Some of you knew these deepfake thoughts were coming. Might as well finish side one.
Elton.
When we last met, I had discussed the othertwo tracks from side one of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” Of course albums no longer have sides, but these three tracks/four songs give an idea of the breadth of Elton John’s first double album.
But this isn’t merely a music review. It also has to satisfy an Important Purpose. So this post about “Bennie and the Jets” will talk about…deepfakes.
Is it live?
After all the negativity that started the album, it was time for a little joy.
Bennie and the Jets.
A happy song about a band.
About fans who read things in magazines.
All topped off by Elton’s charged performance in front of a live, cheering audience.
Um…no.
While Elton John has given many live performances, the recording of “Bennie and the Jets” is not one of them.
“Elton’s producer Gus Dudgeon wanted a live feel on this recording, so he mixed in crowd noise from a show Elton played in 1972 at Royal Festival Hall. He also included a series of whistles from a live concert in Vancouver B.C., and added hand claps and various shouts.”
But in retrospect, I can’t imagine the song as a straight studio recording. Dudgeon was right: it HAD to sound live.
And that “live” performance yielded a bigger surprise…and Reginald Dwight was most surprised of all.
Reginald Dwight, soul god
For those who don’t know who Reginald Dwight is, he was born in 1947 in an English town. A shy boy whose parents divorced in his teens, the most notable aspect of his life was his piano talent. He obviously wasn’t going to become a banker as his father originally intended.
Oh, and one more thing. Dwight was Caucasian. And all of his reinventions, including his adoption of the stage name Elton John, wasn’t going to alter that.
But Elton was pretty fly for a white guy. Worked his way up to musical ladder until he achieved success on his own. First with some notable performances, then some hit albums, then some number ones.
“When Elton recorded “Bennie And The Jets,” MCA, his label, wanted to make the song a single. Elton disagreed vociferously. His pick was “Candle In The Wind”…”
What persuaded Elton to change his mind…at least in the North American market?
“But Elton was swayed when “Bennie And The Jets” started doing well on Detroit R&B radio.”
Yes, R&B. “Bennie and the Jets” reached #15 on Billboard’s R&B charts. Which both pleased and amused Elton.
“What am I going to do on my next American tour? Play the Apollo for a week, open with ‘Bennie,’ and then say, ‘Thanks, you can all go home now.'”
If only there were a forum where he could play a single song for a large black audience…
Don Cornelius was all too happy to provide the forum.
Soul Train.
Elton John wasn’t the first white artist to perform on Soul Train, but he was one of the few.
Technically this wasn’t a deepfake; Elton John didn’t pretend to be black. But he clearly absorbed some distinct musical influences: Little Richard, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Fats Domino, Otis Redding, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Clyde McPhatter, and Sam Cooke. (Google Gemini helped me assemble this list.)
And he wasn’t a one hit wonder. Subsequent Philadelphia-influenced songs “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Mama Can’t Buy You Love” also made the R&B top 40.
Compare with Mick Jagger, who rarely made the R&B charts either as a Rolling Stone or as a solo artist. “Miss You” did, but Jagger’s highest placement was when he guested on the Jacksons’ “State of Shock.”
Because the phrase applied to so many troubled live fast die young types. Joplin’s own death was popularly linked with the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. And the phrase fit many others.
Including Norma Jeane Mortenson.
1973.
By the time lyricist Taupin was done with Mortenson, and his songwriting partner Elton John had added music to create “Candle in the Wind,” millions were convinced that Taupin was a Marilyn Monroe fanatic.
He wasn’t, but lines like “the young man in the 22nd row” certainly gave that impression.
But then came Farm Aid IV.
Ryan White
Farm Aid emerged from a desire to do for American farmers what prior efforts had done for people in Bangladesh and Ethiopia. And it wasn’t only for the Willie Nelsons, John Mellencamps, and Neil Youngs of the world. Elton John showed up by surprise at Farm Aid 4, with a special dedication.
“This one’s for Ryan.”
While Ryan White’s battle with AIDS was not haunted by demons like Monroe and the others, his death the next day was also untimely.
And one more repurposing
A few years later, for a grieving United Kingdom, Bernie Taupin altered the lyrics to the original song, and Elton John performed a tribute to his deceased friend Princess Diana.
1997.
And you thought “Funeral For A Friend”/“Love Lies Bleeding” was dark. “Candle in the Wind” is directly linked to four deaths—Janis Joplin, Marilyn Monroe, Ryan White, and Princess Diana—and indirectly linked to others.
Sometimes I write pieces that cover multiple topics, in this case both a technical analysis of digital asset taxonomies and classifications in a multi-faceted sense, and a musical analysis of the multi-faceted genres present in a single song. Whoops, two songs. (One track.)
Because the source picture used to generate the song is not exclusively biometric in nature.
Identity and non-identity technologies. Gemini.
If you look in the lower right corner of the picture you can see a reference to digital asset taxonomy, a reference to a Bredemarket client that specializes in Adobe Experience Manager implementations.
Which brings us to Spotify.
Building the perfect Spotify playlists
Every month without fail I build at least one Spotify playlist for my listening pleasure. Normally these are a mixture of different decades and genres, all thrown together.
Saturday (February 21) I thought I’d be more thematic and create multiple playlists sorted by genre. So far I’ve created four:
Dance, including the Andrea True Connection and Britney Spears.
Electronic, including Kraftwerk and Röyksopp.
Folk, including the Brothers Four and R.E.M.
Punk, including Public Image Ltd. and Hole.
I tried to stay away from traditional categories such as country and disco, and didn’t try to distinguish between punk and hardcore, or genre and NEO-genre.
And I recognize that artists can span multiple genres. Some Devo songs are in my electronic playlist, others are in my punk playlist, and when I get to “Disco Dancer” it won’t go in either.
Which brings us to Elton John.
Building the imperfect digital asset taxonomy
Elton John’s career has spanned multiple genres. The bespectacled piano player has covered simple love songs, energetic power trios (17-11-70), bombastic orchestral episodes, crocodile rock, an island girl, and everything else. And that’s just in his first decade, before he became Disney soundtrack guy.
However, in most cases Elton, Bernie Taupin, and his other collaborators would stick with a particular genre for an entire song. Because that’s what good product marketers do: stick to a single message. Bad product marketers like me tend toward multiple message overload…I seem to have strayed from my point. *** EDIT THIS LATER
But perhaps you noticed the music I incorporated here.
How do you taxonomize THIS digital asset?
1973 in music
Before I describe the problem, let me set the scene.
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” was the second of two albums that Elton John released in 1973. It was a sprawling double album.
Elton’s predecessor album, “Don’t Shoot Me I’m The Only Piano Player,” was a number one album with a number one single, the aforementioned “Crocodile Rock.” The album also included the popular song “Daniel” and a character piece (in the Randy Newman tradition) “Texan Love Song.” (Lyricist Bernie Taupin often courted controversy.)
But much was going on outside the pop star world that Elton John seemingly occupied. Progressive music was reaching its peak. While Elton’s first 1973 album rhapsodized on elderberry wine and backed away from the Paul Buckmaster arrangements, 1973 saw releases from Emerson Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, and Yes. Oh, and an album by Pink Floyd entitled “Dark Side Of The Moon.” When I asked Google Gemini about 1973 progressive albums, it replied in part, “If you enjoy odd time signatures and 20-minute compositions, 1973 is your playground.”
However, music is governed by Newton’s Third Law of Motion, and some definitely anti-progressive works were just starting to appear. The New York Dolls released an album, and underground recordings were circulating of a band called The Modern Lovers.
A significant portion of American teenagers didn’t care about any of this. For them, the ONLY album of importance was Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy.”
Side one of four, track one, songs one and two
Which brings us to “Funeral For A Friend”/“Love Lies Bleeding.” Technically a two-song medley, but distributed (both physically and electronically) as a single asset.
Elton had tons of fans who were all too happy to rush out, slap $9.98 on the counter to buy “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” upon its release, and plunk side one of the first record on their turntables.
Time to listen
I suspect that the “WTF” acronym was invented in November 1973.
WTF?
Because the listeners weren’t hearing “the only piano player.”
And they weren’t hearing a Paul Buckmaster-conducted orchestra.
You couldn’t hear a recognizable piano until the 1:40 mark of the song. Slowly you hear Dee, Nigel, and Davey, and the song slowly (but not completely) transitions away from the Hall of the Progressive Masterpiece in the Court of the Multi-Coloured Bespectacled Lunatic on the Top of the Charts. (And no, “lunatic” is not too strong here, since this song falls between Elton John’s known suicide attempts in 1968 and 1975.)
Then, after the band (augmented by Hentschel) brings “Funeral for a Friend” to an energetic conclusion, the piano player transitions to the second song at the 5:22 mark. And Elton, who has been silent all this time, finally sings.
And time to reflect
Let’s review, shall we?
Although the tone is dark with themes of breakup and demise, portions of this sound like a typical Elton John pop song.
But before that it begins with sounds that made American teenagers wondered if they had picked up a Yes album by mistake.
And while few portions of the songs are minimal like Mr. Richman, or include towering solos like Mr. Page, parts would have fit well into a New York studio performance three years earlier. And Elton at his best could outdress the Dolls.
That was fun. Now comes the challenge.
How do you classify THIS?
I’ve already implicitly noted that music classification is a tricky affair.
Take “MacArthur Park,” a song recorded by everyone from Richard Harris to Waylon Jennings to Donna Summer. There are over 200 versions of the song spanning multiple genres. And composer Jimmy Webb is challenging to classify.
Now look at Elton’s song and my four playlists.
The track isn’t folk, dance, or punk.
But is it electronic? Portions are decidedly NOT.
Multi-faceted
You could cheat and place it in two (or more) classifications. Heather Hedden addresses faceted classification:
“The idea of faceted classification as a superior alternative to traditional hierarchical classification, whereby an item (such as book or article) can be classified in multiple different ways instead of in just a single classification class/category, is not new. The first such faceted classification was developed and published by mathematician/librarian S.R. Ranganathan in 1933, as an alternative to the Dewey Decimal System for classifying books, called Colon Classification (since the colon punctuation was originally used to separate the multiple facets).”
A taxonomy, however, is different—ideally:
“[F]aceted taxonomies should…ideally be mutually exclusive, in contrast to the principle of faceted classification…”
My solution
Returning to my Spotify playlist problem:
I could simply place the song in multiple playlists: for example, an electronic playlist and some type of guitar/rock/whatever playlist.
Or I could create a single hyphenated playlist, such as an electronic-guitar playlist. (Many Depeche Mode songs, beginning with “Route 66,” would be ideal here.)
For now I followed neither option, but added “Funeral for a Friend”/“Love Lies Bleeding” into my existing electronic playlist (because it starts electronically) and nowhere else.
“THE DEPARTMENT OF Homeland Security is moving to consolidate its face recognition and other biometric technologies into a single system capable of comparing faces, fingerprints, iris scans, and other identifiers collected across its enforcement agencies, according to records reviewed by WIRED.”
But those very “records reviewed by WIRED” include this statement:
“This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government. This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals. No solicitation document exists, and a formal solicitation may or may not be issued by the Government as a result of the responses received to this RFI.”
And even if this actually WAS a true procurement…HART was originally announced during the Obama administration in 2016. Ten years later, it still hasn’t happened.
Different moods, but both videos emphasize (not empathize) Bredemarket’s biometric product marketing expertise.
So what?
If your firm wants to speak to biometric prospects and customers, you need someone who speaks the language.
As a customer whose name I won’t mention recently said to me, “You have to know what FRTE [VENDOR NAME REDACTED] [NUMBER REDACTED] means.” (An algorithm submission to the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology Facial Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE), either the 1:1 test or the 1:N test.)
Many companies, Bredemarket included, have benefited from the efforts of evangelists. But don’t take those efforts for granted.
I recently said good-bye to a former Bredemarket evangelist who became silent and indifferent over time. I positively thanked them for their past support, carefully avoiding the topic of why and how that support ended.
(Maybe I should have asked, but I doubt I would have received an answer.)
And I remain thankful for the Bredemarket evangelists who are still there.
There are many controversial uses of land, one of which is data centers. And most of us use them.
When I use SaaS resources or generative AI tools, I’m making use of a data center…somewhere. For example, when I created the image at the top of this post with Google Gemini…and when I uploaded this post to WordPress so you could read it.
But what if the data center was next door to ME? Would I feel differently about data center use?
Warren County, Virginia (Front Royal) is more rural than other counties in the state, such as Fairfax County. And someone is proposing a data center in Warren County.
This prompted a letter to the editor from Cara Aldridge Young, a former high school classmate of mine. (And a talented editor herself, if your company needs one.) Young examined the negatives surrounding data centers:
“Data centers are not quiet, invisible neighbors. They are warehouse-scale buildings surrounded by substations, transmission lines, backup generators, cooling systems, security fencing, and 24-hour lighting. They require enormous amounts of electricity and millions of gallons of water for cooling. In a county that has already experienced drought restrictions and ongoing grid concerns, it’s fair to question whether we are equipped to support that scale of development without long-term environmental and infrastructure consequences.”
I don’t have a feel how Warren County will respond to this request; I haven’t visited Front Royal in decades. But Young presumably isn’t the only resident with concerns about power, water, and the environment.
But I’m sure there are counties that would welcome the economic development, the tax revenue, and the jobs. (Well, not that many jobs.)
On my side of the country, the big infrastructure concern is warehouses, such as the Amazon distribution center in Eastvale, California.
One of Amazon’s buildings in Eastvale, California.
“#ROC announces the pricing of its Initial Public Offering of 4,000,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $6.00 per share, which was the high end of the range, for total gross proceeds of $24 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses.”
Six dollars a share doesn’t seem that impressive, but all companies have to start somewhere. If I recall correctly, Printrak’s price was in that range when it started public trading (under the then-trendy ticker “AFIS“) back in 1996.
Incidentally, I should state my views on the success of an IPO.
Many think that if a stock is initially priced at $6.00, and the price zooms to $100 by the end of the day, the IPO is a success.
I maintain that it’s a failure. A company wants to maximize its revenue, and if the stock was truly worth $100, it should have priced its IPO at $100 to realize maximum revenue.
Conversely, if the stock opens at $6 and the end of day price is at about that level, then the IPO is a success because the company received the maximum revenue.
Needless to say this doesn’t take employee holdings into account. But if the goal is to maximize IPO revenue, then a price that DOESN’T shoot up is a sign of success.
Bredemarket 