In all ages there have been puritans who have looked upon “wine, woman, and song” as things to be avoided. In the East especially, and it was in the East that the phrase was born, the proscription of this trinity of joys was a question of serious moment. It was the cry of the old Hebrew prophets, and it was echoed by the early Christian fathers, as well as by the purists of Islām. To some extent, one can appreciate why wine and woman came to be proscribed, but that song was included is not so easily understood. Yet, when one sees how music is capable of affecting the peoples of the East, coupled with the fact that music with them has invariably been found as a concomitant with wine and woman, it will be more readily appreciated how listening to music came to be looked upon, as Burton said, as being unworthy of, if not unlawful for, those who trod the path of righteousness.
The Saving Grace of America’s Green Jeremiad
