Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 1/23: Bruce Springsteen, “Prove It All Night”
Adam Schiff’s new theme song. If Midnight Mitch insists, Schiff and the House impeachment managers can indeed prove Trump’s abuse of power and obstruction all night. The song appeared on Springsteen’s underappreciated “Darkness on the Edge of Town” LP in 1978. Released as a single, it only made #33 on the Hot 100. This performance […]
Song of the Day 1/22: J.J. Cale, “After Midnight”
Thanks to Moscow Mitch McConnell, anyone who wants to watch the Senate trial of the Marmalade Menace will have to stay up after midnight. I think J.J. Cale summed up this strategy in the lyrics: Gonna cause talk and suspicion We gonna give an exhibition We gonna find out what it is all about Guitarist […]
Song of the Day 1/21: Pigmeat Markham, “Here Come the Judge”
Some say this was the first rap song, which would be quite a distinction for Chitlin’ Circuit vaudevillian Dewey “Pigmeat” Markham, born 1904, whose “here come the judge” routine was adopted by and immortalized on TV’s “Laugh-In.” I, on the other hand, say this is the perfect theme song for the opening day of this […]
Song of the Day 1/20: Bob Dylan and Clydie King, “Abraham, Martin and John”
Everybody who’s old enough remembers the Dion version of this response to the twin assassinations of 1968, penned, incongruously, by Baton Rouge musician Dick Holler, the same guy who wrote “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron.” Dion’s harp-filled production laid on the schmaltz, but many singers over the years, from Marvin Gaye to Emmylou Harris, have […]
Song of the Day 1/19: Generation X, “Your Generation”
Before Douglas Coupland’s book, before demographers’ appropriation of the term, a bunch of louts from London led by a bloke named William Broad formed a band to take advantage of the burgeoning punk scene. Taking their name from a pop-sociology book of the mid-60s, written about the generation that included the Beatles and the Stones, […]
Song of the Day 1/18: The Clash, “Wrong ‘Em Boyo”
“London Calling,” the Clash double LP released 40 years ago this month, stunned audiences who thought punk rockers were just a bunch of low-talent yobs by presenting a array of rock and roll musical styles reinvigorated with punk-rock energy. Three of the 19 tracks were covers, including this remake of a fairly obscure Jamaican track […]
Song of the Day 1/17: Dave Matthews Band, “The Best of What’s Around”
The Rock Hall of Fame, like the NFL’s, announces a list of nominees for the honor, then excludes a bunch of them in a final vote, which always struck me as a crappy thing to do to the also-rans. This year’s batch of nine Rock Hall rejectees included several that arguably belong more than some […]
White-Power Extremists Headed for Va. Nabbed in Newark by FBI
This is what we get for being so close to Virginia. From WDEL: Three suspected members of a white supremacist extremist group were arrested on federal firearm and alien-related charges following a tactical operation Thursday morning at a Newark-area apartment complex, according to federal agents. Thirty-three-year old Brian Lemley, Jr., of Elkton, Maryland; 19-year old […]
Song of the Day 1/16: T. Rex, “Hot Love”
Better late than never, T. Rex has finally been admitted to the Rock Hall of Fame in its newest class, along with such rock-adjacent artists as Whitney Houston and Biggie Smalls (the Doobie Brothers, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails round out this year’s honorees). This non-album single was the band’s first of four UK […]
Democrats Shouldn’t Dawdle on Gun Bills [UPDATE]: Virginia Braces For Gung-Ho Gun Nuts
As you might recall through the haze of Trumpian scandal, the Virginia legislature flipped to Democratic control in November. After the election, Democrats pledged to pass a package of gun-control laws — mostly the same agenda Delaware Democrats have punted on — gun-rights advocates are flipping out. The pledge sparked a grassroots pro-gun movement whose […]
Song of the Day 1/15: Brook Benton, “A House Is Not a Home”
In honor of Sen. Dave McBride (h/t El Somnambulo), whose house in New Castle County is not his home, though we never need an excuse to showcase a Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune. The song was first recorded in 1964 by Dionne Warwick, who made a career of turning Bacharach compositions into hits, but it was […]
A SuxCo Republican Tells the Truth
The New Journal story about the Sussex County GOP meeting at which Nelly Jordan was ousted from her post included this inadvertent bit of truth-telling from a rank-and-file member of that benighted bunch. Sussex County native Leon Transeau called Jordan a “hard worker,” and said that ousting her over a “single negative remark” would be […]
Song of the Day 1/14: The Band, “Chest Fever”
Sorry I’ve been absent for a couple of days — I came down with one of the various viruses (non-computer variety) making the rounds. I doubt it was actually “chest fever,” but I couldn’t find a song called “non-stop vomiting.” Released on The Band’s debut LP “Music From Big Pink,” the tune served as a […]
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