, and I’ll excuse them that—after all, they did perform an hour before “I Have A Dream.” But their lyrics and presentation are just downright snarky, though, and really out of character—which is probably what you should expect when you get an interpretive vocal group writing a manifesto. The first verse includes the jab “the message may not move me/or mean a great deal to me/but hey, it feels so groovy to play,” but the artist-centric verses are the most fun, as they lay into the Mamas and the Papas for not being smart enough (”they got a good thing goin’ when the words don’t get in the way”), Donovan for sounding like Dylan with a cold, and then the Beatles (and this was 1967, remember) for being naught more than crass commercialists. The last verse—and the one that I can actually agree with—transcends the scene and time most effectively, and encapsulates how so many tried and true folkies must have felt when “We Shall Overcome” gave way to “Yellow Submarine,” and any true protest was subsumed to pop/psych idiom: “but if I really say it/the radio won’t play it/unless I lay it between the lines.” For P, P & M, this song sums up the central failure of the 60s from an activist persepective—the desire to sell records eclipsed the one to make political changes—but, now, in a weird twist, “I Dig”’s oldie station ubiquity and nostalgia summoning has rendered it as much of a hippie curio as “Mello Yello.” Groovy.
Buy Album 1700 here.
As one old hippie speaking, thank you for the cruise back in time and a look at one song that has been recorded by so many. I still like the release by the Mama’s and the Papa’s the best.
okay…this is weird. when this song started, i immediately thought of that song “young folks” by peter bjorn and john, mainly because the rhythm and tone of the bass and drums are so similar. but then…obviously the names are eerily close, and also the lyrical content plays off each other as well.
is there more to this than meets the ear?
that’s funny you say that–it’s the same connection i made when i first heard P,B & J’s name! (heh–PB&J) who knows?
God, I can’t even tell you how much I adore Peter, Paul and Mary.
does anyone know what subliminal message is?
in the verse before “i can say something if you know what i mean” theres a part that just sounds like some funky music but if played backwards its what if they “really say it, the radio wont play it, unless i lay it between the lines”
ive been trying to find the answer online but i cant find it!!
I think what was “really said, if you read between the lines” but which mightn’t be played on some stations was the flip side, “The Great Mandella”–which had a strong anti-war message (and also included the then chancy use of “what the hell” in one of the lines).