Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms yearning to breathe free.
Is there such a thing as an Easter playlist? Aside from the ode to Peter Cottontail hippity-hopping down the bunny trail, or tributes to lovely ladies in bonnets strolling along in Irving Berlin’s Easter Parade, can you think of one popular, serious song that celebrates the day of Christ’s resurrection? There are numerous tunes about … Read more
Woody Guthrie, born 103 years ago today, is best known as the dust bowl balladeer who wrote many of America’s most beloved songs, including “This Land Is Your Land.” He was a free spirit and a sprite, a vagabond minstrel who spent his 55 years on earth using music to empower the common man. He … Read more
“But it’s all right now, I’ve learned my lesson well. You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.” Those are lyrics from “Garden Party, a 1972 Top Ten single released by the late singer/actor Rick Nelson. The one-time teen idol who came to fame as “Ricky” in the popular 1950s TV … Read more
Oh, take me on a journey to a place where I can lay my burden down, legalize my lows, and let the music wash my soul. In other words, “Take Me to the Mardi Gras.” That’s the name of a song written and recorded by Paul Simon for his 1973 “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” LP. … Read more
Sometimes I think it’s a sin, when I feel like I’m winning, when I’m losing again. Those words from Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot have run up and down the staircase of my mind many times. Just when I think I’ve got it, it turns out I don’t. His win/lose lyric has several cousins: Springsteen’s one … Read more