Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 8/14: Jimmie Rodgers, “In the Jailhouse Now”
C’mon, everyone knows that’s where he belongs. And everybody knows who I mean. Jimmie Rodgers wasn’t long out of the railroad yards when he cut this disc in 1928 in Camden, N.J., just a couple of months after “Blue Yodel No. 1” made him famous. The song was already circulating widely; various versions with different […]
DL Open Thread Monday, August 14, 2023
Are conservatives just, well, stupid? Science says yes. Now watch the comments fill up with people determined to demonstrate it. The death toll of the Maui wildfire continues to climb (it stood at 93 as I compiled this, but roughly 1,000 people are unaccounted for). It already is among the half-dozen deadliest wildfires in U.S. […]
Song of the Day 8/13: The Go-Go’s, “Vacation”
Clarence Thomas takes more vacations than anyone I’ve ever heard of. Then again, if you can take unlimited luxury trips on someone else’s dime, why not take 38 of them? “Vacation,” the title track from the second album by the Go-Go’s, reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 in 1982. It holds a footnote in […]
Song of the Day 8/11: Rodriguez, “Sugar Man”
Sixto Rodriguez, whose early ’70s albums gained little attention in the U.S. but found an overseas audience that fueled a late-career revival, died in his hometown of Detroit this week at age 81. He finally found fame in America a decade ago after being featured in an Oscar-winning documentary, “Searching for Sugar Man.” The son […]
Song of the Day 8/10: The Band, “The Shape I’m In”
Robbie Robertson, whose lead guitar and character-driven songs drove the influential music of The Band, died Wednesday, age 80. Though his compositions include he enduring rock standards “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” Robertson’s place in rock history goes much deeper, entwined as it is with Bob Dylan. After he played […]
Song of the Day 8/9: Carl Douglas, “Kung Fu Fighting”
The Alabama dockside brawl was more like a pro rasslin’ melee or a hockey donnybrook than a chopsocky flick, but neither the WWE nor the NHL have inspired a No. 1 hit like “Kung Fu Fighting.” No song in history made more out of less. Jamaican singer Carl Douglas was in the studio to record […]
Song of the Day 8/8: Run-DMC, “You Talk Too Much”
Who is this song from Run-DMC’s second album about? They never specify, but the seminal hip-hop trio hails from Queens, and they address the target of their scorn as “homie” … say, you don’t think… Donald Trump had established himself as a public nuisance by the time “King of Rock” was released in 1985. He […]
Song of the Day 8/7: Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “Takin’ Care of Business”
Who says irony is dead? Zoom, the San Jose-based company that became synonymous with remote work, has told its employees they have to return to the office at least two days a week, provided they live within 50 miles of a Zoom work site. I have no idea if they run an 8:15 into the […]
Song of the Day 8/6: Marshall Crenshaw, “Someday, Someway”
Marshall Crenshaw’s eponymous debut LP arrived in 1982, a time when New Wave was petering out, but its spare, fresh updating of Buddy Holly’s rockabilly sound won him critical attention. “Someday, Someway,” the first single from the album, only reached No. 62 on the Hot 100, but the LP was full of catchy tunes that […]
Song of the Day 8/4: Sugar, “Believe What You’re Saying”
Some people in the media are pretending that the case against Donald Trump hinges on whether he believed what he was saying about the election being “stolen.” Uh, no. You can believe what you want to believe, you can say what you want to say, but you can’t take criminal action just because you believe […]
Song of the Day 8/3: Elton John, “Slave”
Warning: It is illegal to play this song for students in Florida. This seems like an odd topic for a British pop singer to tackle, but it fit with lyricist Bernie Taupin’s early fascination with 19th-century Americana. It was included on “Honky Chateau,” the 1972 LP that sealed John’s stardom. You might notice that there […]
Song of the Day 8/2: John Lee Hooker, “Boom Boom”
And boom goes the dynamite. Jack Smith answered the question “Will Donald Trump ever face consequences for his life of crime?” in the affirmative, and American history has been changed forever. We just don’t know how yet, because the debris from the blast still hasn’t hit the ground. Considering that those six co-conspirators are for […]
Song of the Day 8/1: Cyndi Lauper, “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Theme”
A lot of 40-somethings are having childhood flashbacks at news of the death at 70 of Paul Reubens, far better known as Pee-Wee Herman. He announced his six-year struggle with cancer only in a posthumous message. Reubens developed the Pee-Wee character as one of the early members of the Groundlings, the Los Angeles improv troupe […]
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