Version 2.0

Intro: So far in this series I’ve looked at songs that can be put in the camp of interpretations. There was just a different vision of the song   This is the first time I will look at a song in which the version was more successful and considered better than the original (even by the song writer himself). This is a case of the version taking on a life and trajectory of its own. The Scene: It’s 1967/1968, and America’s military presence in Vietnam escalates, with military personnel reaching a total of 475,000. Protesting became more intense and rioting and looting becomes widespread across American cities, cumulating in the National Guard being called in to restore law and order in Detroit. The Beatles continue to revolutionize popular music with their “Sargent Pepper’s lonely Hearts Club Band”. Israel acquires vast swathes of territory after the six day war.   The Original: All Along the Watchtower was written and recorded by legendary singer song write...

“All art is quite useless” Oscar Wilde. Wilde is of course right. In terms of plain old survival; art is useless. That is part of its joy. To have the time to try to make or enjoy something beautiful, or thought provoking, is the one of the most sublime aspects of leisure. That’s why the verb “To Netflick” exists. That is also why a lot of the internet, is people talking about the useless . We share our overlapping narratives whether they are fictional or not. So, the summer’s gone and so too has that weird moment in time when my YouTube recommendations were chockablock with Vlogs and video essays; ranting about Star Wars and Game of Thrones. Now, I know I locked myself into an algorithm bubble. You Tube’s A.I. just fed me that stuff because I click, click, click. Even so, that’s a lot of content generated and a very big bubble. When the new trilogy of Star wars came out and everybody was happy for a while and then the Fandom started to complain that the Force Awakens...