The WELL: deadsongs.vue.77: Franklin's Tower

#17: Marked from the Day That I was Born (ssol) Sun 21 Sep 08 03:13

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:13:00 PDT

<pauli> very nice! All comes clear as cracked crystal! [Read entire topic]

#16: Tim Lynch (masonskids) Fri 19 Sep 08 03:48

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:48:00 PDT

And I always thought it was about snorting coke through a $100 bill! ;) [Read entire topic]

#15: Scott MacFarlane (s-macfarlane) Thu 18 Sep 08 20:43

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:43:00 PDT

I loved this, pauli!!! [Read entire topic]

#14: Scott MacFarlane (s-macfarlane) Thu 18 Sep 08 20:43

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:43:00 PDT

<scribbled> [Read entire topic]

#13: William Jason Baggett (billybaggs) Thu 18 Sep 08 20:41

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:41:00 PDT

Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for. [Read entire topic]

#12: streaming irreverent commentary (pauli) Thu 18 Sep 08 17:28

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:28:00 PDT

The reference is there: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/AGDL/shalit.html

As you probably know, Robert Hunter has a great of love of American History. The song is about events during the American revolution. 'Franklin' refers to Benjamin Franklin. The 'Bell' in the tower is the Liberty Bell.

Casting large metal objects is a complicated process. Casting bells is additonally complicated by the fact that bells must be able to withstand the stress of ringing, and they must produce a good tone. The Liberty Bell was not only very large, but it needed to ring loudly and clearly enough to be heard around the world. This was pushing the limits of 18th century technology.

As you probably know, Benjamin Franklin was not only a philosopher and statesman, he was an inventor. He was involved in the design of the Liberty Bell in the following way:

Franklin postulated that a process which he called "dewing" could be used to improve the production process of large bells. Dewing basically involves exposing the freshly cast bell to large quantities of steam while the bell is still hot. The steam causes a rapid cooling, producing droplet of 'dew' on the bell. After the dew is formed, the bell is rolled between large cotton sheets. He described this process as "rolling away the dew".

Unfortunately, Franklin's contempories had a very hard time understanding his technology. He showed them sample bells, asking him to simply look at the results without trying to understand the process. This was when he uttered the now famous quote, "if you get confused, listen to the music play."

In the end, Franklin couldn't convince the foundry to use his dewing process. Instead they used an alternate process developed by a Frenchman named Simon Legree (who eventually turned out to be a British agent). Simon's process involved planting small ice crystals (seeds) into the metal while the bell was being cast.

As we all know, the Liberty Bell didn't last very long. I believe it had one good ring, but you can't really tell because it was so long ago.

Apparently the one time it was rung was during a storm. After ringing, the famous crack developed in the side of the bell and the wind blew through the crack. They tried ringing the bell again, but the only sound was of the wind blowing through the crack.

Benjamin Franklin was understandably disgusted. When asked later about the incident, his only comment was "They planted ice, so they harvested wind." The ice refers to an alternate dewing process they used at the suggestion of a rival inventor (I'll spare you the details, but he turned out to be quite a Tory). The wind, of course, is the lack of sound from subseqent ringings. [Read entire topic]

#11: William Jason Baggett (billybaggs) Wed 17 Sep 08 09:27

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:27:00 PDT

Does anyone know anything about the process of "rolling away the dew?" Doesn't it have something to do with casting metal? I actually thought I read this at David Dodd's page but could not find anything when searching recently. [Read entire topic]

#10: David Dodd (ddodd) Mon 23 Jun 08 10:51

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:51:00 PDT

Nevertheless--a fun idea for a quodlibet! [Read entire topic]

#9: David Gans (tnf) Mon 23 Jun 08 10:23

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:23:00 PDT

Both songs use the simplest of chord progressions, I-IV, and the "doot-d'doo" vocals in the Lou Reed song describe the same passing chord as the one in "Franklin's Tower," but I don't think Jerry necessarily took his musical cue from Lou Reed. That structure is as old as Western music, really. [Read entire topic]

#8: David Dodd (ddodd) Mon 23 Jun 08 08:54

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:54:00 PDT

Posted on behalf of a correspondent:

Hi David,

First off I'd like to say that your book/website (annotated grateful dead lyrics) is amazing. I bought the book as a gift for my favorite teacher in high school and I'd never seen him so pleased with me hahaha. Anyway, I recently read somewhere that Jerry Garcia used the "doo do doo" part of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" as a starting point for the music for "Franklin's Tower." Having just listened to "Walk on the Wild Side" I definitely notice similarities, but I was wondering if you could verify this. Thanks

Tari Dagogo-Jack [Read entire topic]