Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 3/30: James McMurtry, “We Can’t Make It Here (Anymore)”
Author Larry McMurtry, who gained his greatest fame for his screenplay work in film and television, died last week. His musical legacy is his son James, who has carved out a 30-year career in the folk rock/Americana market with literate songs that include more than a little pointed social commentary along the way. He won […]
Song of the Day 3/29: Johnny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue”
The Republican war on trans people put me in mind of this old Johnny Cash song. Recorded live at San Quentin State Prison, the novelty tune was written and recorded earlier that year by singer-songwriter/children’s book author/Playboy cartoonist Shel Silverstein. June Carter heard Silverstein sing it one night and thought it a good fit for […]
DL Open Thread Monday, March 29, 2021
Dildo-headed capitalist Jeff Bezos is personally behind the company’s recent shitty behavior toward its critics. He issued a “broad mandate” to executives to fight back. Hey, it worked last time Amazon workers tried to unionize — in 2014 in Smyrna. In Delaware, not even exploited workers will rock the boat. If the Grateful Dead had […]
Song of the Day 3/28: Louis Armstrong, “When the Saints Go Marching In”
Among the songs the Library of Congress added to its National Recording Registry last week is Louis Armstrong’s first recording of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” the gospel spiritual based on the Book of Revelations that Armstrong turned into a New Orleans jazz standard, helping usher gospel music traditions into popular music. Armstrong had […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, March 28, 2021
Ready for some boycottin’? Sure, Coca-Cola, but now comes word that Inspire Brands — a private-capital band of crookscompany that owns Jimmy Johns, Arby’s, Sonic, and Buffalo Wild Wings, as well as Dunkin’ Donuts, which it acquired for $11.3 billion in November, is bragging that it killed the $15 minimum wage. I’d like to boycott […]
Song of the Day 3/26: Labelle, “Lady Marmalade”
The National Recording Registry announced this year’s additions, ranging from a recording Thomas Edison made on a piece of tinfoil in 1878 to Kermit the Frog’s “Rainbow Connection.” The headline selection, though, was this smash hit that reached the top of the charts in 1975 when it was recorded by Labelle, the girl group led […]
Song of the Day 3/25: The Lemon Pipers, “Green Tambourine”
I’m as anti-insurrection as the next guy, but I think the feds may be overreaching in the case of Sara Carpenter, 51, of Queens, who was arrested for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6. She cooperated with the authorities and turned over the clothing she was wearing when she was pepper-sprayed, as well as the […]
DL Open Thread Thursday, March 25, 2021
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but ever since The Last Guy left DC the news has lacked the crisis-a-minute pace it maintained for four years. Say what you want about the voters of Arizona, at least they’re smart enough to be turned off by Kyrsten Sinema’s Joe Manchin impersonation. Her poll numbers back home […]
Song of the Day 3/24: Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On”
When Rolling Stone magazine recalculated its 500 greatest albums list last year, giving greater weight to musicians’ opinions and less to the critics, a new No. 1 emerged — Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” his seminal 1971 soul song cycle. And that album literally wouldn’t exist without the title tune. The song was inspired by […]
Song of the Day 3/22: Jethro Tull, “Locomotive Breath”
The other day I saw a list of LPs released in 1971, and the phrase “embarrassment of riches” barely scratches the surface. None of them got spun as often among my high school friends as “Aqualung,” the album that ought to have made them a shoo-in for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, March 21, 2021
Vladimir Putin is demonstrating that he’s just like the fake president he installed in the U.S. — a big baby incapable of running a country on anything but the thuggist terms of a crime boss. Because Joe Biden pointed out that he’s a murderous thug, he’s recalled the Russian ambassador for urgent talks. What’s he […]
Song of the Day 3/19: The Undisputed Truth, “Smiling Faces Sometimes”
The worst part of the story about the Biden White House firing staffers who admitted to past marijuana use is the fact that they were told such admissions would not be held against them. This Motown classic, the only hit for this psychedelic-soul trio, reached No. 3 in 1971. Written by Motown songwriting team of […]
Song of the Day 3/18: Graham Nash and David Crosby, “Immigration Man”
When a U.S. Customs official detained then-Brit Graham Nash as he tried to enter the country, he wrote “Immigration Man.” Nash was ticked off because he wasn’t given a reason for the hold-up, which ended after people started asking Nash for his autograph. The song was the first single from on their first LP and […]
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