Location, Location, Location:
A Study in Triple Rhythm
Philip Robert Liebson
Ó2007 by Philip
R. Liebson
Location, Location, Location
When
I was assigned this topic, I was in somewhat of a quandary. I am not in real
estate and cannot give testimony to what sells. Perhaps I could discuss some of
my favorite vacation spots, but no, conveyance of one’s ideal locations is
sometimes met with amazement or boredom by others. On the other hand, it is
possible that I could go back in time and discuss past scenes that might evoke
memories in others, such as Henrici’s or the old
Then I got to thinking, why “Location,
Location, Location”, why not “Location, Location”, or “Location, Location,
Location, Location”. That got me on a quest to search the internet literature
on signs of the 3 [Arthur Conan Doyle missed by one]., Of course, there are the
four horsemen of the apocalypse but Alexandre Dumas got it right when he left
D’Artagnan out of the four musketeers for his title. In oratory, what has been
called the rhythmic triple is well known: The pithy “veni, vidi, vici,” or “of the
people, by the people, for the people”. In more elaborate style Churchill orated:
“…Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so
few”. In more prosaic terms, Governor Mark Schwieker of
Of course, the ideal example of triple meter is the Gertrude Stein motto:
“Rose is a rose is a rose”. According to Time magazine Sept 11, 1933, when a
The use of triple rhythm, triplets, and three of a kind has a long
history in American folklore and superstition, and in the history of religions.
Take American culture: Frequently, popular old songs have a 3 fold use of a
phrase: “John Brown’s body lies a moulderin’ in the grave….”; “Polly put the
kettle on…(we’ll all have tea)”. Lost my partner what’ll I do… (skip to my Lou,
my darling).” Nursery rhymes and songs
use a thrice repeated phrase frequently: “Mary had a little lamb”, “
American superstition uses the number three prominently: “Three times a
bridesmaid, never a bride” “No three on a match” are examples. Presumably the
latter has been attributed to American doughboys during the First World
War. Other evidence attributes the
expression to the British during the Crimean War, who learned from captured Russian
soldiers that the sacred rule of the Orthodox Church was that 3 tapers on a
candle were not to be lit from a single taper. Or possibly that during the Boer
War, when three cigarettes were lighted from the same match, the Boer sniper
had time to spot the light, take aim and fire, killing the third man.
Ah, the third man! The third man theme both in music and cinema has been
quite popular- of course we are talking about the 1949 movie with Orson Welles
playing a nefarious black marketeer in post-war
Getting back to basics, the number 3 itself seems to have mystic powers.
Atomic number 3, lithium, is used as an explosive material in the hydrogen bomb
and may eventually be the fuel for controlled nuclear reactors. There are the three
primary colors, the three ages of man, and the three kingdoms: animal,
vegetable, mineral. The three persons in grammar include all the relationships
of mankind. The limits of human capability are thought, word, and deed. The surface
of the earth is 1/3 earth, 2/3 water. The three great divisions of time are
past present and future. Of course, our planet Earth is third from the sun, and
there are until recently 3x3 or 9 planets before the Plutonian expulsion, but
perhaps the Asteroids can be surrogates to keep the number stable. In exploring
space, 3 stages of a rocket are necessary to achieve orbit. In earlier
aeronautics, when Lindbergh soloed over the Atlantic to
It took baseball 50 years of experimentation before it was decided that
3 strikes were out. Jokes usually require 3 action sequences, and frequently
involve 3 characters. The simplest proposition usually requires a subject,
predicate and object. To complete the simplest form of a formal argument, 3
conditions are required: a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.
In riddles, there are usually 3 chances to answer a question before
you’re out or beheaded, as in the opera Turandot. Other expressions give
further resonance to the number: Three sheets to the wind, three wise men, what
I tell you three times is true [this should not be applied to politics], two’s
company, three’s a crowd, the third degree, the English summer: three fine days
and a thunderstorm, the eternal triangle, and “When shall we three meet again? …”
The powers of 3 can be seen in such a simple organism as the bee. In 3
days the egg of the queen is hatched, it is fed in nine days (3x3), reaches
maturity in 15 days (3x5), is at work 3 days after leaving its cell, and the
drone matures in 24 days (3x8). The bee itself is composed of 3 sections, a head
and two stomachs. It has 6 legs (3x2) each composed of 3 sections. The sting
has 9 barbs on each side (3x3). The antennae consist of 9 sections (again 3x3).
In traditional games, tic, tac, toe involves three in a row to win,
there are 3 face cards, and in the game of hearts, 3 cards are passed to your
neighbor.
I
can also apply the rule of 3 to my observations in the practice of preventive
cardiology: I note that it is recommended that the diet should contain 30% fat,
distributed 1/3 each of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats-
with a diet of 300 mgm cholesterol. In fact, the Golden Mean itself includes
the ratio 1/3 and 2/3. Of course, there are three major nutrients, fats,
carbohydrates, and proteins.
In
music, the triple pulse appears to stand out clearly, common in formal dance
styles, the minuet or waltz or mazurka. In the 17th and 18th
century, the Sarabande became a section of the baroque suite, a slow triple
meter derived from a fast Spanish dance. This form has been revived in the 20th
century by Debussy, Satie, Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten.
The third movement of symphonies is classically triple metered, earlier
in scherzo form. National anthems are
usually in double meter save for the British National Anthem – God Save the
Queen , and America the Beautiful, which tend to be more lyrical, compared with
the usually more martial double-metered national anthems such as the
Marseillaise.
In line with this lyricism, some of the most beautiful classical songs
are in triple meter such as Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. Franz
Schubert’s lieder were usually in triple time. The lyricism of triple time is
much less frequently used nowadays in contemporary songs but note the Beatles’
1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
and “She’s Leaving Home”.
Since antiquity, the sacredness the triad has permeated religious
beliefs and superstitions. In many older concepts, the trinity signified the
unity of mind, body and spirit. The symbol of the trident was used in the
earliest known runic alphabet. In pictures from the Middle Ages, the sign was
used to signify the spears of the devils or of Satan to torment sinners.
Poseidon, the holder of the trident in ancient Greek lore, got his spear from
the 3 sons of Uranus, whom the trident may signify. In
In mathematics, 3 lines are minimal to form a plane and 3 dimensions to
form a solid. A most important significant plane is the triangle. The triangle was important in ancient lore,
associated with the holy, divine number 3. The Hittites used the symbol to
signify well, good, and healthy. The ancient Greeks, in the words of Xenocrates
in the 4th century BC, held the triangle to be the symbol of the
Divinity. In Christianity, it is the symbol of the Holy Trinity. In the Middle
Ages, upright or inverted triangles with various superimposed bars signified
variously, the four elements, earth, air, fire and water. Currently, an
inverted triangle is used in meteorology as indicating rain showers. An upright
triangle is seen as a traffic sign indicating danger.
Interlaced triangles constitute the star of David and in
In religion God’s attributes are three:
omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence.
The
ancient Celts saw themselves in three different worlds, the past, the present,
and the future, and gained knowledge from three entities, the faeries, the
dead, and those yet to be born. In Celtic stories, male heroes travel in groups
of three, each completing 1/3 of a task. In Celtic art, figures are grouped in
clusters of three.
In Hinduism, three deities rule the world. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu
the preserver, and Siva the destroyer. Is it possible that Siva may represent
the black hole destroying endless galaxies? Siva has 3 eyes representing the
three worlds, sun, moon and earth, the three paths of liberation and the triple
nature of creation. Three circles in an encompassing circle represents
Chintamani, a sign of happiness- the
symbol is also found in the Temple of
Heaven in Beijing, in the Three Treasures of Tibet, on the breast of Christ in
a Memling painting, on the shields of the crusaders and on the coat of arms of
the Knights Templars. It is also seen on the swords of Japanese nobility. In
modern times, the firm Mitsubishi means three diamonds.
In
Judeo-Christianity, in Genesis, the earth was caused to rise up out of the
water on the third day, just as Jesus arose from the dead on the third day.
Man’s greatest enemies are three, the
World, the Flesh, and the Devil.
In the Old Testament, in Genesis, (18:2) when Jehovah appears before
Abraham, he addresses the Deity as one or three persons. In God’s covenant to
Abraham, the divine seal is seen in the choice of three animals, each three
years old.
There were three things Moses asked of God, that the Sakinah [calmness,
tranquility and reassurance] might rest on
The sign of the three is pervasive in Christianity. The Trinity of
course, are three persons in one Godhead. In John 2:16, the threefold nature of
temptation is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life. The divinely perfect witnesses to the Grace of God on Earth include the Spirit,
the water and the blood (John 5:7). The inscriptions on the cross were of three
languages showing completeness of Jesus’s rejection by
So, there is every precedent for the term “location, location,
location”. I will conclude with the formal ending of one of the most
influential modern poems, the
Shantih, Shantih, Shantih – The Peace which passeth understanding- and I
wish you all peace-three times!