Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 5/12: Angus and Julia Stone, “Big Jet Plane”
As far as Donald Trump is concerned, the best part of being president is that people give you stuff for free – catnip to the kind of grasping poseur Trump has always been. So naturally he’s not just ready to take a jumbo-jet sized bribe from the Qataris, he’s bragging about it. I’m only surprised […]
Song of the Day 5/11: Frank Zappa and the Mothers, “Camarillo Brillo”
Frank Zappa’s record label wouldn’t let him call his band the Mothers, so he added “of Invention” to pacify them. But nobody called them that. They were the Mothers, though not the sort Hallmark meant to honor. Zappa churned through sidemen, so there were many Mothers. He eventually grew frustrated with trying to herd the […]
Song of the Day 5/9: The Who, “The Song Is Over”
The Who has announced another farewell tour. Yeah, sure, you might scoff – wasn’t their first farewell tour back in 1982? Yes it was, and it took seven whole years for them to decide that maybe they had been hasty. They regrouped for their 25th anniversary and have toured fairly regularly since. This time they […]
Song of the Day 5/8: Luke Bryan, “Little Boys Grow Up and Dogs Get Old”
It doesn’t get any easier no matter how old you get. Mine was a corgi named Mackie – formally, Honeyfox Four on the Floor – and after 14 1/2 years I have to say goodbye to him today. He was a very good boy.
Song of the Day 5/7: The Miracles, “I’ve Been Good to You”
Smokey Robinson, composer of umpteen romantic soul classics, was sued yesterday by four former housekeepers who accuse him of sexual assault and rape, among a raft of other charges. He hasn’t officially responded, but when The Daily Mail managed to get the 85-year-old singer on the phone he told them, “I am appalled. I can’t […]
Song of the Day 5/6: Jake Holmes, “Dazed and Confused”
Led Zeppelin is notorious for claiming writing credit for songs they “borrowed.” It wasn’t just old blues numbers, like turning Willie Dixon’s “You Need Love” into “Whole Lotta Love” and Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” into “The Lemon Song.” Guitarist Jimmy Page swiped Randy California’s riff for “Stairway to Heaven” and the band turned Moby Grape’s […]
Song of the Day 5/5: Leon Russell, “Alcatraz”
Having run out of old fixations to issue executive orders about, low-flow toilets have been conquered, Trump unveiled some new ones yesterday, and they’re even dumber than the old ones. A 100% tariff on foreign-produced movies is a non-starter, as there’s no way to apply it and movies are explicitly exempted from the law he’s […]
Song of the Day 5/4: Jill Sobule, “America Back”
Singer-songwriter Jill Sobule died early Thursday in a house fire in Minnesota. Every obit identifies her by her 1995 single, “I Kissed a Girl,” a queer milestone as the first openly gay-themed song to chart (No. 20 Modern Rock, No. 67 Hot 100). It did catapult her to brief fame, but it was her political […]
DL Open Thread Saturday, May 3, 2025
Speed bumps on Newark’s Main Street? There’s pressure to make that happen after a stolen U-Haul van fatally struck a student, eight months after another student was killed by a motorcyclist fleeing from police. Another Trump revenge tantrum executive order has been ruled unconstitutional. People who moaned that the courts are all in Trump’s corner […]
Song of the Day 5/2: Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, “The Twist”
Discussing the induction of Chubby Checker into the rock and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nathan Arizona said one song – “The Twist,” obviously – shouldn’t be enough to get someone in. Why not? It already got Hank Ballard inducted. Ballard, who headlined the vocal group the Midnighters, had other hits, but he didn’t […]
Song of the Day 5/1: Ed Pickford, “The Workers’ Song”
It’s International Workers’ Day, something Americans don’t observe – socialism has never appealed to a nation full of millionaires-in-waiting. Well, too bad, capitalist scum. It’s unlikely the workers of the world will ever unite, but you can’t stop them from protesting their lot. Ed Pickford, a protest singer from northeastern England, has written a lot […]
Song of the Day 4/30: Counting Crows, “Spaceman in Tulsa”
This song, released in February, hasn’t made El Somnambulo’s list of faves (I’m not sure it qualifies yet by his rules), but it caught my ear the other day when it played on WXPN. I could only hear faint snatches of it from an upstairs bedroom, so it wasn’t clear enough for Adam Duritz’s distinctive […]
Song of the Day 4/29: Chubby Checker, “Let’s Twist Again”
For me, the biggest surprise among this year’s inductees to the Rock Hall of Fame was Chubby Checker, who popularized the twist and several other novelty dances, and whose hit-making days ended in 1965 – or so I thought. Ernest Evans, nicknamed Chubby, was brought up in South Philly – teen idol Fabian was a […]
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