In 1967 a song titled "Let it Out", but popularly called Let It All Hang Out, by the group The Hombres hit the airwaves. It was a parody of an earlier song by Bob Dylan called "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and based on a 1947 novelty recording "Cegareetes, Whuskey and Wild, Wild, Women" by Red Ingle and His Natural Seven. Later the song was featured on the 1998 box set 'Nuggets: Original Artyfacts for the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968'. The song was the origin of the phrase, "Let It All Hang Out" which in layman's terms took on the pop culture meaning of behaving freely without being shy or feeling worried about what other people think or feel about you or what you do.
The reality the origins of the song have more to do with being down and out and not caring, just giving in and letting things happen that seem to be beyond one's control than anything else. In truth there's more to the story involving an element of tragedy that includes a truck wreck, dead chickens and a long road trip stuffed in the back seat of a car traveling at break neck speed, once you dig into the whole story. What a fitting analogy for our current state of affairs in this country.
The image I chose to illustrate this idea of exposure blues is fitting in many ways. We, as a society, are often exposed to way too many things these days whether we choose to be or not. Pressure to conform, perform and reform assault us in far more ways than we often realize. Whether it's politicians pandering for our votes, social media screaming road rage obscenities in our face on the information highway, marketing mavens telling us why we're wrong and how they can make us right, or some guy half way across the globe plotting and posturing to make his brand of ideology the latest in oppressive thought leadership. The airwaves and our minds are packed full and it's just too easy to give up, give in, and let it all hang out. "Carpe Diem" is Latin for Seize the Day. My question is who's seizing whose day and why?
When we let the pressures of negative social discourse affect our daily lives to the point of simply giving up and giving in, instead of doing what we can to make things better for ourselves and those around us, we make compromises that have consequences. Sir Issac Newton is credited with boiling down the scientific idea of gravity so others, not so scientifically inclined, could grasp the concept. In his Third Law of Motion he stated that every action force and reaction force are equal and opposite. Simply put, when push comes to shove, resistance is received in equal amounts in the opposite direction. This isn't unlike the scenes we see played out in the news every day as a group of protestors on one side of a road confronts another group of counter protestors on the other side of the road. Throw them together in the middle of the road and a truck wreck is bound to happen and we'll find dead chickens who simply wanted to cross that road strewn all over the place in the end. Let it all hang out.
When we expose ourselves to such bass and debasing actions that draw us into, and even trap us in a battle, of negative social discourse without a good understanding of the laws of intellectual physics that come into play and sway our emotional intelligence we turn into magnets that attract the most unhealthy actions and reactions instead of repelling them. This results in exposure blues. We don't live in a society of socially oppressed as much as a manipulated society of socially depressed. The outcome only leads to a whole bunch of dead or hurting chickens in the end.
So, before you buy in to the whole let it all hang out attitude of right and wrong, righteous versus evil, my way or the highway, just do it, kill 'em all and let god sort it out, take no prisoners, but I don't really want to get involved, syndrome that pervades modern society ask yourself this. What are YOU really doing to help solve the the current problems that result in your personal exposure blues? In the end we're all just a bunch of chickens trying to cross the road to the other side. So while we're letting it all hang out perhaps we should examine the messages we're sending to others and how that might look to those on the other side of the road. History is interesting in how it repeats itself. We certainly appear to have entered another psychedelic era of letting it all hang out as I view things from the side of the road I'm standing on. Oh, I could go on, but I'll spare you the discomfort of more ramblings and save them for another time. Carpe Diem.
If you seek to improve your skills in everything from the basics to advanced techniques in creating quality images and ideas to share with others, I can help. For over a decade now I've been teaching and mentoring, individuals, teams, and groups on the subject of photography and creative seeing beyond seeing. Whether you live locally, or are out of the area, please feel free to connect to find out more by visiting facebook.com/mddaphotoforum or emailing [email protected] If you don't live locally I consult by email, phone and Skype. Isn't it time you took your passion for camera craft and visual art to a higher level?
© 2019 Michael D. Davis - Visual Artist . Writer . Teacher
