Reconsidering Performative Autobiography: Life-Writing and the Beatles

Womack, Kenneth

doi:10.1080/10408340308518289

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Rooted in skiffle and rock‘n'roll the group emerged from relatively humble origins in Liverpool to massive commercial success, acclaim and establishment consecration with a knighthood for Paul McCartney in 1997 (George Martin received his in 1996) and MBEs for all the other band members in 1964. Womack (2005, p. 48) argues that their lyrics have a strong link to their biography:Through their increasingly literary production from the early 1960s to their creative demise in 1969, the Beatles represent the very act of performative life‐writing itself: by authoring the text of their lives via their music, the Beatles engaged in a self‐conscious effort to tell their own stories (Womack, 2005, p. 48).…”

Section: The Case Of the Beatlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through their increasingly literary production from the early 1960s to their creative demise in 1969, the Beatles represent the very act of performative life‐writing itself: by authoring the text of their lives via their music, the Beatles engaged in a self‐conscious effort to tell their own stories (Womack, 2005, p. 48).…”

Section: The Case Of the Beatlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While Womack's (2005) analysis might be a touch simple, band members acknowledged a link between biography and lyrics. McCartney reflected on their trials and challenges and indicated that their “business problems” suggested that....[…] rather than squashing their creative impulses … The Beatles' business calamities usefully fed into their songs.…”

Section: The Case Of the Beatlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Constructing accounting in the mirror of popular music

Jacobs

Evans

2012

Acc Auditing Accountability J

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Purpose -This paper aims to explore how accounting is entwined in the cultural practice of popular music. Particular attention is paid to how the accountant is constricted by artists in art and the role(s) the accountant plays in the artistic narrative. In effect this explores the notion that there is a tension between the notion of the bourgeois world of "the accountant" and the world of "art for art's sake". Design/methodology/approach -This paper draws on the cultural theory of Pierre Bourdieu to understand how the character of the accountant is constructed and used by the artist. Particular attention is paid in this respect to the biography and lyrics of the Beatles. Findings -Accounting and accountants play both the hero and the villain. By rejecting the "accountant villain", the artist identifies with and reinforces artistic purity and credibility. However, in order to achieve the economic benefits and maintain the balance between the "art" and the "money", the economic prudence of the bourgeois accountant is required (although it might be resented).Research limitations/implications -The analysis focuses on a relatively small range of musicians and is dominated by the biography of the Beatles. A further range of musicians and artists would extend this work. Further research could also be constructed to more fully consider the consumption, rather than just the production, of art and cultural products and performances. Originality/value -This paper is a novel consideration of how accounting stereotypes are constructed and used in the field of artistic creation Keywords Accounting, Music, Beatles, Bourdieu, Culture Paper type Research paper The world of the bourgeois man, with his double-entry accounting, cannot be invented without producing the pure, perfect universe of the artist and the intellectual and the gratuitous activities of art-for-art's sake and pure theory (Pierre Bourdieu (1986)).Research into accounting in popular culture emerged from a virtual standing-start following Hopwood (1994) and his call to study accounting as it permeates and functions in wider social and cultural practices. Since that time a body of work has emerged. One major focus of this work has been how accounting is represented in literature, although researchers have also considered accountants in film, music and even poetry. On the whole, the stereotype of the accountant in popular culture is negative. However, our engagement with and theorisation of popular culture has been

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Section: The Case Of the Beatlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Case Of the Beatlesmentioning

confidence: 99%