![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121109192040im_/http://blogs.loc.gov/music/files/2010/09/cage-300x206.jpg)
Roger Reynolds, Brian Ferneyhough, and John Cage in Warren Studio A, UCSD. Photograph by Bonnie Harkins.
“You probably know the one about the two monks, but I’ll tell it anyway.” –John Cage, Indeterminacy.
Sunday, September 5th marks the birthday of two legendary Americans: outlaw Jesse James and composer John Cage.
The astonishing range of Cage’s works is just hinted at by the names of the diverse artists he worked with: choreographer Merce Cunningham; pianist David Tudor, on their wonderfully spoken-word and music recording Indeterminacy ; and even avant-garde jazz legend Sun Ra. But Cage’s most famous work, and the one he declared his favorite, is certainly 4’33″ , which is performed in three movements with no music. But it is not, as is often assumed, 4’33″ of silence. Cage told John Kobler of the Saturday Evening Post,”
There’s no such thing as silence. What they thought was silence, because they didn’t know how to listen, was full of accidental sounds. You could hear the wind stirring outside during the first movement [in the premiere]. During the second, raindrops began pattering the roof, and during the third the people themselves made all kinds of interesting sounds as they talked or walked out.” [1]
Remember Cage today by playing one of his works for prepared piano, or honor his memory by paying attention to silence, whether that silence is broken by the sound of your neighbor’s dog barking or of wind blowing through the leaves; or the meditative sound of your own breath. For a more sonorous exercise in musical time, you could follow the example of the internet meme recently mentioned by New Yorker music critic Alex Ross and create a 4’33″ playlist. Here’s my list of songs that are four minutes and thirty-three seconds long:
- “The Loneliness of a Middle-Distance Runner,” by sensitive indie rockers Belle and Sebastian
- “I Don’t Want You on My Mind,” by Bill Withers, who recently graced the stage of the Coolidge Auditorium with his classic songs and great story-telling
- “Property of Jesus,” by Bob Dylan
- “Light a Candle,” by Swedish pop star Harpo, whose biggest hit was the ridiculously catchy “In the Zum Zum Zummernight”
- “Atlanta Blues,” from Louis Armstrong‘s tribute to W.C. Handy
- “Cold, Cold World,” by the late R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass
- “Bad Baby,” by Public Image Ltd., fronted by bad boy John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten
What’s on your list?
Read about Cage’s composition “The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs” in the Moldenhauer Archives in American Memory. As for our other birthday celebrant, listen to songs about Jesse James in The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip and Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941 in American Memory. And please, stay within the law.
[1] Kostelanetz, Richard. Conversing with Cage, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2003.
September 7, 2010 at 10:11 am
Alas, not the most impressive list, and some I’m kind of appalled to realize that I have:
The Cool, Cool River 4:33 Paul Simon
Unlove You 4:33 Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women
Angie 4:33 The Rolling Stones
Tit For Tat 4:33 KokoTaylor
Heaven Help Us All 4:33 Ray Charles & Gladys Knight
Roxanne ’97 (Puff Daddy Remix) 4:33 Sting & The Police
Rikki Don’t Lose That Number 4:33 Steely Dan
Track 05 4:33 Christy Snow
Undercover Of The Night 4:33 The Rolling Stones
Words Can’t Describe 4:33 Sarah Vaughan
September 28, 2010 at 10:27 am
Thanks lentigogirl!
December 8, 2010 at 7:21 pm
A couple of Jimmy Buffet’s songs: School Boy Heart and Scarlet Begonias
Marcia Ball’s Sparkle Paradise
Sammy Kershaw’s Southland
If Mr. Cage had been a bit less ambitious and composed 3’44″, i’d have a more extensive and interesting list.