Talk:Andrew Fletcher

Variants

Of quote by Andrew Fletcher:

• Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.
• Let me make the ballads of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.
• Let me make all the ballads of a country and I care not who makes its laws
• Give me the making of a people's songs, and I care not who makes its laws.

(Put here for the benefit of search engines.)

KHirsch 15:41, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

I have found an attribution of this quote to a contemporary of Plato, Damon of Athens. Of course, that attribution may also be in error. Quadibloc (talk) 23:22, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

I have sorted this out. The misattribution to Plato leads to one to Damon of Oa, as Plato quotes Damon when he writes about music. Plato did write of the importance of music, although not in the words of Andrew Fletcher; he (Plato) came close, though, when he wrote: "musical styles never change without modifying the most important political laws too, as Damon says and I believe him". Quadibloc (talk) 23:30, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

From https://history.stackexchange.com/a/12745 :

'Now, of whom is Fletcher speaking? Who is the "very wise man"? It is, of course, Sir Phillip Sydney (1554-1586), the English poet who came to completely dominate the court of Queen Elizabeth even though he was only in his 20s. Sydney is the one who originated the phrase "Let me make the ballads of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws."'

Thangalin (talk) 03:04, 28 April 2022 (UTC)