Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 1/25: Willie Nelson, “I Gotta Get Drunk”
Raise a glass for Pete Hegseth. He’s probably already raised a few himself. Willie Nelson recorded this in 1970, before he became an outlaw, though he does look a lot like Johnny Cash in that cover photo for “Both Sides Now.” It didn’t help; the album failed to chart. Willie Nelson wrote the song back […]
Song of the Day 1/24: Stan Rogers, “Barrett’s Privateers”
It’s said that if you walk into any bar in Nova Scotia and sing, “Oh, the year was 1778,” you’re sure to be answered, “How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!” because everybody knows what’s become the province’s most popular drinking song. You might have heard “Barrett’s Privateers” during the pandemic, when TikTok set […]
Song of the Day 1/23: John Anderson, “Down in the Orange Grove”
Best way to cope with the firehose of MAGA sewage spewing from the media is to skip stories about what might happen or what various things could mean, stick to stories about stuff that actually happens. For example, oranges are about to get a lot more expensive, because immigrant workers aren’t showing up to pick […]
Song of the Day 1/22: The Band, “The Genetic Method”
Everybody calls Garth Hudson, who died yesterday at 87, the Band’s secret weapon, but anybody who knows the Band at all knows he was far from secret. Fans knew he was what elevated the quintet above the level of a bar band backing Ronnie Hawkins, filling out the basic quartet sound with organ, accordion, saxophone, […]
Song of the Day 1/21: Amanda Shires & Jason Isbell, “Born in the U.S.A.”
Trump and his jackals want to end birthright citizenship, so brace for lots of stories about whether they can or can’t and the legalities and the sure-to-follow lawsuits. This is all catnip for the media, of course – why do you think they sanewashed him all this while? I won’t fall for it. You don’t […]
Song of the Day: 1/20: Alice Cooper, “Welcome to My Nightmare”
It’s gonna be bad, but remember, each and every one of these people, from Trump on down, is a consummate fuck-up. So while it will be fucked up, it will be fucked up for them, too, because they don’t know what they’re doing and will just be winging it. Will their inevitable fuck-ups cost them […]
Song of the Day 1/19: The Beatles, “The End”
If this is indeed the end of the American Republic – I tend to doubt it, but I’m safely overseas – then I think it should bow out with the words of Paul McCartney. The amount of love Trump and his testosterone-poisoned minions will take will indeed equal the amount they make. That number, whether […]
Song of the Day 1/17: Arthur Conley, “Funky Street”
One-hit wonders get more attention, but there are lots of two-hit wonders out there, too. Arthur Conley, for example. Conley was singing for minor labels from the late ’50s to the mid-’60s when Otis Redding heard him and signed him to his fledgling label. Together they reworked a Sam Cooke tune into “Sweet Soul Music,” […]
Song of the Day 1/16: Kesha, “Tik Tok”
The deadline for whatever happens to TikTok is fast approaching. I don’t use social media, so it won’t affect me directly no matter what happens, but lots of people are worked up about it so it’s all over the news. This might be why when I searched for Kesha, one of the auto-prompt questions that […]
Song of the Day 1/14: The Kossoy Sisters, “I’ll Fly Away”
Flying away from it all is a pretty common wish these days, and apparently it always has been. Slaves working the fields and prisoners behind bars traditionally invoke that desire, often extolling the path to freedom that leads through the pearly gates. So flying up to heaven was a common trope by the time prolific […]
Song of the Day 1/13: Ian and Sylvia, “Four Strong Winds”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona As the guy who signed and managed Bob Dylan, smart, aggressive, tyrannical Albert Grossman has a big part in the new Dylan movie, “A Complete Unknown.” He was a driving force behind the whole 1960s folk movement. Grossman created Peter, Paul and Mary, one of the most important acts of […]
Song of the Day 1/12: The Move, “Fire Brigade”
Those wily Mexicans have launched a new front in their invasion of El Norte: They’ve sent firefighters to help battle the Los Angeles blazes. I don’t know how much it will help in containing the devastation, but it certainly sticks a thumb in the eye of the xenophobic asshole politicians catering to the xenophobic asshole […]
Song of the Day 1/10: Peter, Paul and Mary, “Puff, the Magic Dragon”
Peter Yarrow, who died earlier this week at age 86, fought a decades-long battle against an insidious rumor: that “Puff, the Magic Dragon” was about marijuana. In his defense, Yarrow pointed out that he wrote the song while an undergraduate at Cornell in 1959, a time and place where marijuana was still rare. The story […]
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