Lipton’s Journal/January 3, 1955/183

I heard “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung by a chorus over the radio, and the music was so arranged that the total effect of the sound was like the anguish of angels in hell—which is certainly a far cry from the usual “Star-Spangled Banner.” Undoubtedly, instinctively, some slick conductor did it that way to filter into people the patriotic agony of our time. Slick artists are geniuses in their insight into society (rather than into man). Anybody great at anything, even great at knitting, is the possessor of genius in that particular thing and has experiences different from anything we can know.