International
Song of the Day 4/13: Julian Lennon, “Imagine”
Julian Lennon, now 59 years old, never sang this song for the public until last week, when he released this video, along with this statement. He’s accompanied by Nuno Bettencourt, best known as lead guitarist for Extreme. The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy… As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled […]
Song of the Day 4/8: Pink Floyd and Andriy Khlyvnyuk, “Hey Hey Rise Up”
Russia’s unprovoked assault on Ukraine has brought about many unexpected changes. This one is minor, but it made news in the music media: It prompted Pink Floyd to record its first new song in 28 years. Well, not all of Pink Floyd — Richard Wright is dead, and Roger Waters is still, well, Roger Waters,* […]
Song of the Day 3/30: Ray Charles, “What’d I Say”
Joe Biden ad-libbed nine words in his speech in Poland and pundits all weighed in, for or against. I’m only following the story by headlines, but it sounds like Joe didn’t think he’d said anything wrong, and it took a while to convince him to walk it back. So now every pundit is weighing in […]
Song of the Day 3/24: U2, “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”
As the Ukraine War grinds into its second month, this seems like a fitting commentary on Vladimir Putin’s predicament. Bono wrote the song, which appeared on the band’s 2000 LP “All That You Can’t Leave Behind,” after the suicide of his friend Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS, as an argument against suicide. Seems like […]
Song of the Day 3/21: Бетон (Beton), “Kyiv Calling”
You know how musicians can avoid being sued for copyright infringement? Ask the copyright holders for permission. That’s what Ukrainian punk band Бетон, transliterated as Beton (“concrete” in Ukrainian), did before they repurposed The Clash’s 1979 cri de coeur as an anthem of resistance against the Russian invasion of their country. It was quickly granted. […]
It’s Not a Memory Hole, It’s a Cone of Silence
The idea that issues fall, through some accident or fault of their own, into a “memory hole” is a blatant lie. It’s a false frame, a construction the media uses to hide the fact that it ignores certain issues, either completely or soon after they arise, and not because they wouldn’t appeal to an audience. […]
Song of the Day 3/15: The Wailin’ Jennys, “One Voice”
One voice, the adage goes, makes more noise than 1,000 voices that remain silent. Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor of Russian state TV’s Channel One, staged a one-woman protest by interrupting a live broadcast with a sign that translates as “Stop the war. Don’t believe in propaganda. They’re lying to you.” She was immediately detained and […]
Song of the Day 3/9: Sugarloaf, “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You”
As Americans face rising gas prices with their usual calm equanimity, a couple of slapdicks in the Middle East have decided they’re going to leverage their oil supply to issue ultimatums to the Biden administration. Biden has tried to call Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan […]
Song of the Day 3/8: AC/DC, “Big Balls”
Everybody from pundits to peons is showing love for Voldomyr Zelenskyy, but nobody has put it better than Bon Scott and AC/DC did way back in 1976. Though it all blends together from this distance, the song and the album it appeared on, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” weren’t officially released in the US until […]
Song of the Day 3/6: Cake, “I Will Survive”
A song for Ukraine, which Putin thought would crumble, lay down and die. Not so far. There have been nearly 200 covers of this song, in more than a dozen languages, since Gloria Gaynor’s original in 1978. Cake’s 1996 version is the only one I’ve heard that strips it down and gives the bass a […]
Song of the Day 3/3: Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Exodus”
As might be expected, the Russian war on Ukraine has produced lots of refugees — more than 1 million so far, according to the United Nations, about 2% of the country’s population. Officials expect that as many as 4 million people eventually will leave, with another 3 million displaced within the country. Most European Union […]
Song of the Day 2/20: The Association, “Windy”
Here’s a symptom of climate change you don’t hear about much in the States: destructive hurricane-force winter winds of more than 120 mph. There’s plenty of video to prove it. Suffice it to say this didn’t used to happen. Though they’re not much heard today, The Association was all the rage in the days of […]
Song of the Day 12/4: The Clash, “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
H/t puck. I don’t have to be asked twice to play the Clash. Mick Jones didn’t write this song on 1982’s “Combat Rock” about emigration*, but it’s not quite clear what he did write it about. Speculation has always centered on his tempestuous relationship with singer/actress Ellen Foley (it’s her voice on Meat Loaf’s “Paradise […]
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