The Annotated "Ripple"

Dr. X posts this from his studio in a barn in Northern Marin, after refusing to reimburse my travel expenses to deliver some Stephen Stills master tapes to him:

"Dear Front,

"I'm thinking of appropriate therapy for your Allman Fugue Disorder. I suppose the prescription must be something with a strong family resemblance...less rhythmically forceful, perhaps, and ideally with a little more lyrical complexity. I am taking a significant step here, and insisting you familiarize yourself with 'Ripple':



"Of the myriad critical conundrums faced by the elite musicologist, surely the status of 'Ripple' ranks among the most challenging.

"A deceptively simple 4/4 popular song in the key of G is thoughtfully subverted by the introductory rhythmic syncopations of the lead vocal and the syllabic haiku structure of the chorus. It is a different kind of complexity, which, once contemplated, might lead you, finally, out of adolescence and into an appreciation of things other than whipping posts, bazookas, and helicopter crashes.

"The lyrics, by contrast, are relatively straightforward. I am grateful to Professor William C. Dowling for this authoritative exegesis."