Alby's Latest Posts
If Democracy Is Dying, It’s From Neglect
Sure, Republicans are trying to kill democracy. The question is why they’re bothering. Consider Ohio where, if you read the news accounts, the big story is J.D. Vance’s comeback win in his Ohio primary, supposedly on the back of a Trump endorsement. This narrative is bullshit. Yes, it’s true, but it misses the big picture. […]
Song of the Day 5/4: Graham Parker, “You Can’t Be Too Strong”
A lot of critics think this song, whose lyrics provided the title for Graham Parker’s 1979 album “Squeezing Out Sparks,” is the best he ever wrote. But if you ever need an example of confirmation bias in action, consider how many people think this is an anti-abortion song. Parker has gotten pushback about the song […]
Song of the Day 5/3: Johnny Cash, “Camptown Races”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona The Kentucky Derby is Saturday. Somebody will bet on the bay. Doo Dah. The singer in Stephen Foster’s “Camptown Races” did not bet on the bay. He blew his money on the bob-tail nag. This was the first widely popular American horse racing song. That’s fitting, since Foster was pretty […]
Song of the Day 5/2: Squeeze, “The Day I Get Home”
“I eat the lines ahead of me.” Chris Difford wrote that line more than 30 years ago, before you had to take your shoes off at the airport. From the Squeeze album I praise all the time because I consider it one of the peaks of intelligent rock songwriting, 1991’s “Play.” And, because one knock […]
Song of the Day 5/1: The Motown Manifestos, “Papa Was a Running Dog Lackey of the Bourgeoisie”
Happy International Workers’ Day, or la Fête du Travail as the government here prefers to call it. Workers just call it May Day. John Lennon once remarked that “Imagine” was basically the Communist Manifesto set to music, but he didn’t quote that document directly. This song does. The tune was part of the National Lampoon’s […]
Song of the Day 4/30: The Boo Radleys, “Wake Up Boo!”
Not woke yet, or just feeling a bit lacking in the wokeness department? Let the Boo Radleys remedy that. The Boo Radleys were an early ’90s Liverpool indie four-piece that released its most commercial album, “Wake Up!” in 1995, just in time for the Britpop boom that made Oasis internationally famous. Their LP caught the […]
Song of the Day 4/29: Kool and the Gang, “Too Hot”
Maybe it’s too common to be news anymore, but the Indian subcontinent is suffering under a brutal heat wave. Temperatures have been 10 degrees above normal for weeks and have reached 112°F. In related news, CO2 levels at Mauna Loa set a new record at over 422 ppm this week. “Too Hot” was the second […]
Song of the Day 4/28: Gary Glitter, “Rock and Roll (Part 1)”
There’s no other way to put it — the French just think differently from everybody else. Paul Gadd was just 15 when, calling himself Paul Raven, he cut his first single in 1960. He had a small-time career until the glam rock craze hit Britain in 1971, at which point he changed his name to […]
Song of the Day 4/27: The Replacements, “Androgynous”
Republicans are like an aging band that doesn’t realize they’re playing stale oldies for a graying audience. They’ve been trying to relitigate the 1960s for 50 years now without coming up with any new tunes, so they’re back to demonizing sexual/gender nonconformity. They’re also keen on spotting perverts everywhere except the obvious places, namely evangelical […]
Song of the Day 4/26: Fleetwood Mac, “Tusk”
Does Weird Al Yankovic take requests? If so, would someone please forward mine? I think this Lindsey Buckingham tune screams out for use as a salute to the current world’s richest man and second-greatest egotistical con artist, Elon Musk. C’mon, Al! A waiting world needs “Musk.” “Tusk” might be Fleetwood Mac’s unlikeliest hit — it […]
Song of the Day 4/25: Sweet, “Little Willy”
EARWORM ALERT Were they glam? Bubblegum? Power pop? Sweet was all of those things and more, depending on the song and the whims of their writer/producer, Mike Chapman, and his partner Nicky Chinn. Those two were aspiring songwriters in 1970 when they met the lads from The Sweetshop, as they were originally billed, who had […]
Song of the Day 4/22: AC/DC, “Dog Eat Dog”
Kevin McCarthy has never been among the sharper tools in the GOP congressional shed — he once voiced his belief, in front of witnesses, that Trump was on the Kremlin payroll — but he really should have seen that Rachel Maddow coming with that right cross. Maybe somebody should warn him that when push comes […]
Song of the Day 4/21: Frank Sinatra, “I Have Dreamed”
Philadelphia disc jockey Sid Mark, host of the nationally syndicated “Sounds of Sinatra” radio program that aired locally on WPHT-AM as “Sundays With Sinatra,” died this week at age 88. He had been playing Frank Sinatra’s music over the airwaves for more than 65 years, and closed every show with this Rodgers and Hammerstein tune […]
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