Music is to do with whatever you think it's to do with. Maybe god, maybe living, maybe loss, maybe joy, maybe a plane flying over going somewhere.
Music is brilliant because it can be anything, maybe music is god.
BUT! How fortunate we are that we can still read him, can memorize his writing, + can posts things like that! What a great writer he was. We were made to read him in the 7th grade. Whole books of his. In the Deep South. Imagine!
I met him during the sound editing phase of "Mother Night". What a gracious and lovely man he was to me. I was star struck - "Welcome to the Monkey House" was one of my favorite books of all time, and Cat's Cradle introduced me to calypso. I loved that man.
A beautiful quote. 🎶 Thank you for sharing it and reminding us how great a writer Kurt Vonnegut was. We can still read what he wrote… and borrow his books that wait for us on library shelves, 📚 lucky us! “Slaughterhouse-Five” is one of the best books I’ve ever read.
If you haven't, you should try to find, and watch, One Giant Leap. One of the subjects interviewed during the movie is Kurt. If you can't find the movie, the song Daphne has a small spoken word intro that includes a variation of this quote. It's also a beautiful song.
I read all of his novels and autobiographical collages over the summer in college. Man, he hated Geraldo, and the dude acts like they were best friends!
"We do, doodly do, doodly do
what we must, muddily must, muddily must
while we can, cannily can, cannily can
till we bust, bodily bust, bodily bust."
- Bokonon, in Cat's Cradle
I love Vonnegut but that quote takes credit away from man. Man created music, no some made up sky wizard. If you need a god to see how amazing humans are without one, I pity you.
What's so disingenuous about it? Saying it's the effort/creativity of something nobody can ever prove exists takes away from the merit of the actual creators, humans. Oh and being an atheist does in fact mean yo don't believe in anything.
no. being an atheist means you dont believe in gods. there are things that do exist that can and do ellicit belief that have nothing to do with the supernatural. people who say atheists believe in nothing almost always have a controlling agenda. your spin is tired af. propaganda better.
It is poetic license! Of course Vonnegut didn't actually believe he might not die. He is playing with the reader's expectations and using a turn of phrase in a playful but pointed way.
Funny. Just two days ago, when i was convinced that everything in the world had turned to shit, I had the comforting thought, that there would always be writers. There will always be stories. And art. And music.
I got the news of his death from a newspaper in the office at work ... and managed to make it to a secluded section of the warehouse before the sobbing started.
In high school, I'd not yet read any of his work. My teacher handed me the last paper I wrote face down and said "You know, you write a lot like Kurt Vonnegut." I recognized the name and felt a blush. Then she leaned down, and peering over her glasses said "I hate Kurt Vonnegut."
Always a warm place in my heart for Kurt vonnegut. Many fond memories of reading his books with great amusement over the years. He would have had a lot to say about the present times, to be sure!
I ended up reading a lot of Vonnegut's work as a teen and young adult. "Deadeye Dick" was the one I started with, but "Cat's Cradle" and "Slaughterhouse Five" are the ones I will always come back to. So it goes.
Music is proof of the sublime. Our spirits can soar. 🎶 For some, it’s proof of the Divine. To each his own. I like the Vonnegut quote. Of course, last night’s wonderful concert is still ringing in my ears 😊 ❤️
Kurt Vonnegut stated that "the only proof he needed for the existence of God was music". This quote, often used as a quote in his last book, Man Without a Country, suggests that music, specifically the blues, provided him with a sense of divine magic and solace.
~Google AI
I love this quote. Every time I see the end scene in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey where they play God Gave Rock and Roll To You where everyone all over the world is just rocking out I get sad. Why can't we have that world? Why can't we have nice things.
Not sure I understand, something to do with being brainwashed with something that's obviously not true, and coming to terms with it by having things that are enjoyable?
Kurt Vonnegut was impressive. He used to say that when he thought about a book, he always tried to find something with humor, and if he didn't find it, he decided to abandon the project. I also try to do so, but at my age I'm a bit agressive, cause I don't want this lack of Justice we have.
“The waitress brought me another drink. She wanted to light my hurricane lamp again. I wouldn't let her.
"Can you see anything in the dark, with your sunglasses on?" she asked me.
"The big show is inside my head," I said.”
Do you know his eulogy to Isaac Asimov? At the Ethical Culture Society? Looked up from the podium to the ceiling and said, "Ike is in heaven now." Brought the house down.
I just know that he was a big part of my youth and I so respected his outlooks on anything. He was a genius at pulling you into the writing
R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut gone but never forgotten
I didn't really "get" Kurt Vonnegut until I got a little older. He was so direct and clear with his prose. To my agnostic friends I say that he states one profound reason to at least consider God, even though I'm not particularly religious!
His stories emphasize that people should love and care for those around them, no matter how cruel and surreal the world becomes, has been my touchstone since COVID. His stories are the only way I make sense of the world anymore.
Comments
Nobody wants 99 year old Kurt Vonnegut. Especially Kurt Vonnegut.
and shared
Kennedy center is liberated,
may there be a Vonnegut
award for humanitarianism.
Music is brilliant because it can be anything, maybe music is god.
All of that is life.
Maybe it can be god, whatever that means.
But also, maybe it isn’t.
(I'm mocking Elon Musk, in case it's not clear. He desperately NEEDS to get therapy. THE WORLD needs him to get therapy.)
https://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/
& the ironic.
'high hopes.'
what we must, muddily must, muddily must
while we can, cannily can, cannily can
till we bust, bodily bust, bodily bust."
- Bokonon, in Cat's Cradle
Entirely.
&
Or simply sky dad format ?
just because someone is an atheist doesnt mean ANYTHING CLOSE to they believe in nothing
Teos means gods, a- prefix is "not". So, no gods.
You have the arrogance to believe that out of 4,000 gods that are being worshiped in this world that yours is the right one.
That's pretty messed up.
feels like you're hanging out for an hour...
and that smoky raspy laugh
🎶🎶🎶
I claim Bokonism
He was one of the good ones.
He was a great artist as well.
You do know that we all die right. So that makes it not "If I should die." but ,when I die.
And I would still say this: The world needs sane atheists 10,000 times more than religious fanatics.
Rape of 5 year old girls proves he doesn’t exist.
Funny
Smart
FUN
https://www.amazon.com/I-Hated-Do-Stories-Life/dp/0795345089
Rest In Peace Kurt!
May the after-earth be greater than any of us have ever imagined.
It provides the evidence for the existence of musicians.
~Google AI
Humans did not event music. We just figured out how to write it down and formalize it.
Music first evolved in nature and speech is an evolution of music.
It is proof of evolution, not any gods.
But I'm thunder struck by how he expressed a sentiment I'd recently considered, myself.
If the transcendent is quantum entangled, then music is that window to the ephemeral.
Vonnegut was there as a POW
He outed them
Anyway, he's not dead. He's just in a bad state. So it goes.
Use two sticks to make it in the nature
"Can you see anything in the dark, with your sunglasses on?" she asked me.
"The big show is inside my head," I said.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions
https://youtu.be/FHO6a2H-pqY?si=FSZlj2FS6gK6Eo_3
R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut gone but never forgotten
He was fantastic
guessing it will be one, until the end of time.