Song of the Day 2/20: The Hooters, “Fightin’ on the Same Side”
No, I didn't watch the "debate." Open up your eyes, folks -- we're fighting on the same side. In their early days gigging around Philadelphia, years before they signed a…
Song of the Day 2/19: Bad Company, “Bad Company”
Yesterday Trump pardoned every white-collar criminal he's seen on TV, from Michael Milken and Eddie DeBartolo to Rod Blagojevich and Bernard Kerik and, I'm pretty sure, Doctor Loveless from "The…
Song of the Day 2/18: Chicago, “25 or 6 to 4”
In the late '60s and into the '70s, Mt. Pleasant High School would annually book a national-level band for a concert. Fifty years ago tonight the school played host to…
Song of the Day 2/17: The Presidents of the United States of America, “Volcano”
Hey, it's Presidents Day, so who better to play at the party? PUSA, like virtually all '90s alt-rock bands, made a splash with its debut in 1995, then quickly faded…
Song of the Day 2/16: Strawbs, “Benedictus”
The lyrics make this sound like a religious song, and in a way it is, but it didn't spring from any Christian tradition. Strawbs got together in England in 1964…
Song of the Day 2/15: The Proclaimers, “Cap in Hand”
Brexit has revived talk of Scottish independence, a topic that always reminds me of this song in which Scottish twins Charlie and Craig Reid proclaimed their support for cutting ties…
Song of the Day 2/14: David Peel and the Lower East Side, “Up Against the Wall”
Today's tune is in honor of Mike Bloomberg's policing policy which, considering this song was recorded in 1968, shows that mini-Mike wasn't an innovator but a reactionary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2pGBv9Ly6A Of course,…
Song of the Day 2/13: Ray Stevens, “Mr. Businessman”
Ray Stevens is best known for his prodigious output of comic songs, a few of which were actually worth a chuckle. He also had a big hit with "Everything Is…
Song of the Day 2/12: The Guess Who, “Share the Land”
Not even Bernie Sanders goes so far as to call for redistribution of land -- it took a bunch of Canadian hayseeds from the plains of Manitoba to do that.…
Song of the Day 2/11: Alive and Kicking, “Tighter, Tighter”
I have no idea why this song popped into my head the other day, because I don't think I've heard it in years. Obscure even for a one-hit wonder, Alive…
The Badger and the Coyote
Yes, it sounds like one of Aesop's fables, and it does crop up in Native American folklore, but it's based on observed reality. Though coyotes and badgers are each solitary…
Song of the Day 1/20: John Prine, “Sweet Revenge”
I hate to repurpose one of my favorite songwriters, but this should be the theme song for the rest of Donald Trump's first, and with luck only, term as president.…
Song of the Day 2/1: Teenage Fanclub and De La Soul, “Fallin'”
This one is for the Senate Republicans. Congratulations, fellas. As the chorus of this one-off collaboration goes, you played yourself. Thanks to Ice-T, that phrase was already in circulation when…