It´s a man's world

 

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR :

How deep of a “philosophy” can Dylan’s Philosophy of Modern Song possibly be if it doesn’t include a single entry on James Brown, who single-handedly modernized an entire tradition of song, dress, dance and performance? (He does find space for Cher, Rickey Nelson and Bobby Darin.)

Someone defended the exclusion of Brown on the sexism inherent in It’s a Man’s World. (Have they ever listened closely to the lyrics of Just Like a Woman, I wonder?) But Betty Jean Newsome wrote (or co-wrote) it, didn’t she? And I always took it a little ironically. It ends: “he’s lost in the wilderness, lost in the bitterness.” But then again JB was Republican, like BB King, probably as much because of the IRS as the Democrats he had to put up with in South Carolina and Georgia.

The depositions in the lawsuit over who should get writing credit for It’s a Man’s World are really funny and worth reading. They were a “couple” for a while. Betty claimed she got the lyrics from Genesis. James said he got the idea from It’s a Mad, Mad, World.

By all accounts, Betty was just as tough as JB: “I’m a Southern woman, and I will light on his behind like the clothes on his back. I was a bouncer in an after-hours joint, frisking men and taking their guns. So you know I wasn’t afraid of that little man. No, no, no, uh-huh.”