| Lester Allyson Knibbs, Ph.D. Music, Mobilization & Strategy The Power of Intelligent Listening |
| With the Name of the Gracious and Compassionate Creator of the Heavens and the Earth |
| "Going in Circles" |
| The song, "Going in Circles", characteristic of African American music in general, goes in circles, repeating the same rhythm, melody and harmony, the same riffs, responses and refrains, over and over. It's a wonderful effect, and I love it. It moves the body, warms the emotions and lifts the spirit. But it does little for our intellectual development. We need to actively listen to music that develops beyond the cycle of repetition. |
| When the lead singer intones the words, "strung out over you", to explain why he is going in circles, he is explaining why the African American people are going in circles. We are strung out over the "white man". We are hung up on all the good things - cars, airplanes, cell phones, electricity, computers, compact disks, movies - and have no plan to understand how to independently establish and maintain civilized human life. When we have a problem, we expect the "white man" to make things right (which, of course, never happens). We are in orbit around the "white man" - strung out, hung up, and going in circles. |
| Sometime in 1969, a group called The Friends of Distinction put out a song entitled "Going in Circles". It remains to this day one of my favorite songs. |
| Seemingly, and probably by intention, this is nothing but a love song, but there are deeper meanings. The opening riff - mellow and subdued - in addition to presenting the rhythmic patterns characteristic of African American "soul music", also presents the melodic and harmonic pattern derived from the chaconne, a musical form originated by Africans brought as prisoners to Cuba in the 16th century. The repetitive use of such patterns is common to African and African American musical forms. |
| Over these patterns, the lead singer intones the lyrics (most of which I've forgotten) and eventually builds to an emotional intensity repeating the words, "strung out over you". The poor love-struck man is "going in circles" because he is "strung out" over somebody. |
| In 1968, Harold Cruise wrote a book entitled, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual. This book could have been subtitled, Going in Circles. The author's main point is that African American intellectuals have been going in circles, repeating our history without learning from it. This was true in 1968 and it continues to be true today. African American intellectuals, who are the eyes and ears of the people, are going in circles, and our people are either following us in circles, lost in confusion, or sinking into an abyss of poverty and degradation. |
| (A work-in-progress.) (Last update: December 9, 2003) |
| Elijah Muhammad - a quintessential Black Supremacist - advised his followers to study the white man. He advised his followers to listen to European classical music and said that our "Black Muslim Brothers in the East" had taught the European how to make that music. My own studies have confirmed this (although I would phrase it differently). But that misses the point. If something is good, we should want it, wherever it comes from. Symphonic music is good. It improves our ability to actively listen, extends our attention span, and challenges our intellect. It offers us different perspectives on the nature of reality. It provides us with diverse strategies for dealing with the challenges of our situation. |
| We should listen to symphonic music, if we want to stop "going in circles". |
| Next: Straight Up |