The Commitment Correction

[dedalus_1947]

“But that boy can sing,
And it was a start.
I believe in starts.
Once you have the start,
The rest is inevitable.”
(The Commitments: Joey “The Lips” Fagin to Jimmy Rabbitte)

It’s taken me a while to get around to this, but I’m writing to correct a wrong and apologize to my brother Alex for doubting and misrepresenting him. In my blog of July 23, 2009 (see The Good News According to the Movies),  I misquoted him, and cited the wrong passage from the movie, The Commitments.
“I’m sorry Al. I should have known better than to challenge your memory of movie dialogue. You had the right quote. Jimmy Rabbitte did call jazz, ‘musical wanking.’ I was wrong.”

You see, instead of actually viewing the movie to check Alex’s quote, I used a Google search on the Internet. None of the citations I found matched the passage Alex quoted at my daughter’s wedding reception. The closest one was Jimmy Rabbitte’s monologue on Soul, which I quoted in my blog. It was only when I was actually watching a rerun of The Commitments, with subtitles, that I caught my error – and the right passage. In the movie, Joey “The Lips” Fagin accosts Dean, the sax player, at the urinals in the men’s room during a break, and tells him:
“What you were playing was not Soul! Soul solos are part of the song - they have corners. You were spiraling – that’s jazz!”
Jimmy Rabbitte, the band manager, joins them at the urinal and adds:
“Jazz is musical wanking! If you want to wank, use that thing in your hand, not your sax!”

 

I don’t agree with Alex or Jimmy Rabbitte about Jazz, but I do accept their opinions.  I really believe that Jazz, like Soul and the Blues, are all musical fingers pointing to the swaying moon of harmony and truth. They are means by which we can unite our physical bodies with our creative souls – the merging of our divided natures into what we can become. Folk and rock and roll music got me through my youth, popular music inoculated me to adulthood, then soul, the blues, and country music got me through the anguish of middle-age life. Jazz is my reward for a life long spent. But that’s my own opinion, and everyone must find his or her own music. However, I must admit, the restroom scene with Joey, Jimmy, and Dean was very good. It was a great moment, with great dialogue, and I’m embarrassed I missed it. I’ve assuaged my guilt since the discovery of my error by claiming that my story was actually about how the movies explain life’s riddles, and not about jazz - but that’s petty rationalizing. Alex got it right. He has a great memory for movie dialogue, and I’ll never doubt him again.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Tony,

"The swaying moon of harmony and truth." Beautiful!

I personally don't think much of a person who does not have the ability to apologize. I have found them to be very insecure, into power, and ultimately could not be trusted!

That pic of you as a teenager(with Alex holding a baby) is priceless!

TRH

Apology tour

[bikolives2001.livejournal.com]

Tony, Well done. You are a great apologist..

Re: Apology tour

[dedalus_1947]

Thanks, Biko. I'm still learning.