JDSYF Life of the meme before the Internet

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It is worth reminding ourselves with a definition: A meme is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.

Can meme popularity be measured? How many Facebook pages does it take for a gag to transmogrify into a meme? When does a meme become so passé that only the ironically cool can get away with a rerun? When will the first Professorial Chair in the Department of Memes be endowed? Is it possible  that Jonathan Goldsmith (aka 'The Most Interesting Man in the World' from the Dos Equis beer brand advertisements) will join James Gillray in the Meme Hall of Fame?

GoldsmithGillray

The original lines associated with the memes are: [1] "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty my friends!" [2] "Fashionable Contrasts; or the Duchess’s little shoe yielding to the magnitude of the Duke’s Foot." The print depicts the feet and ankles of the Duke and Duchess of York (Frederick, Duke of York and Albany 1763-1827, son of George III, and Frederica Charlotte Ulrica 1767-1820, his wife from Prussia) with the Duke’s feet enlarged and the Duchess’s feet drawn very small. It was a response in part to contemporary press flattery of the Duchess remarking on her dainty feet and elegant footwear, in contrast to the widely held dislike of the Duchess, Weybridge excepted with the erection of a memorial column. The Tuetonic origins of the Duchess could hardly be a xenophobic factor in these matters; British royals, including the present Queen, are mostly of German descent.

It was the recollection of that comic song 'Shaddap Your Face' by Joe Dolce that engendered these musings: I remember a time when every kid on the street was saying that meme to every other kid who ventured to speak. You know a humorous meme has succeeded when it is randomly applied and everyone still laughs. The banal N°1 single spawned an banal Christmas album (even a contribution from Mary Wilson of the Supremes could not save it) but check out the JoeDolce.net website for the full breadth and depth of the man's œuvre. Quite why Dolce is holding a smashed mandolin in the video is anybody's guess: perhaps he had been practicing the 40 bar one-take solo he did on his Stratocaster guitar for 'Cocaine Lil' that earned the recording a featured place in 'Australian Guitar Magazine'.

…and now for something completely different: Joe Dolce talks about the difference between poetry and lyrics:

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