Monday Miscellany: Some Odds, Ends and Personals

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Email from son Thomas in response to the Bertrand Russell quotes about religion:

Love it! 

It might be of interest to you, something which the Late Christopher Hitchens went to great pains to emphasise, but “Religion is the opiate of the masses” is somewhat of a misquote when looked at in the context of the passage (found in Marx’ introduction to his critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right): “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of the spiritless circumstance. It is the opium of the people.”  

He further said that the abolition of religion as illusory happiness is the demand of the people for real happiness. A couple of paragraphs down he said, and this is where I think it really gets quite profound and beautiful, “The criticism of religion has plucked the flowers from the chain, not so that man may continue to wear the chain without fantasy and consolation, but so that he may break the chain and cull the living flower”.

Here's a couple more, Thomas . . .

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From Kerrie in respect of the Lady Marmalade post:

Hi Otto, 

Bob Crew died about 3 weeks ago – he was a great song writer. 

e e cummings will haunt you for using capital letters in his name. 

Kerrie

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Some of the hits of Bob Crew (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014):

· 1957: "Silhouettes"

· 1957: "Daddy Cool"

· 1958: "La Dee Dah"

· 1959: "Lucky Ladybug"

· 1962: "Sherry"

· 1962: "Big Girls Don't Cry"

· 1963: "Walk Like a Man"

· 1964: "Dawn (Go Away)"

· 1964: "Ronnie"

· 1964: "Navy Blue"

· 1964: "Rag Doll"

· 1964: "Save It For Me"

· 1964: "Big Man in Town"

· 1965: "Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye)"

· 1965: "Let's Hang On!"

· 1965: "A Lover's Concerto”

· 1965: "Silhouettes” 1965: "Girl Come Running”

· 1965: "Jenny Take A Ride”

· 1966: "Devil With A Blue Dress On”

· 1966: "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine”

· 1967: "Sock It To Me, Baby”

· 1967: "Music To Watch Girls By”

· 1967: "Silence Is Golden” 

· 1967: "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You”

· 1967: "I Make a Fool of Myself”

· 1967: "To Give (The Reason I Live)”

· 1969: "Jean”

· 1969: "Good Morning, Starshine”

· 1974: "Lady Marmalade”

· 1974: "Get Dancin'”

· 1975: "Swearin' To God"

· 1975: "My Eyes Adored You”

· 1975: "I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo”

· 1975: "The Proud One” 

· 2001: "Lady Marmalade” 

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As regards Mr Cummings and his initials, from Wikipedia:

Cummings's publishers and others have sometimes echoed the unconventional orthography in his poetry by writing his name in lowercase and without periods (full stops), but normal orthography (uppercase and full stops) is supported by scholarship and preferred by publishers today. Cummings himself used both the lowercase and capitalized versions, though he most often signed his name with capitals. 

The use of lowercase for his initials was popularized in part by the title of some books, particularly in the 1960s, printing his name in lower case on the cover and spine. In the preface to E. E. Cummings: The Growth of a Writer by Norman Friedman, critic Harry T. Moore notes, "He [Cummings] had his name put legally into lower case, and in his later books the titles and his name were always in lower case." According to Cummings's widow, however, this is incorrect. She wrote to Friedman: "you should not have allowed H. Moore to make such a stupid & childish statement about Cummings & his signature." On February 27, 1951, Cummings wrote to his French translator D. Jon Grossman that he preferred the use of upper case for the particular edition they were working on. One Cummings scholar believes that on the rare occasions Cummings signed his name in all lowercase, he may have intended it as a gesture of humility, not as an indication that it was the preferred orthography for others to use. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._E._Cummings

Some e e cummings quotes . . .

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