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Volume 22, Number 1/2/3 (1998) reprinted by permission Legal Studies Forum LAW AND POPULAR MUSIC: AN ÉTUDE IN TWO MOVEMENTS MICHAEL L. RICHMOND* First movement—Adagio THE ARC OF LOVE: DIVORCE AND SEPARATION IN THE SONGS OF PAUL SIMON We can experience another’s feelings and emotions through poetry— emotions and circumstances to which we would not otherwise have access. Paul Simon, through his songs, offers us the same experience as do poets through their work.4 As Simon said in a 1986 interview, “I suppose an artist is someone who takes the elements of his life and rearranges them and then has them perceived by others as though they were the elements of their lives.”5 A poet, a songwriter, an artist, a novelist—all attempt to give the auditor or reader self-awareness from their words. Simon’s personal experiences with divorce and separation as expressed in his music provide attorneys an opportunity for a vicarious experience that might promote a better understanding of clients and their viewpoints. Simon sees truth as a goal in his song writing, a truth that extends beyond the reality of his personal experience.6 “I’ve always believed that you need a truthful first line to kick you off into a song. You have to say something emotionally true before you can let your imagination wander.”7 Simon cites John Lennon as another songwriter who presents his audience with “little stories that are enigmatic” and from which the audience can derive their own truths. Unlike Lennon, however, Simon feels he adds an element beyond the simple story. “I try to open up my heart as much as I can and keep a real keen eye out that I don’t get sentimental. I think we’re all afraid to reveal our hearts. It’s not at all in fashion.... So I try to reveal. And when you hit it right, you produce an emotional response in the listener that can be cathartic.”8 Simon also notes a personal benefit from opening himself up in his songs, for in writing emotionally Simon discovers that his songs “relieve the tensions that I feel when I express them.”9 Simon relates an experience which occurred during therapy. In discussing writer’s block with his analyst, he stated: “My problem is that I really don’t see what difference it makes if I write or don’t write.”10 Simon came to realize that he did make a difference to many people through the songs that he wrote—that he did not need to evaluate the songs but simply to write them. Others would take from the songs what mattered to them, and in writing the songs, Simon would satisfy his won needs as an artist. Critics observed that Simon has lived through three divorces: from his first wife Peggy Harper, his second wife Carrie Fisher, and (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) before both of them from Art Garfunkel.11 All three breakups have found their way into Simon’s songs—both directly and indirectly.12 So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright actually related to Garfunkel. “Artie had been an architecture student. ‘I can’t believe your song is gone so soon/I barely learned the tune.... So long. So long.’ It was direct.”13 Train in the Distance sketched Simon’s relationship with Peggy Harper—from their courtship through the ultimate erosion of their marriage. “And in a while, they just fell apart/It wasn’t hard to do.”14 The most emotionally draining of the three breakups, that with Fisher, worked its way into several songs—most notably Hearts and Bones. The first line, “One and one-half wandering Jews,” refers to Simon and to Fisher, the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Simon’s writing about broken relationships significantly antedated the sundering of any of the three “marriages.” Red Rubber Ball, a song written by Simon for The Cyrkle to perform, contains lyrics displaying a sort of teenaged fatalistic bitterness about the end of a relationship. I’ve got my life to liveI Am a Rock, written the same year, echoes the same feelings but in a far more sophisticated manner: Don’t talk of love;As an interesting sidelight of comparing the two songs, note the way the rhythm of the two influences the listeners. The bouncy, upbeat tempo of Red Rubber Ball (marked “moderately bright” in the score and written in cut time) suggests not merely the relief and optimism with which the singer greets the end of the affair, but also a hint of the immaturity and insouciance which accompanies teenage relationships which seem intense at the time, but resolve themselves into little more than learning experiences. In contrast, Simon uses the brooding tempo and 4/4 timing of I Am a Rock to suggest a more ominous and mature melancholy which manifests itself in the final line: “Hiding in my room,/Safe within my womb,/I touch no one and no one touches me.” Simon later would stress the concept of rhythm itself communicating a deeper message, and his earlier writing also demonstrates his dedication to making a deceptively simple rock and roll song embody a unifi-ed, total package in which each part must complement the others. “If you take a song that has some rhythm to it...and I don’t get the rhythm right... then the song doesn’t seem real.” With the right rhythm, though, “the listener gives up his defense. You’re willing to entertain a number of ideas, you’re having that good a time.” Rhythm, he said, “is good for lyrics that express emotion. And in allowing emotion to speak, rhythm connects us in anger or in love, to others.”17 Again, Simon stresses that the artist must communicate, and the songwriter’s communication must appeal to a sense well beyond that of the five recognized senses—a sense of rhythm innately found in songwriter and audience alike. One message prevalent in Simon’s earlier songs dealing with parting rarely surfaces in his more mature, solo work. Only seldom does Simon dwell on the bitterness that breaking up might engender, a bitterness which pervaded the earlier efforts.18 In Graceland, for example, he introduces the concept of loss by writing: She comes back to tell me she’s goneBut Graceland presents a more complex picture than mere unhappiness. As noted later, Graceland demonstrates that bitterness comes soon after the initial comprehension that a relationship has ended. (Kubler-Ross listed anger as only the second of her five stages of grief.)20 Ultimately, Graceland shows how for Simon the disintegration of a relationship can lead to deep self-awareness and new beginnings. More elementally, Simon speaks of hurt in the earlier Congratulations. “I ain’t had such misery/ Since I don’t know when.” Again, “Love will do you in/And love will wash you out/And needless to say/You won’t stand a chance.”21 Even the very pointed Congratulations diverges markedly from the earlier works. The text suggests at the end that Simon wants to treat his bitterness as a learning experience: “I’m hungry for learning/Won’t you answer me please/Can a man and a woman/Live together in peace?” But the message in Congratulations transcends the text. Remember that for Simon a song is more than its words. “What the song form has that the short-story form doesn’t is melody. Melodies are inexplicable; they’re magic. Combine certain words with melodies and it all becomes very moving.”22 Critics have also noted that Simon masters the interdepen-dency of the various elements of a song. “The music extends and enriches the language while the lyrics meditate on the music.”23 The music and rhythm of Congratulations offer a far more complex message than the simpler, early works. Simon wrote Congratulations in 3/4 time—waltz tempo—thus electing to put this plaintive message in a rhythm normally used for soft moments and love songs. The chording also reflects a far greater complexity than the basic progressions of Red Rubber Ball and the only slightly more involved ones of I Am a Rock. Now, we find the underlying D-G-Em-A rock and roll progression embellished by such arcane intermediate chords as A11 and C#7-5, together with liberal use of alternate bass strings.24 It does not stretch reason to conclude that Simon has chosen to present themes from his earlier songs in such a way as to demonstrate continuing growth and maturity as a songwriter. Congratulations contains Simon’s only lyrics directly related to the legal profession. “I notice so many people/Slipping away/And many more waiting in the lines/In the courtrooms today.” Unlike many other authors involved in divorce, Simon refuses to affix blame externally, realizing that relationships fade because of the people and not the attorneys who serve them. Few songwriters follow this path. Indeed, most delight in taking the opportunity to lawyer-bash. Don Henley, for example, took dead aim at the legal profession on his End of the Innocence album: “A man with a briefcase/Can steal more money/Than any man can with a gun.”25 Although Simon does not ignore the bitterness caused by divorce, he does not often focus on it. Rather, his songs speak of emptiness and disappointment—yet not for the emotions themselves but with the realization that we must move beyond them. As early in his career as the highly successful Bookends album26—the penultimate Simon and Garfunkel offering—Simon in his song Overs explored the concept that the end of relationships saddens rather than embitters. Why don’t we stop fooling ourselves But each time I try on the thought of leavin’ you Train in the Distance, written after Simon’s first marriage ended, reflects a similar reaction. The title itself evokes the mournful sound of the distant train whistle, and yet for Simon the train served as a metaphor for new opportunities. “There’s something about the sound of a train that’s very romantic and nostalgic and hopeful.”28 The song itself echoes this message, in showing a relationship from its beginnings through its slow disintegration to the point where the parties have turned into “Two disappointed believers/Two people playing the game.” Even here, Simon refuses to make disappointment his dominant message. He uses the train to stress that the players in his game, even while realizing that the game has ended, still recognize that hope remains. Simon later noted that Train in the Distance provided a clear example of how he went about writing. Based on the factual framework of his courting Peggy Harper and the end of their marriage, the song then moved beyond the facts. “I told a story, and then I used the metaphor. And then I thought, I don’t think people are going to understand what I mean [by the train]. And I don’t want to be enigmatic. So I added: ‘What is the point of this story? What information pertains?/The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains.’ And that was my writer’s point of view. That we’ve survived by believing our life is going to get better.”29 Simon’s marriage to Harper broke up because: “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t understand what marriage meant, really. I didn’t understand that if things were uncomfortable or you were unhappy, you could work it out.”30 The divorce pushed Simon into a bout of depression, and caused him to write Still Crazy After All These Years. “I was staying in a Manhattan hotel.... I was pretty depressed, just sitting and looking out the window. That’s all I used to do.... ‘Now I sit by my window and I watch the cars....’”31 But here again, the message of the song differs markedly from the facially similar I Am a Rock. In the earlier song, Simon depicted a withdrawal from the world so total that he commented: “I get all the news I need from the weather report.” The Simon of Still Crazy can get out, interact with his “old lover,” and speak of his condition in words overlaid with a wry, humorous outlook. Simon’s life also reflects the positive side of Still Crazy. He continues his interaction with Harper on a cordial basis, as reflected in Train in the Distance. “But now the man and the woman remain in contact/Let us say it’s for the child.../From time to time he just makes her laugh/She cooks a meal or two.” He also maintains an ongoing relationship with Fisher, although some commentators suggest her novel Surrender the Pink has strained it due to a character said to represent Simon.32 Simon, however, has said that even though he has remarried his relationship with Fisher “was a powerful love. And it still is.”33 And, despite deep mutual wounds and artistic differences, Simon and Garfunkel do sporadically appear together. On the Still Crazy album, Simon sings the nostalgic I Do It For Your Love, in which he reminisces about the early days of a relationship. Despite overcast skies, musty rooms, and trading colds, the love which the two shared kept their outlook positive. With the ultimate passage of love, the negative experiences surfaced from memory with a bittersweet overtone. Here again, Simon stresses the positive aspects—the hope of Train in the Distance—even against the backdrop of “The sting of reason/The splash of tears/The northern and the southern/Hemispheres/ Love emerges/And it disappears/I do it for your love.”34 Simon’s divorce from Carrie Fisher would prove far more traumatic. After having lived together for a period of years, the two married at least in part “to save the relationship,” according to Fisher.35 Simon also suggests that their marriage came about as an effort to remain together. “My style is to procrastinate. It just made me real nervous. I had been married and divorced and found it really painful. But Carrie got frustrated, and she was preparing to leave again.”36 They spoke of their feelings for each other in similar terms, Simon saying: “That was an intense love affair,”37 and Fisher echoing: “That was a powerful love.”38 Despite the depth of their love for each other, as Simon’s brother commented, “They were so similar, it was almost like there wasn’t room for the two of them to exist in the same room.”39 The marriage ended, and Simon went into an emotional tailspin.40 Yet Simon’s willingness to speak through his songs of his own emotions proved the factor which saw him through the crisis. In the six months it took Simon to write Graceland, he had used the song to transform his personal inertia into a deeper realization of the interrelation between individual and music, between truth and emotion. In the retrospective works on the later Rhythm of the Saints album, Simon expressed the problem which initially confronted him: “Sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears.”41 Simon found in the South African quest which led to Graceland that for him music did not represent a substitute for tears, but rather that he found the truth he constantly sought in his music and the tears could not eradicate the truth. In Under African Skies Simon wrote of the inevitable process which led to his inner healing. After the dream of falling/ and calling your name out,Simon’s return to what truly mattered—the foundations of music and of his reality—permitted him to overcome paralyzing grief. Graceland for Simon represented the rejection of his unsuccessful personal relationships in favor of the music which had been so real to him since childhood. Graceland begins with one of Simon’s truths: “The Mississippi Delta was shining/Like a National guitar.” The simile Simon uses presages the message of the song—reality is known by way of music. Simon, together with “Poorboys and Pilgrims with families...are going to Graceland.” Graceland—the home of Elvis Presley and at the same time a metaphor for what Simon viewed as “a state of grace, a state of acceptance.”42 Elvis represented two things for Simon. First, “[m]y main influences in early music were Fifties R&B, fifties doo-wop groups, Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers.”43 But Elvis’ influence on Simon had a much darker meaning as well. “For, as much as I idolized him, the lesson of his life—what happens to people with tremendous gifts in their youth—was terrible. His lesson was that you go to Las Vegas and stop thinking and live in an insulated world where you can get as many drugs as you want. That’s very destructive.”44 Elvis represented to Simon the danger of letting his talent stagnate, of losing the meaning in his music as he lost the meaning in his personal relationships. Yet Elvis’ influence on Simon’s music served as merely a surface rationale for looking toward Graceland. An episode early in his relationship with Art Garfunkel also involved Elvis, at least in an oblique way, and has affected their friendship to the present day. [D]uring this time we were singing together, I made a solo record. And it made Artie very unhappy. He looked upon it as something of a betrayal. That sense of betrayal has remained with him. That solo record that I made at the age of 15 permanently colored our relationship. We were talking about it recently and I said, “Artie, for Christ’s sake, I was 15 years old! How can you carry that betrayal for 25 years? Even if I was wrong, I was just a 15-year-old kid who wanted to be Elvis Presley for one moment instead of being the Everly Brothers with you. Even if you were hurt, let’s drop it.” But he won’t.... He said, “You’re still the same guy.” And I think he thinks I am.45The song was most likely Teen Age Fool,46 on which Simon’s voice adopts a mock Presley tremolo sound underneath a heavy rock-’n’-roll beat and a honking saxophone solo. When Simon began to write Graceland, he had “no intentions of writing about Elvis Presley, [but] the word ‘Graceland’ came very early.”47 Yet later he understood that: “When I went to Graceland, I realized that I could feel relaxed in the fact that the song had nothing to do with Elvis Presley or Graceland. It had to do with finding a metaphorical Graceland.”48 Simon recounts how Fisher said “Losing love/Is like a window in your heart/Everybody sees you’re blown apart/Everybody sees the wind blow.” Fisher echoed these words in her second novel, Surrender the Pink, when her protagonist learns that her ex-husband intends to remarry. “This knocked the wind out of Dinah. Something at her center dropped away, leaving an ache howling through her, a moaning somewhere inside her.”49 As Graceland progresses, Simon realizes that his “traveling companions/Are ghosts and empty sockets.” This understanding leads him to see that indeed, “Losing love/Is like a window in your heart.” And ultimately, he finds his grace in Graceland, in his “roots and rhythms.” Music, the essential rhythm and beat which underlies and gives meaning to the song, also underlay and gave meaning to Simon’s life.50 Many of the other Graceland songs also contribute to the picture of a sensitive man recovering from a deep personal loss.51 I Know What I Know shows the vapidity of the singles scene and the disenchantment and lack of commitment lurking in its bars and parties. “She looked me over/And I guess she thought/I was all right.” Gumboots follows much the same theme. “You don’t feel you could love me/But I feel you could.” Simon even approaches divorce from a humorous perspective through the character of Fat Charlie the Archangel in Crazy Love, Volume II. “Fat Charlie the Archangel/Files for divorce./He says well this will eat up a year of my life/And then there’s all that weight to be lost.”52 For attorneys these songs present a sensitive man suddenly cut loose from a meaningful relationship. Suddenly, he wanders aimlessly, looking for new meaning in interpersonal relations with the opposite sex, but finding only emptiness and triviality. Troubled by a sense of loss coupled with initial bitterness and “all that weight to be lost,” the sensitive man lacks a rudder and experiences an unfamiliar need for guidance. Not surprisingly, divorce clients present the same picture to their attorneys, at least to those attorneys acute enough to take the needs of their clients into account. Simon’s last word on his relationships comes with She Moves On, a song from Rhythm of the Saints which Simon acknowledges “has some Carrie in it.”53 “We take a walk/Down in the maroon light./She says ‘Maybe these emotions are/As near to love as love will ever be/So I agree.” Carrie Fisher moves on, as does Paul Simon. Simon is now married to Edie Brickell, and has produced a full retrospective CD collection of his songs with the cooperation of Art Garfunkel.54 The one-time law student who “essentially...flunked out”55 has put his “ghosts and empty sockets” behind him. He continues to reject the message of rock that began in the early 80’s and continues to this day: “Rock renews itself by spitting on anything sophisticated, on anything with more than a few chord changes or a complex arrangement.... The general illiteracy in our culture is also being seen in our music, which can be seen a real and brutal but totally unable to express mature or sophisticated thinking in a rhythmic way.”56 Paul Simon continues to demand truth in his music, for music demands roots in truth in order to speak to its listeners. By viewing works of popular culture, lawyers may gain insight into the way the public—potential clients—views them.59 Many others have chronicled the past decade as one in which popular culture has bleakly depicted lawyers as cold, amoral, self-serving characters too often devoid of humanity. Against this backdrop, the cast recording of Rent gives us a portrait of a human, caring, sensitive lawyer. Since Rent’s premiere, new “lawyer shows” have emerged on TV which also give us lawyers cast in the mold of caring, ethical, professionals—human beings with needs and desires similar to Joanne Jefferson.60 We first encounter Joanne when Mark tersely tells us that his old girlfriend, Maureen, dumped him to begin a lesbian relationship with Joanne.61 Shortly thereafter, we see a plainly frustrated Joanne speaking on the phone and telling Maureen that “I’m not a theater person...could never be a theater person.”62 We then hear a phone message from Joanne’s wealthy, politically prominent parents, in which they urge Joanne to attend “Mummy’s confirmation hearing” alone (without Maureen) and appropriately dressed (“no Doc Martens this time and wear a dress...and a bra!”).63 It seems that once again we have the lawyer cast in her typical musical comedy role—the blocking, pompous, bumbling figure who circles the outskirts of the plot as an object of derision and distaste for the audience.64 Yet our first full-blown exposure to Joanne reveals something more than a cardboard character inserted for the benefit of plot development. She and Mark find themselves thrown together as Mark repairs the audio equipment Joanne had ineptly snarled up. In the musical number Tango: Maureen, Joanne proves herself sensitive and vulnerable as she and Mark compare notes on the less-than-faithful Maureen. “When you’re dancing her dance/ You don’t stand a chance/ Her grip of romance/ Makes you fall/ So you think ‘might as well/ Dance a tango to Hell’/ At least I’ll have tangoed at all.”65 Later, we see that although Joanne and theater don’t mix very well, as an attorney Joanne presents a very different picture. Listen to her ability to juggle three phone conversations at the same time (two on her cellular phone and one on the pay phone). (On cellular phone) (Into cellular phone)We’re Okay also demonstrates that Joanne will not cater to political expediency, as she refuses to hide her relationship with Maureen and tells her father that she fully intends to bring Maureen to “Mummy’s” hearings. Joanne rejects hypocrisy and reveals an admirable inner strength. Joanne enters at the beginning of Act II, to provide a solution for our heroes who Benny has locked out of their apartment building. “I did a bit of research/ With my friends at legal aid/ Technically, you’re squatters/ There’s hope.”67 In fact, Rent here refers to a well-publicized case from Federal court in New York where the District Court held: In order to prevail [in an action for injunctive relief based on a section 1983 civil rights action], plaintiffs will be required to establish a conscious and deliberate policy decision by the defendants [Mayor Rudy Giulani and the New York City commissioner of housing] to tolerate and acquiesce in the occupancy of apartments in vacant and partially occupied in rem properties by homeless families for residential purposes.68Not only Joanne the civil rights attorney, but the legal system as well, appear as facilitating rather than blocking forces. The heroes and those associated with them will win the day with the law on their side. Joanne does, however, suggest that self-help might also prove more appropriate and rather than wait for the slow mechanism of the law to reopen the doors of the apartment, she brings a length of rope to help Mark and Roger break into the building. Joanne and Maureen have weathered a difficult relationship, but wind up separating (temporarily) in Take Me or Leave Me, where Maureen first tells Joanne that although she may flirt with others, she’s always true to Joanne in her fashion. Joanne then gives us an acute insight into her character. Joanne describes herself as incredibly organized, but when Maureen translates that organization into anal-retentiveness, Joanne refuses to bear the insult and the two split up. Joanne: I look before I leap/ I love margins and discipline/ I make lists in my sleep/ Baby what’s my sin?The two ultimately reconcile after Joanne accuses Maureen of not admitting that she existed, and tells Maureen she wants “Someone to live for—unafraid/ To say I love you.”70 Joanne—the organized, smug, over-attentive lawyer—voices the very human feeling of need and warmth rather than Maureen—the object of desire and the externally passionate “tiger in a cage.”71 Joanne represents for the first time in several years of negative imagery, the lawyer as sensitive, caring human being. Not immune to her own inner needs, Joanne can wear her heart on her sleeve while at the same time retaining her professionalism. She combines the precision of the legal profession with the humanity contemporary authors have tended to write out of their lawyer-characters. Fredi Walker, the actress who created the role of Joanne and still plays her on Broadway, very kindly wrote to assist in the preparation of this paper.72 “Joanne is a part of me and so she would be as competent as I am. I am not an attorney...but if I were, I would apply the same diligence and efficiency that I strive to bring to all my endeavors. I am truly ‘anal retentive’... I do ‘make lists in my sleep’. As for margins and discipline...they have their place as useful life tools and I utilize them as necessary. However, I do not subscribe to a life without pleasure and am more than willing to bend or break a rule or two. That may be why I am not a lawyer. I don’t know that I would be able to live with decisions that I knew were unjust but had to be carried out by letter of the law.”73 When describing how Joanne’s humanity and profession interact, Walker notes that “All of the characters in Rent...are driven by the personal needs for love, communication, and evolution (via self-expression) and that would remain the same no matter who they were or what they did.”74 Walker relates Joanne’s legal practice to her humanity. “I definitely believe that it is because of Joanne’s human belief that she chose to become a Civil Rights lawyer as opposed to a corporate lawyer. Her mother is a Senator (or running for the office) and she comes from wealth. She definitely suffers from ‘rich-kid quilt’ in that way and it is only exacerbated by the fact that she is black and a lesbian. She chose to work with those on the edge of society to remind her of her chosen spiritual priorities. She (like the others in Rent) have chosen (whether consciously or subconsciously) to accept all beings as equals if not necessarily as friends.... The woman went to ‘Miss Porter’s’—what d’ya want? So you can see where she would be willing to work with the homeless if not necessarily luncheon with them. There are some parts of your upbringing that you just can’t escape.”75 Fredi Walker’s view of lawyers and the law must have affected her decision on how to play Joanne. “How do you accept the lawyer who is willing to represent the interests of her clients no matter how heinous those interests may be? How to excuse the lawmakers who are so blatantly self-serving and corrupt? Is it any wonder there is no trust, particularly when the ‘average American’ could easily be subject to intense aggravation and expense for violation of laws that are all but incomprehensible to him? A mere traffic ticket could end up ruining the uneducated and unprepared. I believe that most people feel at the mercy of the law, which is not a good thing at all.”76 Walker urges that our educational system should teach some basic legal concepts, perhaps at the high school level. “An understanding of one’s basic rights could literally save the lives of some inner city youth who face the threat of arrest and police brutality on a daily basis, not to mention the young mothers struggling to deal with the complexities of the Welfare/Social Service system. [People should be] able to utilize the law as a tool as opposed to being subjugated by it as an awesome, incomprehensible oppressor.”77 What Walker describes, law schools around the country now provide through courses and programs in “Street Law,” where law students teach high school classes designed to impart “survival” knowledge of the law.78 Walker concludes by relating her experience as a temp for a legal office. Although she liked her boss, the office still contained “stereotypes like the guy who said to me, ‘Why do you speak to us lawyers as if we are your equals?’ I asked him if he had been Deified at lunch and if I’d missed it. He definitely gives lawyers a bad name.”79 It was my lucky today on Avenue A/ When a lady in a limousine drove my way/ She said, “Dahling—be a dear—haven’t slept in a year/ I need your help to make my neighbor’s yappy dog disappear.” “This Akita—Evita—just won’t shut up/ I believe if you play non-stop that pup/ Will breathe its very last high-strung breath/ I’m certain that cur will bark itself to death.” ....Angel could not have foretold the death of the dog. Foreseeability, a negligence concept, has no place in the world of intentional torts.82 Thus, Angel could not incur liability for trespass to chattels. His drumming caused the dog to jump to its death, true, but he never intended that result. On the other hand, the Lady in the Limousine meant for the dog to die. We might, together with Angel, consider the result remarkably far-fetched, but she set in motion a chain of events that led to the result she desired. Note also that the precise manner of the dog’s death does not matter. Although she expected “that cur will bark itself to death,” and Evita actually jumped out of a 23rd story window, she meant harm to come to the chattel of another—to interfere with the rightful owner’s possessory interests.83 It only adds to the fun when later in the play we learn that Evita belonged to Benny—the odious landlord and villain of the musical. However, a study of Joanne Jefferson and legal themes in Rent does not disclose the deeper, underlying themes of the musical—the need for meaningful personal commitment and the need to live life in its fullest in a world where the spectre of death accompanies every waking moment of a person infected with the HIV virus. Larson portrays the fears of so many by having members of an HIV life support group sing the following fugue: “Will I lose my dignity/ Will someone care/ Will I wake tomorrow/ From this nightmare?”84 Ultimately, the play ends on a positive message. After the characters reprise “Will I,” they add the final coda which ends the play and answers the questions they have just posed: “There’s only now/ There’s only here/ Give in to love/ Or live in fear/ No other path/ No other way/ No day but today.”85 53. Stearns, supra note 32. 54. Cantor, supra note 17. The album notes to the retrospective collection, Paul Simon, 1964-1993 contain the following commentary on the breakup: “Simon And Garfunkel’s relationship continued to have joyous moments as well as the oft-reported conflagrations. Since the split, they have guested on each other’s records, undertaken a lengthy tour in the early 80’s and performed together onstage as recently as March 1993.” KEVIN HOWLETT, THE EARLY YEARS, in ALBUM NOTES TO PAUL SIMON, 1964-1993 (1993), at 11. 55. PLAYBOY interview, supra note 5. 56. Greg Kot, Still Crazy After All These Years, Chicago Tribune, Oct. 10, 1993, Arts Sec. at 18. 57. Jonathan Larson, Rent (1996)(hereinafter Rent). 58. See generally Anthony Tommasini, The Seven-Year Odyssey That Led to ‘Rent’, N.Y. Times, March 17, 1996, §2, at 7; David Lipsky, Impossible Dream, US, November 1996, at 103. 59. “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us/ To see oursels as others see us!/ It wad frae monie a blunder free us/ An’ foolish notion:/ What airs in dress an’ gaid wad lea’e us,/ And ev’n Devotion!” Robert Burns, To a Louse (on seeing one on a lady’s bonnet at Church) (1785-86), in M. H. Abrams (ed.), 2 THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE 93 (4th ed. 1979). 60. E.g., Law and Order and The Practice. 61. “Tune Up #2”, Rent, Act I. 62. “Rent,” Rent, Act I. 63. “Voice Mail #2,” Rent, Act I. 64. Hanns Hohmann has set forth the thesis that the legal profession has not fared well in music. In his excellent study of opera and operetta, Hohmann posits that rarely, if ever, do we see a lawyer presented in other than a comic or venal light. Hanns Hohmann, Lawyers and Legal Arguments in Opera, a paper presented at the 1992 American Culture Association Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, March 18-21, 1992. 65. “Tango: Maureen,” Rent, Act I. 66. “We’re Okay,” Rent, Act I. 67. “Happy New Year,” Rent, Act II. 68. Walls v. Giuliani, 915 F. Supp. 214, 222 (E.D.N.Y. 1996). 69. “Take Me or Leave Me,” Rent, Act II. 70. “Goodbye Love,” Rent, Act II. 71. “Take Me or Leave Me,” Rent, Act II. 72. Letter from Fredi Walker to Michael L. Richmond, March 24, 1997 (on file with the author). 73. Id. 74. Id. 75. Id. 76. Id. 77. Id. 78. See, e.g., Edward T. McMahon, Lee P. Arbetman & Edward L. O’Brien, STREET LAW: A COURSE IN PRACTICAL LAW (3d ed., 1986). 79. Walker letter, supra note 65. 80. “The word ‘intent’ is used . . . to denote that the actor desires to cause consequences of his act, or that he believes that the consequences are substantially certain to result from it.” RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS, § 8A (1965) 81. “Today 4 U,” Rent, Act I. 82. Cf. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 435 (1965). 83. Id. at § 217. 84. “Will I,” Rent Act I. 85. “Finale B,” Rent Act II. |
