Song of the Day 1/14: Jake Xerxes Fussell, “The Bells of Rhymney”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona The best-known version of “The Bells of Rhymney” came out of sunny southern California when the Byrds put it on their first album in 1965.…
Song of the Day 1/13: The Moody Blues, “Isn’t Life Strange”
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Scanning one of those People We Lost in 2025 lists the other day, I realized I missed memorializing John Lodge, bassist for the Moody Blues, back when he died in…
Song of the Day 1/12: The Grateful Dead, “Playing in the Band”
Bob Weir, the co-founder of the Grateful Dead who died Saturday at 78, was the subject of countless Deadhead debates over the years. Was he an essential member of the…
Song of the Day 1/11: Bob Dylan, “Barbara Allen”
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Guest post by Nathan Arizona “Barbara Allen” is the best known of all the old ballads, its different versions collected more than any other folk song by preservers of the…
Song of the Day 1/9: Jesse Welles, “Good vs. ICE”
The execution of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross has shocked and horrified everyone but MAGAts and their enablers, but I'm still impressed by how fast modern protest singer…
Song of the Day 1/8: The Northern Pikes, “Girl With a Problem”
Trump's desecration of the Department of Justice faces more roadblocks than most targets of his crime spree, if only because many federal judges – even Trump judges – are trying…
Song of the Day 1/7: Belá Fleck, “Rhapsody in Blue(grass)”
Everybody who's anybody is cancelling gigs at the former Kennedy Center these days. The latest artist to join the honor roll: Bela Fleck, probably the world's most famous banjo player.…
Song of the Day 1/6: Björk, “Human Behavior”
The demented little asshole running the country, Stephen Miller, is a quivering wimp – you can tell by the way he takes every opportunity to act butch. His ego swelled…
Song of the Day 1/5: Billy Squier, “The Stroke”
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The signs are obvious – the drooping right side of his face, his slack right-handed salute, his inability to flip a coin at the Army-Navy game – but the strongest…
Song of the Day 1/4: Billy Joel, “Big Shot”
I could dedicate this song to Trump, but the real reason for setting aside my aversion to Billy Joel is that he sang in public Friday for the first time…
Song of the Day 1/2: The American Breed, “Bend Me, Shape Me”
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This song, a No. 5 hit for the American Breed in 1968, was prophetically titled – several bands covered it in the '60s, and it sounded different each time. Credited…
Song of the Day 1/1: Ferko String Band, “When You’re Smiling”
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When I think of Mummers string bands, I imagine the string bands of my childhood – masses of banjos in parade formation, supplemented by saxophones and glockenspiels, all played by…
Song of the Day 12/31: Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot, “Bonnie and Clyde”
Yesterday for Song of the Day I related the story of Serge Gainsbourg's disastrous first date with Brigitte Bardot, who was married at the time, and how she told him…