Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 4/12: Stan Freberg, “C’est Si Bon”
Today was beautiful in Paris, sunny and 22°, so nobody seems worried about Marine Le Pen. As the song says, “It’s so good!” My friend Geo. Stewart featured this version of an Yves Montand standard on a recent episode of Crazy College, his show dedicated to odd, silly and forgotten music that airs Sundays at […]
Song of the Day 4/10: Holly and the Italians, “Tell That Girl to Shut Up”
This song goes through my head every time I see another Marjorie Taylor Greene/Lauren Boebert clickbait headline. In an alternate universe, Holly Beth Vincent had a career like Chrissie Hynde’s. Like the Ohio-born Hynde, Vincent, a Chicago native, got her big break after moving to the UK. In 1979, the same year the Pretenders released […]
Song of the Day 4/9: Randy Rainbow, “Gay”
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law was just made for lampooning by Randy Rainbow, who, it turns out — you never would have guessed — is gay.
Song of the Day 4/8: Pink Floyd and Andriy Khlyvnyuk, “Hey Hey Rise Up”
Russia’s unprovoked assault on Ukraine has brought about many unexpected changes. This one is minor, but it made news in the music media: It prompted Pink Floyd to record its first new song in 28 years. Well, not all of Pink Floyd — Richard Wright is dead, and Roger Waters is still, well, Roger Waters,* […]
Song of the Day 4/7: Robert Knight, “Everlasting Love”
Despite his smooth voice, Robert Knight only had one hit — this song, written expressly for him by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, who owned a record company in Nashville. The song itself, though, has been a hit over and over again, with covers reaching the Top 40 in the US in the ’70s (Carl […]
Song of the Day 4/6: Bobby Rydell, “Wildwood Days”
You have to be eligible for Medicare to have first-hand memories of Bobby Rydell, the South Philly teen idol from the early days of rock ‘n’ roll. He had his first hit at age 17, in 1959, and hit his peak in 1963, the year he appeared in the film version of “Bye, Bye Birdie” […]
Song of the Day 4/5: Stevie Wonder, “Evil”
Stevie Wonder, whose albums made critics’ Top 10 lists in the ’70s, seems to have fallen into relative neglect in recent years — Marvin Gaye, not Wonder, is now considered Motown’s greatest 1970s artist. This makes sense — Gaye’s soul influenced a lot more modern music than Wonder’s funk and pop. But at the time […]
Song of the Day 4/4: Wet Leg, “Chaise Longue”
This song went viral on social media last summer, and mainstream media picked up on it by autumn, but I didn’t hear it until last week, and it cracked me up. Wet Leg is Rhian Teasdale, who sings this tune, and Hester Chambers, two friends who live on the Isle of Wight, just off England’s […]
Song of the Day 4/3: Genesis, “The Carpet Crawlers”
Genesis, the venerable British band that pioneered prog rock in the ’70s and churned out synth-pop hits like clockwork in the ’80s, called it quits last week, 55 years after forming at a posh public school in Surrey. Their decision was prompted by the declining health of drummer-cum-frontman Phil Collins, who since 2017 had to […]
Song of the Day 4/1: Steve Miller Band, “The Joker”
The No. 1 hit that made Steve Miller a star is, in a way, the first song that owes its existence to sampling. Miller assembled it in large part from lines and riffs borrowed from earlier works, and not just his own. Everyone knows the first-verse lyrics quote tracks he recorded with earlier, bluesier incarnations […]
Hey, Jane Brady, Who Invited Lauren Witzke to Cocaine Orgies?
I always thought North Carolina bozo Madison Cawthorn, like most GOP congresscritters, was engaged in performance art. But that was before he talked about fellow Republicans snorting cocaine and inviting him to orgies. I don’t doubt it happened — my money’s on Matt Gaetz issuing the invite — but Cawthorn’s shock and indignation revealed him […]
Song of the Day 3/31: Bruce Willis, “Respect Yourself”
Actor Bruce Willis’ family announced yesterday that he’s retiring from acting due to aphasia, a brain condition that affects language and communication. The 67-year-old Penns Grove, N.J., native rocketed to fame in the mid-’80s in the unconventional TV dramedy “Moonlighting,” where he occasionally burst into snatches of Motown tunes, and turned heads with a rendition […]
Song of the Day 3/30: Ray Charles, “What’d I Say”
Joe Biden ad-libbed nine words in his speech in Poland and pundits all weighed in, for or against. I’m only following the story by headlines, but it sounds like Joe didn’t think he’d said anything wrong, and it took a while to convince him to walk it back. So now every pundit is weighing in […]
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