Saturday, November 29, 2008

Harry Chapin and Art Thinking


From an article about Harry Chapin's song "What Made American Famous," by Gerry Cagle:

As those of you who are reading this know, it was difficult to convince Top 40 radio programmers to play Harry's music. His songs were most often too long, too complicated and considered "tempo challenged" in the world of Top 40 when he first began recording. I had many arguments with Harry regarding his writing. He explained to me that his writing was art and he wouldn't compromise his art to fit into a specific format. I argued that if he was a true genius, he could create a wonderful piece of art that fit within a frame.
That's applicable to a lot of popular media. Is it possible to create "wonderful art" that fits within a frame? Is the mere act of trying too much of a compromise to call it "art"?