Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 8/22: Tim Hardin, “Reason to Believe”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Tim Hardin and his fans had a reason to believe. He could write much-loved songs like the one with that title. “If I Were a Carpenter” was his too. And “Misty Roses.” And “Don’t Make Promises.” Bob Dylan called him the best singer-songwriter of the ‘60s. He was offered the […]
Song of the Day 8/21: Steve Miller Band, “Take the Money and Run”
All the Republicans taking part in their upcoming debate can breathe a sigh of relief now that brave Sir Donald has run away. The indignity they would have had to display, fawning over someone they were supposed to be challenging, would have been the ruination of them all. Donald ducks danger, too. Imagine if three […]
Song of the Day 8/19: Sonny Till and the Orioles, “Crying in the Chapel”
When George Lucas’ “American Graffiti” hit theaters in August 1973, its September 1962 setting seemed a long time gone. The coming-of-age movie evoked a time of lost innocence, before the Kennedy assassination or Vietnam or even the Cuban Missile Crisis, and nostalgic Watergate-era audiences responded in droves. The film, made for $770,000, grossed more than […]
Song of the Day 8/17: Joan Osborne, “One of Us”
If WJBR is going to go religious, it doesn’t have to leave music behind. Even leaving aside gospel music, there are lots of songs about Jesus they could play. Granted, most of them aren’t very interesting – they’re mostly about the singer’s gratitude over being saved from a life of sin – but a country […]
Song of the Day 8/16: The Killers, “Human”
If you think our Georgia has problems, check out the country straddling Europe and Asia between the Black and Caspian seas. Americans have mostly forgotten, if they ever knew, that in 2008 in that Georgia Russia pulled a trick they tried to repeat in Ukraine. After two regions adjacent to Russian territory declared independence, Russia, […]
Song of the Day 8/15: Lou Reed, “Dirt”
I think I found the perfect song for the moment. From Lou Reed’s 1978 LP “Street Hassle.” It was reportedly written about his ex-manager, Steve Katz, but it’s an uncannily accurate description of a certain ex-president currently indicted on 91 counts of various felonies. Your current troubles, and you know they’ll get much worse I […]
Song of the Day 8/14: Jimmie Rodgers, “In the Jailhouse Now”
C’mon, everyone knows that’s where he belongs. And everybody knows who I mean. Jimmie Rodgers wasn’t long out of the railroad yards when he cut this disc in 1928 in Camden, N.J., just a couple of months after “Blue Yodel No. 1” made him famous. The song was already circulating widely; various versions with different […]
Song of the Day 8/13: The Go-Go’s, “Vacation”
Clarence Thomas takes more vacations than anyone I’ve ever heard of. Then again, if you can take unlimited luxury trips on someone else’s dime, why not take 38 of them? “Vacation,” the title track from the second album by the Go-Go’s, reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 in 1982. It holds a footnote in […]
Song of the Day 8/11: Rodriguez, “Sugar Man”
Sixto Rodriguez, whose early ’70s albums gained little attention in the U.S. but found an overseas audience that fueled a late-career revival, died in his hometown of Detroit this week at age 81. He finally found fame in America a decade ago after being featured in an Oscar-winning documentary, “Searching for Sugar Man.” The son […]
Song of the Day 8/10: The Band, “The Shape I’m In”
Robbie Robertson, whose lead guitar and character-driven songs drove the influential music of The Band, died Wednesday, age 80. Though his compositions include he enduring rock standards “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” Robertson’s place in rock history goes much deeper, entwined as it is with Bob Dylan. After he played […]
Song of the Day 8/9: Carl Douglas, “Kung Fu Fighting”
The Alabama dockside brawl was more like a pro rasslin’ melee or a hockey donnybrook than a chopsocky flick, but neither the WWE nor the NHL have inspired a No. 1 hit like “Kung Fu Fighting.” No song in history made more out of less. Jamaican singer Carl Douglas was in the studio to record […]
Song of the Day 8/7: Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “Takin’ Care of Business”
Who says irony is dead? Zoom, the San Jose-based company that became synonymous with remote work, has told its employees they have to return to the office at least two days a week, provided they live within 50 miles of a Zoom work site. I have no idea if they run an 8:15 into the […]
Song of the Day 8/6: Marshall Crenshaw, “Someday, Someway”
Marshall Crenshaw’s eponymous debut LP arrived in 1982, a time when New Wave was petering out, but its spare, fresh updating of Buddy Holly’s rockabilly sound won him critical attention. “Someday, Someway,” the first single from the album, only reached No. 62 on the Hot 100, but the LP was full of catchy tunes that […]
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