Arts and Entertainment
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 […]
Song of the Day 3/15: The Specials, “Ghost Town”
I don’t know about Wilmington, but Paris is, relatively speaking, a ghost town today, the first day of the ban on bars, cafes, bistros, brasseries and restaurants. The Specials released this single in 1981, during a nasty recession in the UK marked by riots and high unemployment. It reached the top of the British charts […]
Song of the Day 3/14: Bobby Darin, “Call Me Irresponsible”
Donald Trump, at his mulligan coronavirus news conference yesterday, uttered the line Joe Biden should use in every campaign ad from now to November: “I don’t take responsibility at all.” If I had the skills I’d put one together myself, with this song as the soundtrack over a series of photos of the Marmalade Menace. […]
Song of the Day 3/13: Carole King, “It’s Too Late”
Somebody play this for Donald Trump, who still thinks barring people from the country will stop the coronavirus. The song, from King’s “Tapestry” LP, was a double-A-side single with “I Feel the Earth Move” in 1971 and reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
Song of the Day 3/12: Roxy Music, “Song for Europe”
Now that Europe and the US have a 30-day trial separation, this seems like the least we can do to succor our erstwhile allies. Nobody does world-weariness like Bryan Ferry.
Song Of The Day: Mudhoney-Touch Me I’m Sick
As Senor Al winds up his European vacation, I felt the need to share this pandemic anthem with you. This song from these Seattle reprobates has been described as a song about ‘disease, self-loathing, angst and dirty sex’. In other words, good ol’ rock ‘n roll:
Song of the Day 3/8: Hoyt Axton, “Never Been to Spain”
This is the last day this song title will be true for me. A hit for Three Dog Night, who earlier took Axton’s “Joy to the World” to No. 1, this is the songwriter’s less glitzy original version. It was released, aptly enough, on Axton’s 1971 LP “Joy to the World.” It contains the original […]
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