Spitball Army

Oscar Peterson  “Thags’ Dance” Madeleine Peyroux” Changing All Those Changes” Randy Newman  “Sandman’s Coming” Johnny Bond “Mean Mama Boogie” World Party “Sweet Soul Dream” Glenn Miller  “That Old Black Magic” Gil Shaham & Goran Sollscher “Schubert: 15 Original Dances, D. 365/7” Red Garland  “C Jam Blues” Madonna “Nobody’s Perfect” Roosevelt Graves “I’ll Be Rested (When […]

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Prince  “I Would Die 4 U” Elvis Costello  “Mystery Dance” Bob Dylan &  Johnny Cash  “Nashville Skyline Rag” Neil Young  “The Needle and the Damage Done (live 1971, solo)” Bob Dylan  “Nettie Moore” The Grass Roots  “Temptation Eyes” Chicago  “State of the Union” Brass Construction “Movin ‘” Nat Kendricks  “Mashed Potatoes” Brook Benton “More Time […]

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Simon & Garfunkel  “Sparrow (live)” Beck  “Country Down” Beck  “Lonesome Tears” Bruce Springsteen  “Lion’s Den” Simon & Garfunkel  “America” Pizzicato Five  “Love’s Theme” Elton John  “Screw You (Young Man’s Blues)” Sam Phillips  “Circle of Fire” Elvis Costello  “Heathen Town” David Crosby & Graham Nash  “Lay Me Down” Ben Folds “Golden Slumbers” The Band  “Will the […]

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David Bowie “Lady Stardust” Ron Sexsmith “Some Dusty Things” Griffin House “Liberty Line” Dan Fogelberg “There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler” Electric Light Orchestra “Evil Woman” Carpenters “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” The Impressions “Grow Closer Together” Kevin Tihista’s Red Terror “Bats” Elvis Costello “Chewing Gum” Paul Simon “Bernadette” Elvis Costello “Beyond […]

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My very demanding computer ordered me to update its iTunes program recently, so I did it, rather than face the unknown consequences of not having an updated iTunes program. The last thing I want is to not be able to access the tens of thousands of mp3 files on the hard drive. Yes, there are […]

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All accounts suggest that Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote “Teenage Idol” as a tribute to glam rocker Marc Bolan of the band T.Rex.

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Besides other humans, dogs are probably the smartest animals that we come in contact with on a daily basis. I’ve known some dogs that are most definitely smarter than some humans I’ve known, but that’s another story. Dogs play with us, they keep us company, and they make us happy. It is no surprise, then, that after humans (in, for instance, love songs and murder ballads), the next most popular animal represented in song is man’s best friend.

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In 1988, A&M Records released an album entitled Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films.  Popular musical artists of the day – the majority of them “independent” – covered songs from the early animated and live-action features of the Disney Studios, under the producer’s wand held by Hal Willner.  One of the tracks was “Castle […]

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When I first heard “Alicia Ross,” my initial impulse was to play it over again immediately.  I did.  Then I played it again.  The narrative voice in the lyrics was so strong that I wondered if it was perhaps based on a true story.  A quick googling of “Alicia+Ross” gave me a series of websites, including […]

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This semi-satirical, talking blues folk tune is…a call to action to control and limit the proliferation of atomic weapons. It is, indeed, that rarest of early Cold War tunes, the anti-Bomb song.

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