Song of the Day 4/11: Bob Dylan, “When I Paint My Masterpiece”
This song ran through my head after a visit to the Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Dutch master was only 43 when he died in 1675 in…
Song of the Day 4/10: The Turtles, “Outside Chance”
Donald Trump has always skated beyond the law's reach, and this has always been his motto: You don't stand an outside chance, but you can try. They seem to be…
Song of the Day 4/9: The Swan Silvertones, “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep”
The Swan Silvertones were one of the seminal gospel groups of the 1940s and '50s. "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" dates from antebellum times, when slaves sang spirituals with coded…
Song of the Day 4/7: Nathalie Merchant, “Tower of Babel”
With apologies to El Somnambulo, who's in charge of new music here, Natalie Merchant is releasing a new album, "Keep Your Courage," next week, her first in nine years. The…
Song of the Day 4/6: The Buckinghams, “Don’t You Care”
No crowd of supporters appeared in New York for Donald Trump's arraignment. Television networks cut away from his whiny speech afterwards before he finished. People were leaving his Waco rally…
Song of the Day 4/5: Matthew Sweet, “Girlfriend”
Human-Shar Pei hybrid Rupert Murdoch, age 92, got engaged on St. Patrick's Day to the woman who would have been his fifth wife. The timing didn't bring him the luck…
Song of the Day 4/4: Randy Rainbow, “Grumpy Trumpy Felon From Jamaica in Queens”
There was no way Trump was going to get indicted without Randy Rainbow having something to sing about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ues8ycOxXKM
Song of the Day 4/3: Graham Parker, “You’ve Got to Be Kidding”
Graham Parker wrote a lot of songs with dismissive phrases for titles, which is what happens when you're a misanthrope. For some reason, I think of all of them as…
Song of the Day 4/1: Led Zeppelin, “Fool in the Rain”
It's April Fool's Day, it's raining -- call me Mr. Literal, but it's a good excuse to play one of my favorite Zep tunes. This one supposedly originated because John…
Song of the Day 3/31: Dewey Cox, “Guilty as Charged”
I'd like to see Donald Trump do this song when he appears in court. It's one of the 33 tunes used in the 2007 movie "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox…
Song of the Day 3/30: The Replacements, “Never Mind”
I was gonna go with something more involved, but I'm busy with houseguests, so never mind. If Paul Westerberg has ever explained the genesis of this tune from "Pleased to…
Song of the Day 3/29: Joseph Arthur, “In the Sun”
Singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur once remarked that there's something about this song that makes people want to record it for charity. Arthur wrote it in 1995, about a friend who died…
Song of the Day 3/28: Hot Tuna, “Water Song”
A chemical spill into the Delaware River above Philadelphia has led to warnings about the safety of the city's drinking water, triggering a run on bottled water. "Water Song," an…