Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 3/28: Widespread Panic, “Hope in a Hopeless World”
Listening to Trump pat himself on the back every day got you down? Here’s a little pick-me-up to remind you that you can find hope in a hopeless world if you know where to look. Jam band Widespread Panic recorded this in 1997. The song was co-written by Philadelphia-born singer-songwriter Phil Roy during a period […]
Song of the Day 3/27: Bob Dylan, “Murder Most Foul”
Bob Dylan, without advance notice, dropped an original song at midnight last night, his first in eight years, along with this message: “Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty across the years. This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting. Stay […]
Song of the Day 3/26: Bruce Cockburn, “Last Night of the World”
Another tune for your apocalypse soundtrack. Bruce Cockburn is a Canadian singer-songwriter who’s well-known in his home country but has never made much of a mark in the U.S., where the only charting single in his 40+-year career was “Wondering Where the Lions Are” back in 1979. This song was released 20 years later, on […]
Song of the Day 3/25: Jackson Browne, “The Pretender”
We’ve now entered the phase of Covid-19 in which famous people, including well-known musicians, come down with the disease. The latest, at least as of this morning, is 71-year-old singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, who told Rolling Stone that he’s quarantined at home and that his symptoms are relatively mild. Browne’s heyday, though not his commercial peak, […]
Song of the Day 3/24: Moby Grape, “Hey Grandma”
Now that some Fox News talking heads, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and various other sociopaths on TV and the interwebs — including the Orangutan in the Oval Office — have floated the idea of letting all Americans get infected with Covid-19 to save Our Lord The Economy, I thought it might be time to […]
Song of the Day 3/23: Warren Zevon, “Don’t Let Us Get Sick”
Can’t think of a more appropriate song for our current crisis. Warren Zevon wrote and recorded this before he knew he had the mesothelioma that would kill him just a few years later. It was released on “Life’ll Kill Ya” in 2000. He died in 2003. Don’t let us get sick Don’t let us get […]
Song of the Day 3/22: Randy Rainbow, “Social Distance”
Randy Rainbow is saving America by lying on his couch, and keeping us entertained while we lie on ours.
Song of the Day 3/21: Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Kenny Rogers, singer, actor and roast-chicken entrepreneur, died yesterday at age 81. Say what you will, but Rogers scored more than 120 chart hits and sold more than 200 million records during his 60-year career, working in a broad range of musical styles, from jazz to folk to, most successfully, country. His first top 10 […]
Song of the Day 3/20: Ringo Starr, “Back Off Boogaloo”
Six feet, people, six feet! If someone is closer than that, tell them to back off. Adding the “boogaloo” is optional. This was Ringo Starr’s second solo single, after “It Don’t Come Easy,” and like that song was co-written by an uncredited George Harrison. It came out when glam was about to enter its heyday, […]
Song of the Day 3/19: The Clash, “Lost in the Supermarket”
Minnesota and Vermont have designated grocery store workers emergency personnel, making them eligible for free child care. While we rightly praise health-care personnel, grocery workers come into contact with hundreds of people a day, and most shoppers aren’t staying six feet away from their cashier. My brother’s job brings him into several of them in […]
Song of the Day 3/18: Paul Simon, “The Boy in the Bubble”
I think Bubble Boy is the only person who won’t have to change his routine. The third single from Simon’s 1986 “Graceland” album, co-written with Forere Motloheloa, who plays accordion on the track. Simon took a lot of crap for cultural appropriation, but I’ll bet Motloheloa appreciated the royalty checks, and I bought a good […]
Song of the Day 3/17: R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
Doubling up on R.E.M. here, I know, but I was saving this one until I was certain the Good Old Days were well and truly over. Other people seem sure of it, too — the song, originally released on “Document” in 1987, has re-entered the charts, so to speak, meaning the Top 100 songs on […]
Song of the Day 3/16: R.E.M., “Stand”
A song for when everybody is on lockdown. Just stand in the place where you are. Listen to reason Reason is calling Your feet are going to be on the ground Your head is there to move you around Peter Buck called this “the stupidest song we ever wrote,” but it was that way on […]
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