From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Sun Apr 20 2003 - 01:29:56 MDT
John Grigg wrote:
> Spike,
>
> You say an actual cat wrote and sang the song? Wow!
> I am surprised I didn't hear more about this amazing animal...
Johnny, you are so young. Do allow me to tell you
how it was.
As near as I have been able to determine from my
study of Kerouac et.al, the term cat was used
liberally for those who were aware of the "scene"
in a positive way. The term perhaps was derived
from the 1920s proto-jazz milieu where musicians
were known as hep-cats. In my own jazz band in
the 70s, I often heard the term "cats" to refer
to musicians. I believe the term "hep" later
showed up in Kerouac as "hip" and hipster and
hipster dadio.
Consider the 1953 cult classic "The Wild One"
with Marlin Brando. This movie contains the
famous lines
"Johnny, what are you rebelling against?"
"Whaddya got?"
The far more remarkable thing about this movie
is that it contains a scene where two young bikers
do a routine in which one drums on the bar while
the other does a rhythmic poem of sorts, which
might well be the earliest rap song. The loose-
fitting and fluid use of definition anticipates
Kerouac, whose On the Road was still four years
from being published.
spike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Apr 20 2003 - 01:38:54 MDT