Rumsfeld (Christopher J. Noren)

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Music files

• CPDL #11303: [ ]

Editor: Christopher J. Noren (added 2006-03-21).   Score information: Letter, 2 pages, 0 kbytes   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes: mp3 file also available.

General Information

Title: Rumsfeld
Composer: Christopher J. Noren

Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Hymns
Language: English
Instruments: none, a cappella
Published: 2004

Description: shape note hymn based on press conference by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The composer writes:

"At a Department of Defense news briefing on February 12, 2002, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was asked:

In regard to Iraq weapons of mass destruction and terrorists, is there any evidence to indicate that Iraq has attempted to or is willing to supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction? Because there are reports that there is no evidence of a direct link between Baghdad and some of these terrorist organizations.

Secretary Rumsfeld replied:

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.

I was inspired by the Zen metaphysics of the Secretary's response to set the section in red as a 4-part a cappella “Fuging-Tune,” composed in the rollicking, proto-Gospel style of The Sacred Harp and other 19th-century Southern tunebooks."

External websites: http://homepage.mac.com/chrone/rumsfeld.html

Original text and translations

English text

As we know, there are known knowns;

There are things we know we know.

We also know there are known unknowns;

That is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns --

The ones we don't know we don't know.