As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)
“Trump’s diversion into deranged conspiracy thinking while national
challenges mount is a fitting end to this sad, shabby chapter in the American
story. One imagines the other 43 presidents in Walt Disney World’s Hall of
Presidents pointing and laughing at their most embarrassing successor.”
“Trump combines the ambitions of a despot with the strategic planning
and operational competence of a hamster. He is an evil mastermind without the
mastermind part.”
“State and federal judges swatted away the meritless lawsuits of Trump
and his cronies like so many fat, lumbering horseflies.”
Unfortunately, there’s a far more serious aspect to all this:
“Would our system have held firm in a closer election against a more
talented authoritarian plotter? We have no idea. And the openness of the
question should terrify us. Democracies tend to end not by revolt from below,
but by erosion from above. They are less vulnerable to revolutionaries than
they are to demagogues. While we have not lost our republic, we have glimpsed
how it might eventually be lost.”
University of Pennsylvania public radio station WXPN yesterday completed its week-long countdown of
the 2020 “greatest” songs of all time, based on listener votes. There was a lot
of interesting information in their post-game
show, which I won’t repeat here.
I was delighted that five of the ten songs that I voted for made the
countdown:
Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen (my #3, their #1)*
Slippin’ Into Darkness – War (5, 1689)
Over The Rainbow – Eva Cassidy (6, 923)
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ – The Righteous Brothers (8, 142)
A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke (9, 32)
* -- For those of us who had followed earlier WXPN countdowns, “Thunder
Road” finishing at the top of the heap was almost a given. Dan Reed, who hosted
the last couple hours of the countdown, revealed on the wrap-up show that he
had planned to shock everyone by instead starting to play “Escape (The Pina
Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes at the end, but at the last minute failed
(twice) to push the right button.
Overall, 36 of my official “favorite 200” songs made the countdown. I
was also pleasantly surprised that Gil Scott-Heron, Tom Rush, and Bruce
Cockburn each had multiple appearances.
There was both good news and bad news for Carole King. On the one hand,
Tapestry wound up being one of the 20
most-played albums in the countdown (based on number of tracks). On the other,
she did not have any other songs on the list, beyond the six from that album.
I was disappointed and somewhat surprised that two of the acts who
appeared in my own top 10 were completely absent from the countdown: Barenaked
Ladies (“Brian Wilson”) and the Neville Brothers (“Fire On The Bayou”). (It
must be noted, however, that Aaron Neville and The Meters each had one song
listed.) Also missing in action were the Smithereens, Del Amitri, Graham
Parker, Marshall Crenshaw, the Gin Blossoms, the Stray Cats, and Guster. For a
Philadelphia-based station, however, there were two particularly notable
omissions: the Roots (seriously?), and Boys II Men – “It’s
So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday” is my personal favorite, but how could
“Motownphilly” possibly escape notice?
Springsteen not only had the #1 song, but also wound up with the third
most songs overall with 38, trailing only the Stones (43) and Beatles (67). It’s
an interesting list; his first four albums are all well-represented, but only
four tracks from his 1984 smash Born in
the U.S.A. were included (no “Dancing In The Dark”, no “My Hometown”). Most
perplexing to me, “Hungry Heart” (from The
River) and “Jersey Girl” (!) were nowhere to be found.
Another great column from Michael Gerson. A sample:
The intellectual
bankruptcy and moral hypocrisy of many conservative leaders is stunning. People
who claimed to favor limited government now applaud Trump’s use of the
executive branch to undermine an election. … People who claimed to be patriots
now spread false claims about their country’s fundamental corruption. People
who talked of honoring the rule of law now jerk and gyrate according to the
whims of a lawless leader.
These conservative
leaders no longer deserve the assumption of sincerity. They are spreading
conspiratorial lies so unlikely and irrational, they must know them to be lies.
…
Perhaps the
assertion of obvious falsehoods about the election has become an entry-level
commitment of conservative relevance. Perhaps the base has become so
disconnected from reality that sanity is viewed as a betrayal. Perhaps
affirming the simple truth would result in declining fundraising, listenership
and standing within the conservative community.
This fear is
understandable but hardly admirable. It is the main justification of political
cowards throughout history. How could the world survive, the coward calculates,
without my influence?
