Talk:Arkansas

I just met Katie Dennis, the woman who played French horn on Arkansas. She plays with the New York Symphonic Brass, which gave a concert at the university in my town. The fact that I recognized her name from the State Songs liner notes says a lot about my level of TMBG obsession, but I talked to her after the show and she confirmed that it was indeed her on the album, surprised that I knew; she didn't know that her name was in the liner notes. Apparently the horn line was originally an octave higher, but after she played it a few times they decided to take it down an octave. There's your random story of the day. Mucket 03:42, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Very cool story. :D -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 04:10, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Indeed, very nice! I would have loved to talk to any of the "Statesmen" besides Linnell. I already talked to him. --Jason DeLima 04:21, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Maphead

I've become convinced that John Linnell is a closet "maphead". What do I mean? Well, I've been reading Maphead, a book by Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings. Take a look at how Chapter 11 begins:

In Lewis Carroll's final novel, Sylvie and Bruno, a mysterious traveler called "Mein Herr" tells the two titular children that his faraway world has advanced the science of mapmaking well beyond our puny limits. He scoffs at the idea that the most detailed map available should be six inches to the mile. On his world, he boasts, "We very soon got six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!" [TMBG fans--that's "a scale of one to one".] But, he has to admit, this ultimate map has never even been spread out, because the farmers protested that it would block their crops' sunlight due to its amazing size.

The chapter goes on to describe "On Exactitude in Science", a short story by Jorge Luis Borges (later explored by an Umberto Eco essay). The story details the struggles that ensue from trying to fold such a large map, and how the map couldn't be transparent enough not to alter the landscape below it that it was supposed to represent!

Whether JL has read any of these books or stories is up for debate, and the connection with the song "Arkansas" is tangential at best and possibly only in my mind. But the mere fact that State Songs exists (see also here and here) will perhaps lead you to the same conclusion: Linnell Loves Latitute & Longitude.

Thanks for reading. :-) --MisterMe (talk) 13:26, 9 April 2013 (EDT)

If you'll forgive the rather self-indulgent and non-TMBG-related posting...imagine my surprise when Sylvie and Bruno came up on Final Jeopardy just one day after I posted this story. Check it out here (scroll to bottom). --MisterMe (talk) 13:23, 15 April 2013 (EDT)

Coast of Arkansas

With the looming spectre of climate change/global warming, it's weird to think that Arkansas may one day have a coastline, and people may view this song as slightly less absurd. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.72.164.90 (talk) 12:01, March 7, 2015‎