I played a little banjo myself many years ago, and was also a fan of Martin’s stand-up routines, and was delighted to learn that we had that in common.
Except that Martin didn’t ‘play a little banjo.’ He kicked ass.
Seems he’s kept up with it. Also, I really like this song.
They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
Little Bear 2009-2018
Laddie the Amazing Torso Boy 2011-2020
"Freedom Outlaw. It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it. It’s an attitude — from which actions always follow. It’s a do-it-yourself occupation. And a lifetime vocation."
- Claire Wolfe, Backwoods Home Companion, 6-07-10
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
- G. K. Chesterton
"If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."
- Aaron Zelman
"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force."
- Barbie
"Never underestimate the ability of shit to find a fan."
- F. Paul Wilson
"You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." The sophistry of villains - Bah!
- Robert A. Heinlein, Double Star
“Truth is, I’m not specifically interested in an armed society. What I want is a free society.”
- George Potter
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
- D. H. Lawrence
Aristippus passed Diogenes as he was washing lentils.
He said, “If you could but learn to flatter the king, you would not have to live on lentils.”
Diogenes said, “And if you could learn to live on lentils, you would not have to flatter the king.”
Sandy Hook was a Gun Free Zone. So was the Westroads Mall. And the Aurora Theater. And Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Should I go on? They were all Gun Free Zones.Â
– Reality
“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
"Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."
- Ayn Rand
If ever a man should ask you
For your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself
Tell his friends to do the same.
For a man who'd trade his liberty
For a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them
And neither shall he keep.
- Frank Turner
Don't be afraid to try something big, just because you're an amateur. The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals.
- Anon
"Nothing scares a police officer more than the threat of being treated the way that they treat people every day."
- Anon
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
- Gen. James Mattis
"Lust for power is the most flagrant of all the passions."
- Tacitus
"The man who knows what freedom means will find a way to be free."
- F.A. "Baldy" Harper
"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."
- William James
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
- Viktor Frankl
The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country.
- Milton Friedman
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”
- William Faulkner
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
- Ernest Hemingway
"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
John Moses Browning - The most badass Mormon who ever lived.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
- Ronald Reagan
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
- James A. Baldwin
"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."
- Anon
“I tried to live in such a way that, when dying, I would rather feel happy than scared.”
– Witold Pilecki
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
- Sallust
"Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark."
- Lazarus Long
Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
– Â Christopher Morley
“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.”
-Frederick Douglass
ESSE QUAM VIDERI –
To be, rather than to seem
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.”
– Ida B. Wells
Do what thy manhood bid thee do; from none but self expect applause.
He noblest lives and noblest dies, who makes and keeps his self made laws
– Sir Richard Burton
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill
“Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.”
― Father Alfred d’Souza
Strangely, I did know that. But I admit I had to Google the term “jazz hands”.
Yep, he is. I’ve had a copy of “The Crow” since it came out….terrific album. I’ve been trying to get going on banjo for a while now, not making any progress. Might help if I hadn’t taken that banjer apart that I found in the dumpster. But the thing was crying for a multicam hydrodip, and you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.
Martin has done so for a long time. He used a banjo in his standup act many moons ago (1970s). I missed him when he came through here a few years ago with the Steep Canyon Rangers; I think they played the Ryman, although it may have been the new Opry House. That would’ve been good.
I’ve always wanted to play the banjo (or, as czechsix says & as it’s usually called around here, banjer) for some time. I better get to it. I’m not getting any younger. I’ll find out if the stroke made it impossible or not.
Trivia: when Stringbean & Estelle Akeman were murdered in ’73, I lived less than 5 miles away. Of course, I was 8, so it didn’t have a great deal of meaning then.
The last surviving one of the perps was up for parole last year, & I think they let him out. Cold-blooded double murder=40 years; we must be the UK.
Oh yeah man. Google or YouTube him and David Letterman, playing Foggy Mountain Breakdown from around 2002 or 2003. He’s talented enough to play with the big name pickers. At first I thought it was one of his gags in the middle of some serious pickin’. He had that look on his face, then I realized he was actually playing.
Great song. Same advice I gave my daughters.
Steve Martin was a great picker before he became a comedian and incorporated into his standup routine. His early SNL appearances are classic.
I think I remember that when he worked at Disneyland he was a roving banjo player. Or something like that.
I tried the banjo once. Wife literally said it was me or the banjo. Damn hard instrument to play. I play guitar also and could not keep the fingerings straight between the two.
Another Martin fan here. I’ve long been taken by his obvious respect for the instrument and its music, even when he pokes fun at it. (It wasn’t lost on me that every time I saw him do that, he was poking fun at himself playing, not anyone else.) “The Crow” is a staple selection on family trips, as it’s got something in there for everyone.
He’s demonstrably an excellent player, too. It takes guts to surround yourself with wizards like Bela Fleck, Tony Trischka, and Pete Wernick–knowing exquisitely what you’ve got yourself into–and take lead. 🙂
And maybe this is just something that is common all across bluegrass (I’d not argue against that), but nonetheless you notice it: he’s smiling constantly when he plays–he loves this. It’s hard not to get infected when that sort of thing is genuine.
This is truly a great song, too–nice find, Joel. Bookmarked!