999,819: Alix Dobkin - View From Gay Head

Normally I stay out of things that aren’t my business. Publicly, anyway. But since David Letterman and Howard Stern have already beaten me to the punch rediscovering this number, I don’t feel out of line reviewing this, uh, rather less commonplace vision of American utopia. However, I will be sticking to what I know best, which is why the song “View From Gay Head” holds such strong appeal for comedians.

When you consider everything that’s gone down (har!) in the 30-some-odd years since Alix Dobkin recorded this song, we are undeniably living in a different world. Its verses are filled with ladies casting off the chains of patriarchal oppression and finding their independence in each other’s arms. Yet in today’s America, it’s easy to witness lesbianism – mild or otherwise – as a titillating bar trick employed to attract alpha males, not unlike the female equivalent of crushing a beer can on one’s head. Of course, it’s much more complicated than this for actual lesbians, but thanks to the ubiquity of Internet pornography, lesbianism (or at least a fantasy version of it) is becoming downright mainstream. Not so mainstream that Mississippi won’t cancel proms because of it, but certainly mainstream enough that the Republican National Committee is perfectly comfortable partying down with some of its younger (and, one must assume, “hipper”) donors at a lesbian-bondage-themed nightclub in West Hollywood (“WeHo”). A song positing lesbianism as a radical political statement in and of itself seems…well, quaint.

Of course, “View From Gay Head” was born in a very different time and place – the early days of the feminist movement, a time of consciousness-raising sessions, a mantra that the personal WAS political, and much more limited opportunities for women. It was also a time when certain schools of feminist thought were dedicated to finding new, “better” rules to replace the old ones women had been forced to live by (thereby missing a lot of the point). Some feminists theorized that the only way to rid themselves of male oppression was to rid themselves of heterosexual sex, thus obliterating their impulse to please and, hence, submit. Others theorized that since “lesbianism” was really about loving your fellow women, any act of love would technically make you a lesbian, and you didn’t actually have to have sex with anybody as long as you were loving and supportive. (Those women were not lesbians.) The point is, back in 1975, it wasn’t entirely out of the question that women could choose to have sex with other women purely out of politics. (Although, academic theory does have a way of dissipating once you’re going down on someone you’re not attracted to.)

But all of that isn’t why “View From Gay Head” has a significant “WTF?” factor when heard by audiences it wasn’t intended for. That’s more to do with its musical signifiers. Dobkin’s voice is a typical ‘60s-style collegiate folk warble, which carries all the cultural associations of that era – the starry-eyed idealism of the American left, the typically American dream of building a utopian society, the painfully earnest advocacy of a change-the-world cause, the self-conscious questioning of social norms. And, of course, the era of Bob Dylan as the spokesman of a generation. The American left has been awaiting the arrival of the next Bob Dylan with the same kind of anticipation that the lunatic right reserves for the impending return of Jesus. Imagine, another transformational protest poet who can change hearts and minds with the simple power of folk music! Sorry, guys, it ain’t gonna happen. Unless you’re singing country songs about guys driving their tractors 5 mph on the highway and pissing off big old Mr. Businessman, you’re not going to dent the American consciousness without some basic rhythmic underpinning from African-America. (Jazz, blues, rock & roll, R&B, funk, hip-hop…you know, stuff that people actually enjoy.) Plus, there is no more living traditional music left to synthesize in the manner of Dylan. People just don’t entertain each other that way anymore – they are either learning to DJ, or forming shitty Creed knockoffs to play the local bar circuit, which will undoubtedly be the stepping stone to a major-label record contract, which will undoubtedly make them rock stars on the strength of their shallow, shallow pain. In about 20-30 years, the only people left making hip-hop will be white “purists” dedicated to preserving the “traditional” language of the form. Meanwhile, black people will have invented at least 10 new forms of music, all of which will take a decade or two for white people to understand.

But I digress. The point of all that was, we associate this sort of ‘60s-style folk music with people aiming for an earnest, completely unrealistic left-wing utopia. (Basically, the opposite of our contemporary image of the “common man,” a.k.a. the ostensible creator of folk music.) And so when we hear the lilting, singsong chorus about Dobkin’s version of utopia – a world where “every woman can be a lesbian” – we cannot help but crack a smile. First, because a utopia based on sex doesn’t jive with the nobility and loftiness we expect of utopian goals. Second, because you don’t expect a song about sexual utopia to feature tootling flutes in place of anything remotely resembling a dance beat. Third, because folk music’s delivery is so goddamn earnest, we can’t tell if Dobkin is joking when she uses the words “Gay Head” in the title and sings about not having a penis in between us. And fourth, because this utopia is even less realistic than the stereotypical fantasies of the stereotypical pacifist, do-gooder left.

OR IS IT? Studies of male and female arousal patterns have shown that men’s brains are more likely to respond to physical characteristics (thus reinforcing their pre-existing gender preference), while women are far more likely than men to respond to a general social consensus that something sexy is going on, which leaves more room for fluidity in who they’re getting it on with. Sure, there are ladies on the straight and gay sides of the spectrum who will tell you their gender preference is pretty doggone immutable. And by this point, reasonable people are aware of the studies proving that sexual preference is not a choice. (Which is probably reason #5 this song can give you the giggles.) But the emerging scientific consensus seems to be that overall, women’s gender preferences are less set in stone than men’s. Maybe Alix was prescient in letting this particular cat out of the bag. And nowadays, you know who agrees with Alix that every woman can be a lesbian? Every regular American Joe who’s trying like hell to get his wife or girlfriend to get it on with another chick, and maybe let him join in. You know what…maybe folk music IS still the voice of the common man after all.