Finding art in the oddest places : genius

March 12, 2004 1:07 PM

The poetry of Donald Rumsfeld, set to music
The Unknown

"As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know."
[Department of Defense news briefing Feb. 12, 2002] : Now, imagine it set to music and sung aloud by a classically trained female singer with a beautiful voice. [ Mp3 clips available at main link ] Some conservatives consider it a homage, while I find it beautiful, compelling, and disorienting.
posted by troutfishing (27 comments total)

And I'm serious about that. Before any snark descends, let me add that I find this a true case of cognitive political dissonance. Some of these verbal riffs are beautiful, and I find it hard to believe that Don Rumsfeld was unaware of what he was up to.

Here's another example for disbelievers :


Glass Box

You know, it's the old glass box at the—
At the gas station,
Where you're using those little things
Trying to pick up the prize,
And you can't find it.
It's—
 
And it's all these arms are going down in there,
And so you keep dropping it
And picking it up again and moving it,
But—
 
Some of you are probably too young to remember those—
Those glass boxes,
But—
 
But they used to have them
At all the gas stations
When I was a kid.
 
Department of Defense news briefing
Dec. 6, 2001
posted by troutfishing at 1:15 PM on March 12, 2004

And I'm serious about that.
Before any snark descends, let me add
that I find this a true case
of cognitive political dissonance.
Some of these verbal riffs are
beautiful,
and I find it hard to believe
that Don Rumsfeld
was unaware
of what he was
up to.
posted by uosuaq at 1:19 PM on March 12, 2004

uosuaq/benson -

pretty,

good.

But it's not Don
Rumsfeld.
posted by troutfishing at 1:31 PM on March 12, 2004

Wow, they completely managed to make it painfully, horribly unfunny by adding music and singing them.

Great work.
posted by xmutex at 1:34 PM on March 12, 2004

Is this Rumsfeld guy someone you have to live in the US to give a shit about?
posted by angry modem at 1:37 PM on March 12, 2004

No, but having a TV helps.
posted by trondant at 1:38 PM on March 12, 2004

This Rumsfeld, it vibrates?
posted by Stynxno at 1:40 PM on March 12, 2004

uosuaq/benson -

pretty,

good.

But it's not Don
Rumsfeld.

WHAT
THE
FUCK
TROUTFISHING?!?!

;)
posted by Tin Man at 1:42 PM on March 12, 2004

Tin Man - just an artistic interpretation. : )( :

xmutex - De gustibus non disputandum est.
posted by troutfishing at 1:59 PM on March 12, 2004

Dammit. I got the meme wrong. It should have been

WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.
TROUTFISHING???

or something like that. I always screw up memes.

[cool link]
posted by Tin Man at 2:06 PM on March 12, 2004

troutfishing: oh now you talkin' fancy and shit.
posted by xmutex at 2:14 PM on March 12, 2004

agreed that it's subjective, but i'm with xmutex. these are funny, funny poems, but they're horrible songs. i was hoping that it would be Don Rumsfeld's words put to music, not some operatic crap.

and b4 you download them, realize that they're 30-second clips, not the full songs. bogus. it's funny as a free Web project--not so funny as a commercial CD.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:18 PM on March 12, 2004

This would have made a great project for Tom Lehrer.
posted by PrinceValium at 2:38 PM on March 12, 2004

mrgrimm - Now that you mention it, they might be nice as done by Leonard Cohen.

Like, imagine "The Unknown" set to the music of Cohen's "Suzanne" :

"As we know, There are known knowns, and
There are those things we know we

Know and we also know there are known unknowns,
and, that is

to say We know that there are some things
We do not know, but there are

also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know
We don't know, and...."

The phrasing is off, I think - I haven't listened to "Suzanne" in a while. You get the idea. Slight liberties taken with the text, and there aren't enough verses. But - with slight tweaking - it could loop back on itself. It would be quite pretty.

Maybe y'all - xmutex and mrgrimm - are right.

For some reason, the Beatles "Julia", as music, also comes to mind. I'd prefer something wistful to set it to, though the other extreme - hard edged - could be nice too.
posted by troutfishing at 2:46 PM on March 12, 2004

ooh, that Leonard Cohen suggestion is a great one! i bet he even might be willing to do it.

there is something sorrowful and deeply pensive in the lyrics. they deserve more than throwaway music.

yes, hardcore punk or thrash metal could work well too, but it would be a much harder task to pull off. i vote for wistful folk.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:57 PM on March 12, 2004

Well then, that's settled. The piece about the prize machine, the one with the crane claw ( what the hell ARE these things called, anyway, or do they lack a name? - some little kid crawled into and got stuck in of these recently ) seems somehow deeply sorrowful to me, a lament of childhood's magic long disappeared in the well of time.

"Rumsfeld's lament"? -

How about Judy Collins' "Both Sides Now"? It doesn't quite fit, but it's the best I can do at the moment.
posted by troutfishing at 3:12 PM on March 12, 2004

I wasn't thinking so much of Cohen, but of the vocal stylings of Diamonda Galas.
posted by elwoodwiles at 3:34 PM on March 12, 2004

NPR's Morning Edition had a segment on the songs this morning.
posted by gluechunk at 3:42 PM on March 12, 2004

Lots
Of
Blue
Real
Estate
Used,
Possible
Use
Of
[more
Within,
Or,
Inside]
Would
Be
Appreciated.
Otherwise,
Great
Post.
posted by hama7 at 5:57 PM on March 12, 2004

Am I the only person that didn't have trouble understanding the infamous Rumsfeld quote? Not that I like the guy, and he has said stranger things, but really, that is not a very complex statement/thought
posted by efalk at 6:37 PM on March 12, 2004

I think it's more like one of SCTV's "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy."
posted by five fresh fish at 7:47 PM on March 12, 2004

I thought about Rumsfeld's "The Known" tonight during my daily run (like a hamster in a wheel?) and came up with a neo-Buddhist adaptation :

"There are the known knowns, and there are the known unknowns.

There are the known unknowns, and there are the unknown unknowns.

These comprise a totality, perfect.

But, in the end, we die alone - bereft of reference.

So where, then, are we?"
posted by troutfishing at 8:10 PM on March 12, 2004

efalk: no, you're not. He's spelling out a basic principle of intelligence and information science. People need to get over it.
posted by azazello at 10:02 PM on March 12, 2004

azazello - that is true, yes, but I would still consider this only the first order of understanding.
posted by troutfishing at 11:02 PM on March 12, 2004

Actually, there are also the 'unknown knowns,' which are things that we don't know that we know. Which could be such things as stereotypes or how to walk. Which isn't useful in an intelligence setting, but comprises most of the field of psychology.
posted by stoneegg21 at 12:51 PM on March 13, 2004

someone call in Pinksy
posted by clavdivs at 1:35 PM on March 13, 2004

stoneegg21 - I actually meant to type 'unknown knowns' there in my little symmetrical formulation. All the knowns and unknowns swimming around in my head muddled my typing.

There are an awful lot of unknown knowns in life, I find.
posted by troutfishing at 2:37 PM on March 13, 2004