SHOULD WE HONOR J.J. CALE?

[RainDog]

59. Artists are not in charge of morals

...beyond understanding the actual lyrics, the person who wrote the song, "Cocaine," wrote many other songs, as well. That's one song out of many that are considered much better songs.

The cultural context matters, in terms of an artist's work.

Should we hate on Louis Armstrong for singing a song about smoking pot in the 1930s? At the time, that was considered morally reprehensible. But Armstrong wasn't performing to make a moral statement. He was performing to make an artistic statement - and the reality of the world of the arts includes experimentation with various mind and body altering experiences.

Emotions alter our consciousness, too. Should musicians never sing about broken hearts because someone might go get his or her heart broken?

Or maybe artists talk about the world around them - what they observe, their own problems, sometimes, or often, too. Artists also change and grow and a song that may have had a certain resonance at one point no longer does.

Anyone who thinks artists have to uphold the moral code of society doesn't know much about art.