Talk:Whitey on the Moon

Taxes

I'm not seeing how "high taxes" is supported by secondary sources, and we should not be inserting our own analyses of the primary text into the article. I cannot ping the IP address who thinks "high taxes" should be in the lead, but I hope they'll see this. Vanamonde (Talk) 16:36, 3 October 2020 (UTC)

Song includes the line "Taxes takin' my whole damn check" -- is it "analysis" to name what is straightforwardly stated by the lyric? Lgilman909 (talk) 12:46, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

Inaudible punchline?

Article states, "Due to an error by the musicians, the punchline is barely audible over the drums." This seems untrue. I just listened to the song; not only are the final lines as audible and intelligible all the rest, but the drums actually cease before the final phrase. Lgilman909 (talk) 12:51, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

My recollection is that this depends on the version; but I might be wrong (or the Baram source may be wrong); always possible. It does state that it is inaudible, however. As to reproducing that line, I wouldn't simply for copyright reasons; we cannot include all the lyrics, and I believe the fragment I have included is the most well-known one. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:00, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

Hi! Thanks for your reply. I'm listening to the version on the 1974 Scott-Heron compilation "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." Re. the existence of another version: I don't offhand see any reference, in Baram or elsewhere, to multiple versions of the song. I do see where Baram describes the first part of the punchline about "air mail special" allegedly being lost as the congas play and the audience chuckles, but he's flat wrong as regards the only version of the song I can find. I mean, check it out: at about 1:35 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goh2x_G0ct4 . The spoken words are loud and clear. And this recording (same as on my record) seems to match his description otherwise: the drum pause doesn't come until after the air-mail special phrase, and you can hear a tiny bit of audience chuckle right there. It's just that nothing is "lost" -- or even slightly obscured. Hmm. What was Baram thinking? I'm of the mind that we should just delete the sentence about the lost line.

Re. the taxes lyric, I wasn't thinking that the lyric needed to be reproduced in full, but that the mention of "high taxes" in the opening paragraph is justified without reference to a secondary source. I thought you were objecting to that mention as original research; if not, my bad!

Best regards, Larry Lgilman909 (talk) 15:26, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

I have no idea what that bit's talking about, either. Even if it's referring to him saying "air mail special" before the drums drop out, that's not particularly hard to hear. Musiceasel (talk) 22:21, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

• I've removed the sentence about an inaudible punchline; after a brief search I can't find any evidence that Baram was right. As to high taxes; I'm still of the opinion it shouldn't be in the lead. The lyrics refer to a number of problems. The ones we highlight need to be the ones highlighted by reliable sources about the subject. Saying that the poem refers to high taxes isn't OR as such, but when summarizing the salient points in the lead, it verges into OR because the lead only mentions the highlights. As such we really do need a source. I see now that the phrase was added into the lead at some point over my objections, but absent consensus here I'm removing it once again. Vanamonde93 (talk) 17:52, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

  Both alterations fine by me. Thank you for this reasoned exchange. Lgilman909 (talk) 18:35, 22 July 2024 (UTC)