Silly Little Country

This is Funny?

During my mid-life career transition, many of my former students recommended to me following the travails of Jeff Shalit, something I have in fact been doing over the last years, as I have blogged, often linking to his excellent posts at his generally fine blog, Recursivity.
But he has a post that baffles me now.  I invite my reader to go and listen.  All I hear is casual and useless cruelty, total self-absorption, and a kind of sorry self-satisfaction at hurting other people (not Jeff's).  Well, maybe that is funny to some.  Not any more to me (I fear it was once to me).
So look - if you want a GOOD satire of "My Way" (Gladwell superficially calls it a 'Frank Sinatra' song, eliding the interesting fact that the English lyrics are Paul Anka's (a real talent), and that the original song is French) would be well served by going to CDBaby and ordering 'Their Way' for 99 cents.
That song is actually funny, and not at all mean-spirited, and I know no academic who has ever heard it who does not laugh with a sad recognition.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 3:14 PM