Blind Willie Johnson on The West Wing
Matt Clapp
almost goes to war with Iran regarding nuclear weapons, one of the
characters is trying to champion a Mars mission. In doing so he
describes a Blues singer named Blind Willie Johnson from the 1920's
who was blinded with lye by his stepmother and slept in the ruins of
his burned-down house. His stepmother blinded him with lye after his
father beat her for sleeping with another man.
They played a song called "Dark was the Night (Cold was the Ground)"
as the West Wing character looked through a telescope at the moon. His
music (along with many other types) was sent on a satellite that had
just left the solar system. It was really good blues music.
Originally, I had sent this asking who it was, but I was able to find
it after searching on bit.listserv.blues-l. It was so good, I figured
other people would want to know the name, in case they forgot it like
I did, so I posted it.
Matt
PS Thanks to the folks at West Wing for sharing this amazing music
with those of us who were ignorant about blues.
Colonel Tomb
Agreed on all counts! And even though I do know a bit about the blues,
I'm ashamed to admit that I'm not nearly as familiar with Blind Willie
Johnson as I should be.
But be careful not to confuse Blind Willie Johnson with any of his
contemporaries, such as the immortal Robert Johnson, whose influence
on popular music is almost incalculable (he wrote "Crossroads" and
"Come on in my Kitchen" and "Love in Vain" and "Stop Breaking Down"
and "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Rambling on my Mind," and he's been
covered by just about anybody who's any good).
Then there's Blind Willie McTell, who's best known for writing
"Statesboro Blues," which was covered by Taj Mahal and, later, by the
Allman Brothers Band on the monumental Fillmore East album.
Gregg Allman once commented that, in the early days, every time he'd
write a new blues song in the traditional 12-bar structure, the boys
in the band would say, "Oh, c'mon, that's just 'Blind Willie
So-and-So' with different words."
All these Blind Willies, all these Johnsons . . .
// Gary
Nancy Dooley
> In tonight's episode (2/11/2004) of the West Wing in which the US
> almost goes to war with Iran regarding nuclear weapons, one of the
> characters is trying to champion a Mars mission. In doing so he
> describes a Blues singer named Blind Willie Johnson from the 1920's
> They played a song called "Dark was the Night (Cold was the Ground)"
> as the West Wing character looked through a telescope at the moon. His
> music (along with many other types) was sent on a satellite that had
> just left the solar system. It was really good blues music.
Uh, the music wasn't sent on a satellite - Josh suggested it as a
"try-out" for his argument (practicing on Donna) to do a manned space
mission to Mars. Josh was trying to find something that would "hook"
Congress so they'd fund the mission. Josh said that Johnson's music
would be sent along with the astronauts, along with other "famous"
music of different types.
N.
Chris Free
news:e334794d.04021...@posting.google.com...
mr. johnson's rendition of "dark was the night, cold was the ground"
is indeed on a "satellite" -- now tossed into the termination shock,
heliosheath, at speeds of between 100,000 and 700,000 miles per hour,
into the vast depths and deep nothingness of interstellar space,
on a golden record assembled by dr. carl sagan and his associates
in an attempt to represent all the diversity
of culture and life that existed on planet earth --
upon the spacecraft known as "voyager."
we've lost the notion of grand exploration on our little dust speck --
perhaps boiled by whos in our quest for trivial survival.
"This is a present from a small, distant world,
a token of our sounds, our science, our images,
our music, our thoughts and our feelings.
We are attempting to survive our time
so we may live into yours."
- president jimmy carter
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html
Stephen Fuld
"Nancy Dooley" <ndo...@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu> wrote in message
news:e334794d.04021...@posting.google.com...
I can't speak to that particular piece of music, but there was a disk on
Voyager that contained information about us in case it was ever found by
some extra-terrestrial life form. There was a lot of work that went in to
deciding what to put on the disk (and how to make it readable by some,
unknown life form). The group that made the decisions was chaired by Carl
Sagan, and included many others. The disk did include a range of music
(including IIRC Mozart and Chuck Berry, among others), along with diagrams
of human forms, a chart showing our place in the galaxy, a binary
representation of pi, and other things.
see
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html
--
- Stephen Fuld
e-mail address disguised to prevent spam
Chris Free
> "Nancy Dooley" <ndo...@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu> wrote in message
> news:e334794d.04021...@posting.google.com...
> > fro...@yahoo.com (Matt Clapp) wrote in message
> news:<834a3edd.0402...@posting.google.com>...
> > > In tonight's episode (2/11/2004) of the West Wing in which the US
> > > almost goes to war with Iran regarding nuclear weapons, one of the
> > > characters is trying to champion a Mars mission. In doing so he
> > > describes a Blues singer named Blind Willie Johnson from the 1920's
> >
> > > They played a song called "Dark was the Night (Cold was the Ground)"
> > > as the West Wing character looked through a telescope at the moon. His
> > > music (along with many other types) was sent on a satellite that had
> > > just left the solar system. It was really good blues music.
> >
> > Uh, the music wasn't sent on a satellite - Josh suggested it as a
> > "try-out" for his argument (practicing on Donna) to do a manned space
> > mission to Mars. Josh was trying to find something that would "hook"
> > Congress so they'd fund the mission. Josh said that Johnson's music
> > would be sent along with the astronauts, along with other "famous"
> > music of different types.
>
> I can't speak to that particular piece of music, but there was a disk on
yes, that particular piece of music is on the disk --
i assume that's why they used it in the episode.
Patrick Aro
using today's storage media.
--
Patrick
Userb3
news:V9RWb.11904$I67.4...@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net:
> Imagine the volume of information that can now be sent out into the
> universe using today's storage media.
Yeah, but if we send up anything with our e-mail address, we'll start to
get spam from outer space!
Patty Winter
Nancy Dooley <ndo...@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu> wrote:
>fro...@yahoo.com (Matt Clapp) wrote in message news:<834a3edd.0402...@posting.google.com>...
>
>> as the West Wing character looked through a telescope at the moon. His
>> music (along with many other types) was sent on a satellite that had
>> just left the solar system. It was really good blues music.
>
>Uh, the music wasn't sent on a satellite - Josh suggested it as a
>"try-out" for his argument (practicing on Donna) to do a manned space
>mission to Mars.
That song was indeed included on the record that was attached to
Voyager I and Voyager II. They aren't technically satellites, but
it wasn't just a piece that Josh pulled out of thin air.
Patty
John Bigboote
> as the West Wing character looked through a telescope at the moon. His
> music (along with many other types) was sent on a satellite that had
> just left the solar system. It was really good blues music.
"Yeah, the put the Bach music in, and left all the shit behind."
-Joe Jackson
-jb
--
John Bigboote
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
"The Future Begins Tomorrow"
Stephen Fuld
"Patrick Aro" <oram...@optonline.com> wrote in message
news:V9RWb.11904$I67.4...@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net...
> Imagine the volume of information that can now be sent out into the
universe
> using today's storage media.
Storage density wasn't the big issue. Consider this: If we sent some say
DVD, how do we have any idea what the "intelligent beings" in some distant
star system will know how to get any of the informaion out, or even know
that it has information one it at all. "Gee, look at this defective round
mirror on this thing! I wonder what it is for!" :-) The group spent a lot
of time trying to figure out how to "communicate" on that disk, just what
the disk was for. There is some detail on the NASA web site in the
references given earlier.
John Bigboote
absolute classic.
Zach G
>
> Gregg Allman once commented that, in the early days, every time he'd
> write a new blues song in the traditional 12-bar structure, the boys
> in the band would say, "Oh, c'mon, that's just 'Blind Willie
> So-and-So' with different words."
>
> All these Blind Willies, all these Johnsons . . .
>
> // Gary
Don't forget Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Rich Clark
"Colonel Tomb" <colone...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:fa8498fc.0402...@posting.google.com...
> All these Blind Willies, all these Johnsons . . .
You've all seen this, right?
Follow the instructions below for the genuine thrill that comes with
discovering your blues name:
From the first list, take the name using the initial of your first name.
From the second list, do the same with your middle name.
From the third, your last name.
First List:
A=Fat; B=Muddy ; C=Crippled; D=Old; E=Texas;
F=Hollerin' ; G=Ugly; H=Brown; I=Happy; J=Boney; K=Curly; L=Pretty;
M=Jailhouse; N=Peg Leg; O=Red; P=Sleepy; Q=Bald; R=Skinny; S=Blind; T=Big;
U=Yella ; V=Toothless; W=Screamin' ; X=Fat Boy;
Y=Washboard; Z=Steel-Eye
Second List:
A=Bones; B=Money; C=Harp; D=Legs; E=Eyes; F=Lemon; G=Killer; H=Hips; I=Lips;
J=Fingers; K=Boy; L=Liver; M=Gumbo; N=Foot; O=Mama; P=Back; Q=Duke; R=Dog;
S=Bad Boy; T=Baby; U=Chicken; V=Pickles; W=Sugar; X=Cracker; Y=Tooth;
Z=Smoke
Third List:
A=Jackson; B=McGee; C=Hopkins; D=Dupree; E=Green; F=Brown; G=Jones;
H=Rivers; I=Malone;J=Washington; K=Smith; L=Parker; M=Lee; N=Thompkins;
O=King; <P=Bradley; Q=Hawkins;R=Jefferson; S=Davis; T=Franklin; U=White;
V=Jenkins; W=Bailey; X=Johnson; Y=Blue; Z=Allison