Andertoons by Mark Anderson for March 23, 2024

4′33″, musical composition by John Cage created in 1952 and first performed on August 29 of that year. It quickly became one of the most controversial musical works of the 20th century because it consisted of silence or, more precisely, ambient sound—what Cage called “the absence of intended sounds.

Oh, of course, everyone knows that!!?

Can you mime a few words?

I asked my DJ to play 4’33", but he wouldn’t hear of it.

(Crickets chirping.)

why not do the Beatles Number9 instead

The Emperor’s New Clothes, for sure.

1 2 3 4 5 O’clock rock

A joke about a song that not only has no one ever heard of but no one has ever heard. :)

This reminds me of a sketch called Interpretive Dance, where a comedian basically tried to mime songs so guests could try and guess what song he was ‘performing’ (look up Don’t Stop Me Now especially, I’m amazed even the performer kept a straight face during it)

I wonder if Anderson is being deliberately obscure?

when it comes to karaoke, silence is golden… ☺

4’33" is more well known, but he might have done better to work with “The Best Of Marcel Marceao”. An LP with 19 minutes of silence and one minute of applause on each side.