Dancing About Architecture

Factual Questions
1

“Writing/Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.”

This is more controversial than I thought. Who really did say it first, and which is the correct version? I always thought the “writing” part was the original. I’ve heard it attributed both to Frank Zappa and Grace Slick, along with about a dozen other people. When I tried to do some web research (like basing your doctoral thesis on comic books written by stoners) I found that someone had beaten me to it:

http://home.pacifier.com/~ascott/they/tamildaa.htm

If anyone has a solid cite, I’d like to see it.

Kevin B.

2

I guess I’m ignoring your request for a solid cite. In fact this is a complete WAG, but it sounds like something Lester Bangs would have said.

3

I have heard many times that it was Elvis Costello.

I just read Let it Blurt, the Bangs autobiography, and there’s no mention of the qiote, not that that really means anything.

4

I was about to ask the exact same question, but as this thread is here and very, very short, I’ll resurrect this one.

I’ve seen the quote attributed to Laurie Anderson, Elvis Costello, Frank Zappa, Martin Mull, William Burroughs, and a few others; Google is no help at all.

So once again – does anyone have any ideas where to look for an answer to this?

5

Isn’t that the quote used in the film Playing By Heart? Angelina Jolies character says it to Ryan Phillipes character iirc. Will check the DVD later see if there is any info.

6

That’s the one - I believe the film was going to be called Dancing About Architecture originally.

I have a suspicion it predates Zappa, and possibly WWII.

7

“Writing about music is like dancing about architcture-it’s a really stupid thing to do.”

-Elvis Costello, in an interview by Timothy White entitled “A man out of time beats the clock”, Musician magazine no. 60.

From this website, which considers the above the strongest of several possible attributions.

8

Same one mentioned in the OP. It’s “strong” in the sense that we know Elvis said it; the question is, did he say it first?

9

:smack:

I posted the same f******* link that’s in the OP!

10

Wow. I always thought it was a Steve Martin quote. Sorry, no cite; I just seem to remember him saying it in a routine. It’s a very memorable line, so it’s a shame if he nicked it without attributing it.

11

I think it’s unlikely that it came from William S. Burroughs.

Laurie Anderson used this quote in her concert movie Home of the Brave. If I remember correctly, it’s not spoken, but projected on a large screen behind her. Anderson worked with Burroughs, and in fact he is on stage with her in this concert, but she credits the quote to Steve Martin.

12

I thought it was originally by Kurt Vonnegut.

13

Ooops, no cite. yet.

14

Always heard it was Elvis Costello. He was cited as the orgininator in the program of a ballet I attended some years ago called “Build It.” It was performed by a Winston-Salem (NC) dance company and choreographed by its founder, who has since died and whose name I can’t recall at the moment. The company did indeed dance about architecture, and constructed the frame of a fairly tall building during the course of the ballet. I liked it.