Edentata

This morning was unusual; I did not wake up from uneasy dreams, though as per usual I did find myself transformed into a giant vermin. Don’t worry that goes away after my first cup of coffee. To be honest that was yesterday morning. As I was walking, I planned that opening, then for reasons unknown I didn’t blog. Unfortunately, that’s all I remember of what I planned. You’ll have to take my word that it was brilliant.

I wrote that, then got distracted by three phone calls. My conversation with Gen triggered my memory, We were talking about armadillos which led to edentates, an order of insectivorous mammals that lack incisor and canine teeth. I had forgotten that they have the back teeth to chew the insects they catch with the tongues. No, my topic is not anteaters and their relatives. It’s teeth, the metaphorical teeth of songs.

Years ago, I was talking a musician friend about another musician whose songs I was not fond of. I thought them bland, but friend put it much better, “Her songs have no teeth.” That kind of imagery is what makes my friend a great songwriter. She is not a particularly toothy songwriter. She’s not a shark or tiger like Dylan, Ani DiFranco, or Dan Bern. Oh the shark babe, has such teeth dear, and it shows them pearly white. I don’t require fangs. Think not even of a wolf but of a dog or even a cat. They don’t show their teeth pearly white but they can bite when they need to. That’s all the teeth I need in a song. I don’t want songs that gather their ideas with sticky tongues but takes healthy bites.

When I talk about nice people playing nice songs nicely, I often mean toothless musical anteaters. I don’t want musical mush but something to shake you up. To change metaphors, I want my music spicy, even if that keeps some listeners away. Everyone can handle clear broth, but does anyone love it? I don’t. Man does not live by bread alone; the bread needs something on it. If you describe a song as sweet and soothing, I probably won’t like it. I said, probably because there are those with sufficient genius to summon those feelings while delivering intellectual nutrition.

What brought this line of thought on was listening to a string of songs on different platforms, that all lacked teach. I felt I was dying the death of a thousand licks. My objections are only about musical edentates, the animals are great. How can you not love an anteater or armadillo? Even when I’m being silly, I do research and discovered that my biology is out of date. Anteaters and armadillos are no longer considered edentates (meaning toothless). The order edentata is no more. The new world members, anteaters, armadillos, and sloths are in the order Xenarthra. The old world former edentates aardvarks and pangolins, each have their own order. I love all of them and if toothless songs were adorable and weird as them, I would love the too. Of course, if they were weird, I wouldn’t call them toothless. How much do I love the toothless long-snouted insectivores? Gen is a photographer, and when she asked me which photo of hers, I wanted a print of I chose the one at the top of the page. If you like it, you can find it here minus the watermark: Late Shift Media.