Bill Conlin on the business

I didn't question Young's place in history, which I've championed here many times. I questioned his relevance in the context of Conlin's argument.

 

Yes, and you can have the No. 1 song in the country if you just believe in yourself.

 

Waylon
I've never once framed my thoughts as a "character" issue. It's something else, I'm not sure what. Maybe it's genetic. Either you've got ambition or not, either you're willing to pay the price (and it's costly, just ask me) or you're not. I heard Bear Bryant say, "I want young'uns who'll put their nose where it don't wanta go." Yes.

This will certify me as a hopeless romantic, but I can't even type these lyrics without wanting to take on the nearest windmill....this is what the business is about to me, from the day I made $32 a week to a year ago when a magazine decided it could do without me to today when I still have ambition......
***
To dream ... the impossible dream ...
To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...
To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ...
To run ... where the brave dare not go ...
To right ... the unrightable wrong ...
To love ... pure and chaste from afar ...
To try ... when your arms are too weary ...
To reach ... the unreachable star ...

This is my quest, to follow that star ...
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ...
To fight for the right, without question or pause ...
To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause ...

And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious quest,
That my heart will lie will lie peaceful and calm,
when I'm laid to my rest ...
And the world will be better for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach ... the unreachable star ...

**
And, in fewer words, from Robert Browning: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for?"

 

You have to want it sloan. Either you do or you don't. That's what separates many in this profession.

 

Sure, a few still can dream big and hit big. The unfortunate point that some have referred to as character and of wanting it more is that with most people, in good times and bad, falling short of dreams, there no longer is a reasonable place for them to land.

 

What about knowledge of when commas should separate certain words from other words? That helps too.

 

That helps, too.

 

So easy for the veterans, those who were successful in a bygone era, to come here and preach about dreams and the like. Such nice-sounding words, such flowery sentiments.

And a tenuous grasp on today's reality, to say the least.

Kindred should have posted the lyrics to "Yesterday." Much more fitting.

 

Ha!

 

I would love to hear Jones' take on this.

 

For those who would like to sing along:

 

On the magazine thread, after Jones (in answer to a Waylon question there) explained how he worked his way into magazines, here came Jgmacg saying . . .


"A couple of things to add to what The Jones posted:

"Yes, he's insanely talented. And because he's modest and lovable and a mensch he'll mock that in himself, and play it off. National Magazine Award? Ha ha! Waiter! Another round of cherry schnapps for my friends and me and put it on my tab! Now photograph my buttocks!

"The more important truth for those trying to move into the orbit of glossy titles like The New Yorker/Esquire/GQ/RS/etc is that The Jones works harder than you do. Much harder. At everything. That's how he got the job at Esquire. By working his ass off to get it. Now he works those sturdy Canadian glutes off to do better work than his colleagues and contemporaries.

"We can't control the magnitude of our gifts, but we're certainly in charge of how much time and effort we devote to refining them. Updike is a giant, and will absolutely batter you with his work ethic. So will Oates and Stone and Packer and Pierce and Boo and Mayer and Singer - and on and on and on across the range of marquee names in the field. This was true of our late friends Halberstam and Heinz and DFW, too.

"So. First. No matter how hard you think you're working right now, you need to work way harder. ..."

****

And, being Jgmacg, he went on for a few more hundred words repeating the Jones mantra of "work," which, to these ears, comes out sounding exactly like, "You got to want it bad."....