Much of the chapter is devoted to Holden's considerations of artistic performances. Simply put, he likes what he finds to be authentic and dislikes what he sees as phony. The dominating theme of the rest of the chapter is the mutability of time and its relationship to death.
The first example of Holden's aesthetics in Chapter 16 is the recording that he wants to buy for Phoebe, an old song about a shy kid who won't go out of her house because she is missing two front teeth. It is called "Little Shirley Beans" and is sung by the black jazz singer Estelle Fletcher. What Holden likes is that it is authentic. Despite the topic, it is neither maudlin nor sentimental. The artist sings it "very Dixieland and whorehouse," not all mushy and cute the way he thinks a white girl would do it. Holden consistently holds in contempt any artist who caters to the audience at the expense of the work of art, even a song about a girl missing two front teeth. He feels the same way about Ernie's piano playing or D.B.'s writing. Holden pays five dollars for the recording at a time when most records could be purchased for fifty cents or less.
