Music posts

It's amazing how relevant it all still is. It shouldn't be. We've had massive progress on many fronts, yet Bob Dylan's words about the assassination of Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss., on June 12, 1963, still ring true for the racially motivated church killings in Charleston, S.C. on June 17, 2015:

A South politician preaches to the poor white man
“You got more than the blacks, don't complain.
You're better than them, you been born with white skin,” they explain.
And the Negro's name
Is used it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game

Reprise:

 One of the best first lines of any song, btw. 

This came on iTunes the other day. Hadn't heard it in years. So powerful. And Michael Stipe's favorite? I think he's stated so in the past.

I think something like this every other day, particularly the “wear me out” part:

You come to me with positions

You come to me with excuses
Ducked out in a row
You wear me out
You wear me out

Not to mention:

Crazy what you could've had

 I think this on a maddening loop.

Are these some of the best rhymes ever? Beats glove/love, charms/arms. Ira Gershwin had the mad rhymes, yo.

How can I be civil
When hearing this drivel
It's only for nightclubbing sousses
Oh give me the free-and-easy
waltz that is the Viennese
And go tell the band if they want a hand
The waltz must be Strauss'!

“Free and easy” and “Viennese.” Fuckin' a.

It helps when it's sung by Georges Guétary. I should check out more of his stuff. I'm a Gene Kelly fan but I never did get Leslie Caron throwing over Georges for Gene. I still climb stairs sometimes as he does in “Stairway to Paradise.”

I've been on a The National kick lately. It's nice to be on a kick:

“We don't bleed/ When we don't fight” should be required hearing in Congress. And at GOP conventions. And maybe on the Op-Ed pages of The Wall Street Journal and The Economist.

I've been listening to this song a lot this year:

“I still owe money to the money/ To the money I owe” should be our national anthem. 

Music suggestions welcome.