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Reluctant Seal. Rock 'n' roll still does not exactly have the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. But even the most recalcitrant of parents now say: "Well, some of it's okay . . ." Some of it, in fact, is very good, far better than the adenoidal lamentations of a few years ago. Some of it is still awful, as might be expected in an industry that grinds out more than 300 new records each week. But for the first time rock 'n' roll can boast a host of singers who can actually sing. The music, once limited to four chords, is now more sophisticated, replete with counterrhythms, advanced harmonics, and multivoiced choirs. Rock recordings, says Jazz Critic Ralph Gleason, "are a lot more interesting than the average jazz release." Conductor Leonard Bernstein likes the Beatles and does not hesitate to admit it: "They are very intelligent, and they have made songs which are really worthwhile. Love Me Do is really stirring and very reminiscent in some ways of Hindu music."
Above all, rock 'n' roll today is lively, youthful, aggressive, often funny, seldom heartsick. The lyrics, showing the influence of folk music, are fresher and more intelligible. Coming the other way, the folk types are beginning to feel the beat. Drums and electric guitars, long scorned by folkniks as decadent commercialism, are now featured on the latest album by Bob Dylan, folkdom's crown prince.
Meanwhile, as expressed in the folk-rock song Walk Right In, the invitation to join in the big beat is there for the accepting—with a slight qualifier:
Walk right in, sit right down.
Baby, let your hair hang down.
Everybody's talkin' 'bout a new way of walkin'.
Do you want to lose your mind?