Randy Newman - Memo To My Son

A song about loving a small child.

Another Op'nin', Another Show

On this date in 1948, Kiss Me, Kate opened on Broadway. Cole Porter was by then an institution in American musical theater, and "Another Op'nin', Another Show" became one of his most enduring songs, largely because it is itself about show business. This performance was recorded in 2002 and is based on the 1999 London revival.

Texas, Our Texas

Happy 169th birthday to the state of Texas.

The Beatles - No Reply

Stevie Wonder - Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)

Busy days, so neglecting my posting. Let's add this one, though.

Gloucester Cathedral Choir - In the Bleak Midwinter

Nineteenth century Anglican hymns were some of the first pieces of music I fell in love with. H/t KH.

Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy - Wrote A Song For Everyone

The great Mavis, the generous Jeff, singing John Fogerty's song.

Joe Cocker - You Are So Beautiful

RIP.

Esther Phillips - Misery

One of the most distinctive voices in R&B.

Lil Green - Why Don't You Do Right

The Dubliners - Raglan Road

Billy Bragg - A Lover Sings

Happy birthday to BB. Here he performs with Ian McLagan, who's been gone two weeks now.

Jonathan Winters - A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" was first published on this date in 1843. I heard Jonathan Winters reading the story on NPR a few years ago and really enjoyed it. So for your delectation, here it is.

Grateful Dead - Ship of Fools

Schubert - Symphony no. 8 in B minor D 759 ("Unfinished")

Herbert von Karajan conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1955.

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Blues with a Feeling

Congratulations on their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Gene Clark - The French Girl

This uptempo arrangement loses some of the sense of mysterious loss that this song by Ian Tyson can convey, but it's still pretty good.

Sidney Bechet + Louis Armstrong + Django Reinhardt 1952, La Route Du Bonheur (excerpt)

This stuff is obviously synced instead of live, and the Bechet section mostly features someone else soloing, but still it's pretty cool to see footage of these great musicians. H/t echidne.

The Mothers Of Invention - Cruising For Burgers

Stuck in my head for some reason. Frank Zappa proves once again that he will mix any and all elements to produce a piece of music.

Krugman on Greece Today

Easier to read than explain.

The truly disastrous effect of the Greek crisis was the way it distorted economic policy, as supposedly serious people around the world rushed to learn the wrong lessons.

Now Greece appears to be in crisis again. Will we learn the right lessons this time?

Maddie & Tae - Girl In A Country Song

Apparently this song has annoyed some fans. So it goes.

Shakespeare and Original Pronunciation

The Bonzo Dog Band - I'm The Urban Spaceman

Happy seventieth birthday to Neil Innes, writer and singer of this song, colleague of Vivian Stanshall (the mustachioed gentleman in this clip) and the unofficial six-and-a-halfth member of Monty Python (as seen in Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl).

Krugman on the Recovery (Such as It Is)

Yes, things look better. No, they don't look good. Krugman explains.

There are recessions and then there are recessions. Some recessions are deliberately engineered to cool off an overheated, inflating economy. For example, the Fed caused the 1981-82 recession with tight-money policies that temporarily sent interest rates to almost 20 percent. And ending that recession was easy: Once the Fed decided that we had suffered enough, it relented, interest rates tumbled, and it was morning in America.

But “postmodern” recessions, like the downturns of 2001 and 2007-9, reflect bursting bubbles rather than tight money, and they’re hard to end; even if the Fed cuts interest rates all the way to zero, it may find itself pushing on a string, unable to have much of a positive effect. As a result, you don’t expect to see V-shaped recoveries like 1982-84 — and sure enough, we didn’t.

Emmylou Harris with Waylon Jennings - Spanish Johnny

I came to this song through the David Bromberg version, but Emmylou as usual does a nice job. Here she's aided by WJ on harmony vocals.

The Fleetwoods - Come Softly To Me

Ah, the fifties.

RIP Ian McLagan

Not a household name, but widely heard. Here are the two songs on which he played which were probably the biggest hits. Note the electric piano on "Miss You" and the organ on "Maggie May."

Jerry Orbach - Promises, Promises

This is from the original Broadway cast recording. Orbach, probably best known to most people from his long-running role on Law and Order, was an old theater song and dance guy. Reportedly he asked Dionne Warwick for help in how to negotiate Burt Bacharach's tricky rhythms.

nada: if nothing is left, then everything is right

Nothing today, sorry.

Judy Holliday - The Party's Over

A song I came to love at that age (nine?) when grownup emotions start to make a little more sense than they did before.

Iggy Pop & Deborah Harry - Well, Did You Evah

Iggy and Debbie do Cole Porter for the Red Hot + Blue charity compilation from 1990.

Bill Doggett - Night Train

The Firesign Theatre - Zeno's Evil

Peter Bergman was born on this date seventy-five years ago. Here he's the driver.

Benny Goodman Trio - Body and Soul

With Teddy Wilson on piano and Gene Krupa on drums as the other two members of the trio. Recorded in 1935.

Thanks for the Memory

Thankfulness often comes mixed with sorrow. Bob Hope and Shirley Ross perform the original version of this song in The Big Broadcast of 1938.

The Band - This Wheel's on Fire

Words by Bob Dylan, music by Rick Danko.

Frank Zappa - Trouble Every Day

Zappa wrote this song after the Watts riots in August 1965. Fifty years later it's sad how little has changed.

Krugman Points Out the Truth, Again

Dr K speaks. Maybe if he does it long enough people in power will eventually notice.

So the counterintuitive realities of economic policy at the zero lower bound are likely to remain relevant for a long time to come, which makes it crucial that influential people understand those realities. Unfortunately, too many still don’t; one of the most striking aspects of economic debate in recent years has been the extent to which those whose economic doctrines have failed the reality test refuse to admit error, let alone learn from it. The intellectual leaders of the new majority in Congress still insist that we’re living in an Ayn Rand novel; German officials still insist that the problem is that debtors haven’t suffered enough.

Marin Marais - Sonnerie De Sainte-Geneviève Du Mont De Paris

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, viola de gamba; Alice Harnoncourt, violin; Herbert Tachezi, harpsichord.

Sleepy John Estes - President Kennedy

SJE sings and plays guitar on a song he wrote. Ry Cooder on mandolin; the piano player is probably Jim Dickinson.

Dr. John with The Band - Such a Night

Happy birthday to the doctor. Horns arranged by Allen Toussaint, another iconic New Orleans music figure.

RIP Mike Nichols

A founding figure of the improvisational comedy scene in the fifties, an innovative filmmaker in the sixties and seventies (then a more ordinary filmmaker in later years), lifelong friend of Susan Sontag (they met in college), a nice guy and a helluva talent. Here's an example of some early work with his comedy partner Elaine May.

The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

Emma Lazarus died on this date in 1887.

REM - Feeling Gravitys Pull

It's a Man Ray kind of sky.

Dump - International Airport

Race

H/t Undercover Blue @ Hullabaloo.

RIP John Doar

Pierce on an unsung hero.

Quite simply, there was no braver American amid the tumult of the 1960's and the 1970's than John Doar. Arguably, there were very few greater Americans during that same time. He made the law a shield, and then he made the law a sword, and he stood in against the most dangerous beasts in this country's heart and beat them all. He never wrote a book. He did not become the star he could have become. (Almost everyone else involved in Watergate did, god knows.) And, last Tuesday, he died, at the age of 92. 

The Beatles - I Want You (She's So Heavy)

Why not?

Hampton Hawes - Polka Dots and Moonbeams

Some more 50s-era classic jazz.

Art Pepper - You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To

One of the great alto saxophonists, recorded in 1957 with Miles Davis's rhythm section at the time (Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums).

The Band - Tears of Rage

What is Reality?

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo shows what happens when an ideologically driven news site moves too fast.

H/t PK @ NYT.

As noted a bit earlier, on Saturday Breitbart published an exclusive pointing out that President Obama's Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch was part of the team that defended President Clinton during the Whitewater investigation - not a bad little scooplet. Only it wasn't the same Loretta Lynch, which kind of takes the punch out of the story.

Breitbart then issued a 'correction'. But like I said, it's a correction for the ages.

Johnny Cash - Wayfaring Stranger

Joey DeFrancesco & Dr. Lonnie Smith - Someday My Prince Will Come

Two masters.

Reading of "Dog's Death" by John Updike

The root word in "amateur" is "love."

Guy Clark - My Favorite Picture of You

Happy birthday to Guy Clark. Here's a song about his late wife Susanna, a successful songwriter in her own right.

Frédéric Chopin - Funeral March

Performed by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

Car Talk Guys on Arthur

RIP Tom Magliozzi, whose reach into the culture, along with his brother Ray, proved surprisingly deep.

Los Días de los Muertos

Los Días de los Muertos were celebrated over the weekend in Mexico. This year the event held a different significance for me. Here's a decent explanation of the phenomenon.

The Walkabouts - Lest We Forget

oops

Forgot to post yesterday. Double duty today.

Dionne Warwick - Message to Michael

One of her many Bacharach/David songs, from the era when the three of them created hits regularly.

Charlie Rich - I Feel Like Going Home

Sometimes this is how you feel. Complete with vinyl scratches.

The Marmalade - Reflections Of My Life

Classic soft-rock, very early Bee Gees-ish.

The Black Keys - Gotta Get Away

So the classic rock style isn't dead yet. Live at Glastonbury 2014.

nada: oblique or straightforward? you decide!

Nothing today, sorry.

Jack Bruce - Theme For an Imaginary Western

RIP to one of the most influential bassists of the rock era. This is from his first solo album, Songs for a Tailor. The lyrics are by Peter Brown, who also wrote the lyrics for Bruce's songs in Cream.

Liliana Felipe - A Nadie

ST 37 - A Huge, Rare Cheese

Big Bill Broonzy - The Glory of Love

The Grateful Dead - Playing In the Band

A song in 10/4.

Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up

A lesser-known soul classic.

Krugman on Amazon

I knew that Amazon was engaging in some pretty predatory behavior, but I'm still surprised at some of this. Krugman explains.

So far Amazon has not tried to exploit consumers. In fact, it has systematically kept prices low, to reinforce its dominance. What it has done, instead, is use its market power to put a squeeze on publishers, in effect driving down the prices it pays for books — hence the fight with Hachette....And on that front its power is really immense — in fact, even greater than the market share numbers indicate. Book sales depend crucially on buzz and word of mouth (which is why authors are often sent on grueling book tours); you buy a book because you’ve heard about it, because other people are reading it, because it’s a topic of conversation, because it’s made the best-seller list. And what Amazon possesses is the power to kill the buzz. It’s definitely possible, with some extra effort, to buy a book you’ve heard about even if Amazon doesn’t carry it — but if Amazon doesn’t carry that book, you’re much less likely to hear about it in the first place.

So can we trust Amazon not to abuse that power? The Hachette dispute has settled that question: no, we can’t.

The Mar-Keys - Last Night

Classic R&B instrumental.

Manhattan Transfer - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

RIP Tim Hauser.

Obama Action Figure

In Japan this actually exists. I support our president, but this is...unusual. H/t digby.

The Beatles - Nothin' Shakin'

George takes a lead vocal on an R&B classic.

The Chi-lites - Have You Seen Her

Classic 70s soul.

Shel Silverstein - Daddy, What If

The unique Shel Silverstein.

Lesley Gore - Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows

As long as we're doing Marvin Hamlisch, here's his first commercial success as a songwriter.

Barbra Streisand - The Way We Were

Why not?

Peter and Gordon - I Go to Pieces

At the height of their popularity in the late 1950s the Everly Brothers left a deep impression on a lot of English teenagers, which meant that a few years later there was music like this.

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded

Sometimes the world isn't such a bad place. Reuters has more.

Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls' right to education, and Indian children's right activist Kailash Satyarthi won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

Yousafzai, aged 17, becomes the youngest Nobel Prize winner by far.

Satyarthi, 60, and Yousafzai were picked for their struggle against the oppression of children and young people, and for the right of all children to education, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

The Beach Boys - God Only Knows

The new all-star version is nice, but...this is the real thing.

Beck - Lost Cause

What a song.

Lonnie Johnson - Another Night To Cry

It looks like Sonny Boy Williamson II handling the MC duties.

Silvio Rodríguez - El Necio

Someone new to me.

Silvio Rodriguez - Sueño Con Serpientes

Jean Redpath - Five Scottish Songs

It takes a very, very good voice to sing this well unaccompanied. Pete Seeger and Roscoe Holcomb look on.

The songs are:
"The Beggar Laddie"
"Skye Fisher's Song"
"I Lost My Love"(seems to be actually a medley)
"Miss McLeod's Reel"
"Auld Lang Syne"

Krugman on Pimco and the Reign of Error

Here 'tis.

In 2008-9, a number of economists — yes, myself included — tried to explain the special circumstances of a depressed economy, in which deficits wouldn’t cause soaring rates and the Federal Reserve’s policy of “printing money” (not really what it was doing, but never mind) wouldn’t cause inflation. It wasn’t just theory, either; we had the experience of the 1930s and Japan since the 1990s to draw on. But many, perhaps most, influential people in the alleged real world refused to believe us.

The Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home

This is apparently a clip from the time the song was recorded, the psychedelic year of 1967. Brian Jones plays the mellotron.

South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound - Augie Meyers

A clip from a documentary.

10 Hours of Infinite Fractal and Falling Shepard's Tone

Why not? Although the periodic crash sound that repeats kind of messes with it a little.

Krugman on the Most Unequal

Just read it.

Does the invisibility of the very rich matter? Politically, it matters a lot. Pundits sometimes wonder why American voters don’t care more about inequality; part of the answer is that they don’t realize how extreme it is. And defenders of the superrich take advantage of that ignorance. When the Heritage Foundation tells us that the top 10 percent of filers are cruelly burdened, because they pay 68 percent of income taxes, it’s hoping that you won’t notice that word “income” — other taxes, such as the payroll tax, are far less progressive. But it’s also hoping you don’t know that the top 10 percent receive almost half of all income and own 75 percent of the nation’s wealth, which makes their burden seem a lot less disproportionate.

Johnny Cash & Joe Strummer - Redemption Song

Hard to believe they've both been gone over ten years.

Steve Miller Band - My Dark Hour

A curiosity from 1968. The pre-hyperfame Steve Miller was recording in London when Paul McCartney dropped by. This performance is apparently Miller on guitars and vocals with McCartney playing bass and drums. Miller later recycled the guitar lick for "Fly Like an Eagle."

David Bromberg - Lower Left Hand Corner of the Night

Taken from an LP, so it's a little scratchy and includes a bit of the previous track.

Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page - Beck's Bolero & Immigrant Song

Let's see those two guitar players again, forty-three years later.

Blow-Up - Antonioni (Yardbirds Scene)

David Hemmings is looking for Vanessa Redgrave but finds only Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. Jeff Beck destroys his guitar. David Hemmings takes part of it, then throws it away. All very cryptic.

Charles Mingus Sextet Featuring Eric Dolphy - Fables of Faubus

By 1964 this piece inspired by Arkansas governor Orval Faubus's reaction to the desegregation of Little Rock schools was several years old. But the civil rights struggle continued, and so did the Mingus band's evolving take on the song. Recorded live at Cornell University, this version stretches out for a half hour.

Mal Waldron - Left Alone

Featuring Jackie McLean on saxophone.

Joni Mitchell - Refuge of the Roads

The great bassist Jaco Pastorius died on this date in 1987. Here is one of my favorite performances of his, from Joni Mitchell's album Hejira.

Fractured Fairy Tales - Son of Rumplestiltskin

It's Jay Ward's birthday.

Del Amitri - Roll to Me

Wonderful song.

Wings - Venus and Mars/Rock Show

Paul and the gang show both sides of their style in one track.

nada in space!

Nothing today, sorry.

Doc Watson - Windy and Warm

I heard that John D. Loudermilk wrote this for Chet Atkins, but Doc takes it even one step further than Chet did.

Robert Benchley: How to be a Detective

It's Robert Benchley's birthday.

Dock Boggs - Oh Death

Cheryl Wheeler - Since You've Been Gone

The Kinks - Young and Innocent Days

Heartbreaking.

The Allman Brothers Band - Don't Keep Me Wondering

Featuring Duane Allman on slide guitar.

The Kinks - Jukebox Music

It's only jukebox music.

Joel Dodge on Republican Resistance to Medicaid Expansion Georgia Logothetis

Good stuff. H/t Georgia Logothetis @ DailyKos.

Republican incumbents who resisted ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion — including Wisconsin's Scott Walker, Pennsylvania's Tom Corbett, and Kansas' Sam Brownback — are in much tighter races than those who accepted it. "Republican governors who bucked their party's stance and accepted the policy are faring better with voters — in these races, an average of 8.5 percentage points better," Wang discovered.

George Harrison - I'd Have You Anytime

Bob Dylan wrote some lyrics without music. He gave them to George Harrison who wrote music for them and then recorded the result.

Atta Isaacs - How'd You Do

You probably have to play guitar at least a little to appreciate just how good this guy is. Otherwise it just sounds like pretty and pleasant music.

Leo Delibes - The Flower Duet from Lakmé

H/t NM @ BF.

Brute Force - The King Of Fuh

A true novelty record. George Harrison loved the song, added strings, and released it on Apple in 1969. Everyone in the music industry said that it could not be played in public, so only 3000 copies were pressed and distributed. Thirty or so years later it received an official release.

Randy Newman - Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father

I actually posted this same song on this same date five years ago, and for the same reasons. Five years is a long time, so it's fair game. This is one of the saddest songs I know.

Charles Mingus - Cryin' Blues

From the Blues & Roots album.

Shostakovich - Jazz Suite No. 2: VI. Waltz 2

Dmitry Yablonsky conducts the Russian State Symphony Orchestra in a piece that Stanley Kubrick used in his final film, Eyes Wide Shut. 

Wyoming Considers Medicaid Expansion

Obamacare continue to gain ground. Dylan Scott at Talking Points Memo explains why even a deep red state like Wyoming is discussing accepting Medicaid expansion.

There is now a growing body of evidence about how refusing to expand Medicaid hurts hospitals financially. Fitch Ratings cited missing Medicaid money in recent credit rating downgrades for some hospitals in non-expansion states. Meanwhile, hospitals in expansion states have reported drops in uninsured patients and the corresponding increase in paying customers, a sure benefit to their bottom line.

Hospitals were among the key stakeholders that helped to get Obamacare passed in the first place. But they've been hung out to dry in states that declined to expand Medicaid. Some hospital associations in major states have said that they're basically giving up for the time being until the political winds change. But others in states like Wyoming are pressing on and perhaps setting a template for how to push expansion through in these tougher political environments.

Fats Waller - The Jitterbug Waltz

The original recording of this jazz standard, with composer Fats Waller also making one of the earliest jazz recordings to feature a Hammond organ.

Jethro Tull - Look into the Sun

An oldie.

malfunction

Something new from Cyriak.

Maynard G. Krebs Explains

1960s-era TV comedy. A pre-Gilligan Bob Denver shows how Hollywood saw beatniks, at least for comedic purposes.

Burns & Allen - Gracie Tells a Story

A bit of classic comic culture.

Velvet Underground - After Hours

Happy birthday to Maureen Tucker. Here she sings a song written, unsurprisingly, by Lou Reed, and which ended the Velvet Underground's third album, called simply The Velvet Underground.

Eugenia León - Corazón Gigante

There are an infinite number of ways to mourn the dead. Many of them help, none come close to healing the wound completely.

John Cale - Hallelujah

Nowadays "Hallelujah" is a standard known to millions, but for a while it was a lesser-known song on one of Leonard Cohen's lesser-known albums. That changed with this recording. John Cale heard Cohen perform it live and liked it so much he recorded it. Jeff Buckley's version, which brought the song to many people's attention, was based on this one.

Cowboy Junkies - If You Gotta Go, Go Now

A mid-sixties Bob Dylan song that was never officially released at the time, but was covered by many other artists. Here the CJs provide a contemporary gloss.

George Harrison - That Is All

Posted Harry Nilsson's version of this recently -- here's the original.

The Marvelettes - Please Mr. Postman

According to Wikipedia, this song was Motown's first number one hit, and was released on this day in 1961. The image and sound quality of this clip are not great, but it's wonderful to see the young women perform. Well, they're lip-syncing, but still.

H. P. Lovecraft - The White Ship

Recorded live in 1968. The band had secured rights from the author's estate to use his name.

L.C. Cooke - Put Me Down Easy

Still listening to the recent release of L.C. Cooke archival recordings. Here's an original vinyl release of one of them.

Krugman on the Roots of War

Not an economist's area of interest, normally, but there's a tie-in.

Modern nations can’t enrich themselves by waging war. Yet wars keep happening. Why?

One answer is that leaders may not understand the arithmetic....And delusions of easy winnings still happen. It’s only a guess, but it seems likely that Vladimir Putin thought that he could overthrow Ukraine’s government, or at least seize a large chunk of its territory, on the cheap — a bit of deniable aid to the rebels, and it would fall into his lap.

And for that matter, remember when the Bush administration predicted that overthrowing Saddam and installing a new government would cost only $50 billion or $60 billion?

Luther Allison - It Hurts Me Too

Oops. Missed posting yesterday. Maybe this'll be good enough to make up for it.

Van Dyke Parks - America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)

Ferguson, Missouri, USA

Unreal.

“My hands are behind my back,” I said. “I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting.” At which point one officer said: “You’re resisting. Stop resisting.”

"Your Move, Chief"

Probably the scene that won Robin Williams his Oscar.

RIP Robin WIlliams

H/t DS for noting this clip.

Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

Conducted by Raymond Leppard. The players are not identified, alas, in the link I have.

Judy Collins - Albatross

One of the few songs that Collins wrote and recorded herself, "Albatross" was originally released on the album Wildflowers with orchestral accompaniment. Nearly thirty years later she released this version with only herself on piano.

The Four Tops - Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever (Alternate Mix)

What a great song, nowhere near as well known as their biggest hits. Not sure of the source of this alternate mix.

John Renbourn & Wizz Jones - Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning

The wonderful John Renbourn turns seventy today. Here he is in a performance recorded just a couple of months ago. I'm not familiar with Wizz Jones, his accompanist, but he acquits himself well.

L.C. Cooke - Sufferin'

I first heard of L.C. Cooke a number of years ago but at the time could find very little information about him. Nowadays, however, that has been rectified. Last week saw the release of The Complete S.A.R. Recordings, SAR being the label run by his older brother, the much better-known Sam Cooke. The similarities between Sam and L.C. as vocal stylists are clear, but L.C. has a quality all his own that makes him well worth listening to.

nada's eccentric path

Nothing today, sorry.

Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne

Happy birthday to Joe Boyd, American-born English producer. His list of work in the late sixties and early seventies in particular is amazing, consisting of a lot of the most interesting rock coming out of London. Here's one of his earliest.

Krugman on Dodd-Frank

Dr Krugman refers to it as Obama's "other" success.

The Dodd-Frank reform bill has, if anything, received even worse press than Obamacare, derided by the right as anti-business and by the left as hopelessly inadequate. And like Obamacare, it’s certainly not the reform you would have devised in the absence of political constraints.

But also like Obamacare, financial reform is working a lot better than anyone listening to the news media would imagine. 

BBC Proms 2010 - Sondheim at 80 - Sunday from Sunday In The Park with George

Ernest Dowson - They Are Not Long

It's the birthday of Ernest Dowson, born this date in 1867. He died in 1900, and his brief life resonates well with what might be his most famous poem. The Latin epigram may be translated as "the brief sum of life forbids us from thinking of far-off hope."

    Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam.

    They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
    Love and desire and hate;
    I think they have no portion in us after
    We pass the gate.

    They are not long, the days of wine and roses;
    Out of a misty dream
    Our path emerges for a while, then closes
    Within a dream.

Krugman on Experts and Reality

Dr K discusses what the economic consensus is and what the general perception of that consensus is.

Are we as societies even capable of taking good policy advice?

Economists used to assert confidently that nothing like the Great Depression could happen again. After all, we know far more than our great-grandfathers did about the causes of and cures for slumps, so how could we fail to do better? When crises struck, however, much of what we’ve learned over the past 80 years was simply tossed aside.

Ralph Stanley and Patty Loveless - Pretty Polly

Emily Bronte - Remembrance

Happy 196th birthday to Emily Bronte, one of my favorite writers. Her major achievement was the novel Wuthering Heights, but she wrote poetry as well. Here the reading is by Stella Gonet.

Alfred Deller - I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger

Some more Deller, here doing the same song I recently posted in the Charlie Haden version. The guitarist is not identified in the source I have.

Alfred Deller - Sweet Kate

Oops. Got so busy both Saturday and Sunday mornings that I forgot to post at all. Never done that before. How about a little more Alfred Deller? Here again he is accompanied by Desmond Dupre on the lute, with Mark Deller, who I believe is his son, as second countertenor.

John Dowland - Flow My Tears

As performed by Valeria Mignaco, soprano, and Alfonso Marin, lute. I've posted Dowland before but the link is broken.

Children and Art (from Sunday In The Park With George)

Lately I've been listening to this soundtrack, and for some reason this song in particular stands out. Bernadette Peters, who originated the role on Broadway, plays the second of her roles, Marie the grandmother.

Henry Purcell - The Plaint - Alfred Deller with Harmonia Mundi

Still listening to Alfred Deller and really enjoying it.

Alfred Deller and Desmond Dupré - Have You Seen But the White Lily

It's always nice to discover a talent with which I was unfamiliar. Alfred Deller, here accompanied by his frequent collaborator Desmond Dupré on lute, was apparently the godfather of the countertenor revival a few decades back. His most important asset, while difficult to describe, is basically the same as the one possessed by Frank Sinatra: he sings the song, not the notes. There is a great deal of craft and skill on display here, but it is put at the service of emotion.

Ringo Starr - Easy For Me

Mr Starkey sings a song written by his good friend Harry Nilsson.

Charlie Haden - Wayfaring Stranger

After Charlie Haden's recent death NPR's Fresh Air aired a sort of "best of" of his appearances there over the years. Part of this recording was played. This is Haden's only recorded vocal, in a voice rendered weak by childhood polio, singing a song he learned from his mother. We make jokes about "Love" and "Death," but really, what else is there?

Johnny Winter - Highway 61 Revisited

Haven't honored Mr W's passing yet. Here he reconfigures a Bob Dylan song on his second album.

Josh Marshall on the Consequences for Russia of the Malaysian Airlines Shootdown

This makes sense.

Find extremists and hot-heads of the lowest common denominator variety, seed them with weaponry only a few militaries in the world possess - and, well, just see what happens. What could go wrong?

The audio tapes posted by The New York Times might as well be from some future Russia-based version of Waiting for Guffman or Best in Show, a comical rendering of rustics and morons stumbling into an event of vast carnage and international consequence mainly because they're hotheads and idiots - the kind of people no one in their right minds would give world class weaponry to. It's like finding some white supremacist/militia types on their little compound in the inter-Mountain west and giving them world class missile launchers and heavy armaments.

The Four Tops - It´s the Same Old Song

Classic Motown from the Holland-Dozier-Holland era, with James Jamerson pumping the bass. The "sentimental fool" phrase was used years later by Michael McDonald, a huge Motown fan, in the song "What a Fool Believes."

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Word Crimes

Yeah, it's funny, but he pretty much hits all the points that word nerds harp on these days.

Quartetto Italiano - Beethoven String Quartet Op.132

Beautiful.

Haydn: Symphony in B-flat major "La Reine" Hob I:85 Part:3. Menuetto e Trio: Allegretto

Happy Bastille Day. This is the third movement of Hadyn's Symphony 85, known as the "Queen Symphony" because it was a favorite of Marie Antoinette. So I guess this is basically the music of the people on the losing end. Not a hundred percent sure who the performers here are or I'd credit them.

Finishing the Hat (from Sunday In The Park With George)

Mandy Patinkin sings Stephen Sondheim's song about what it means to live the life of someone devoted to creativity, its pleasures and its perils.

The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

RIP Tommy Ramone.

Harry Nilsson - Perfect Day

There's a glitch at the beginning, but what the hell. This is the last song off Nilsson's last album for RCA. He only put out one more album, which wasn't even released in the US until decades later. So for most of his American fans this was the last new music they ever heard from him.

The Beatles - If I Fell

From A Hard Day's Night.

Ed Kilgore on the Republicans' Outreach to African-Americans

A nice piece of information and analysis touching points I haven't seen covered elsewhere. Kilgore is referring specifically to the current situation in Mississippi regarding the Cochran/McDaniel race, but it applies to many other places.

The idea that becoming more conservative is going to lift the prospects of Republicans among African-Americans is a complete hallucination. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say, reflecting [McDaniel campaign manager Melanie] Sojourner’s comments, that conservatives want African-Americans to change before they are worthy of outreach. And in a place like Mississippi, that means the GOP will remain the White People’s Party perpetually fearing black encroachment on its White Primary by “corrupt” pols like Cochran who dare suggest that representing constituents is more important than maintaining pure conservative ideology.

Harry Nilsson - That Is All

Harry covering a song from George Harrison's solo career, in 1976.

Krugman on Reality-Deniers

I guess I can face reality, because I read this and believe it.

The problem, in other words, isn’t ignorance; it’s wishful thinking. Confronted with a conflict between evidence and what they want to believe for political and/or religious reasons, many people reject the evidence. And knowing more about the issues widens the divide, because the well informed have a clearer view of which evidence they need to reject to sustain their belief system.

Steely Dan - Cousin Dupree

Late-era Dan.

Sonny Boy Williamson - One Way Out

The version that inspired the one by the Allman Brothers Band.

Otis Rush - All Your Love (I Miss Loving)

I first heard this song on the John Mayall album that featured the young Eric Clapton, then years later I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan open a performance with it. But this is the original. Rush was another Mississippian who went electric, and was a guitarist that both EC and SRV admired greatly.

Lenny Welch - Since I Fell for You

Love brings such misery and pain.

Carole King - Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

Didn't mark the passing of Gerry Goffin, so better late than never. The original version of this song was a number one hit in 1960. Carole King's slowed-down version was a hit eleven years later.

Nick Drake - Cello Song

One of my favorite Nick Drake songs.

nada modified by a random adjective

Nothing today, sorry.

Horace Silver - The Preacher

Heard this recently and it stuck in my mind, so let's have another post to mark the passing of Horace Silver.

The Rolling Stones - It's All Over Now

RIP Bobby Womack. This is the first version of one of his songs that I ever heard.

Cochran, African-Americans, and the Future of the Republican Party

Daniel Paul Franklin at Talking Points Memo explains.

Will this moment bring policy changes to benefit Mississippi’s blacks and their communities? Here is the key point: African American voters don’t have to change their politics to participate in Republican Party primaries, but the GOP candidates may need to adjust to attract black votes. Tellingly, Cochran spoke in favor of full voting rights and participation in the course of his last-minute appeal for votes in African American areas. At the very least, Cochran will now have to be cognizant of who kept him in office – and if he keeps the pivotal support of African American constituents in mind, he may well moderate his politics to inoculate himself against pressure from the far right. 

The Doors - Love Her Madly

Just a cool song.

Harry Nilsson - Turn Out the Light

There's a full version of this song on his next album, Duit on Mon Dei, but this demo included as a bonus track on the Pussy Cats CD has its charms. For one thing, the voice that comes in on the second verse is a nice example of Nilsson's sense of humor. There's a buzz on this particular clip, but it only gets in the way a little.

Joan Baez - Man Of Constant Sorrow

Keith Whitley - Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone

Performing the old Carter Family song when he was a member of Ralph Stanley's band.

The Haden Triplets - Single Girl, Married Girl

Old-time music recorded this year.This is an old Carter Family song.

Ten Misconceptions About Science

Why not? Although I believe he's funnin' us with number ten. H/t MLB.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Your Long Journey

A song written by Rosa Lee Watson, Doc's wife.

Horace Silver - Song for My Father

RIP to a great pianist, songwriter, and bandleader, who has died at the age of eighty-five. "Song for My Father" is his best-known tune. Big-time jazz fans Steely Dan acknowledged lifting the opening motif for their song "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." For more info, here's his Wikipedia entry.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Taj Mahal - Take A Giant Step

Not always easy to do.

Krugman on the Perception v. Reality of Obama's Achievements

It's not that the things that Krugman highlights are all that hard to see, but for some reason he doesn't have much company in the punditry.

Put it all together, and Mr. Obama is looking like a very consequential president indeed. There were huge missed opportunities early in his administration — inadequate stimulus, the failure to offer significant relief to distressed homeowners. Also, he wasted years in pursuit of a Grand Bargain on the budget that, aside from turning out to be impossible, would have moved America in the wrong direction. But in his second term he is making good on the promise of real change for the better. So why all the bad press?

Part of the answer may be Mr. Obama’s relatively low approval rating. But this mainly reflects political polarization — strong approval from Democrats but universal opposition from Republicans — which is more a sign of the times than a problem with the president. Anyway, you’re supposed to judge presidents by what they do, not by fickle public opinion.

Henry Purcell - Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary

I've posted parts of this recently, but this is the complete work. It's been much in my mind lately. The performers are alas not listed on the YouTube page for this clip.

Sylvan Esso - Coffee

H/t PK.

Krugman on Movement Conservatism and its Discontents

Interesting that an economist has to do this bit of political analysis, that it seems to be beyond the ability of the average political pundit. Of course, when you're invested in the system, you can't really look at it too closely...

The combination of a successful electoral strategy and the safety net made being a conservative loyalist a seemingly low-risk professional path. The cause was radical, but the people it recruited tended increasingly to be apparatchiks, motivated more by careerism than by conviction.

That’s certainly the impression Mr. Cantor conveyed. I’ve never heard him described as inspiring. His political rhetoric was nasty but low-energy, and often amazingly tone-deaf. You may recall, for example, that in 2012 he chose to celebrate Labor Day with a Twitter post honoring business owners. But he was evidently very good at playing the inside game.

Harry Nilsson - Salmon Falls

Another one of the tracks from the Nilsson box set that's caught my attention. A slow and rather strange song, co-written by Nilsson and Klaus Voorman.

Krugman on the Meaning of Cantor's Loss

Krugman points out something I hadn't seen elsewhere.

Being a movement conservative in good standing meant considerable career safety: even if you or the politician you worked for lost an election, there were jobs to be had at think tanks (e.g. Rick Santorum heading up the “America’s enemies” program at a Scaife-backed think tank), media gigs (two Bush speechwriters writing columns for the Washington Post, not to mention the gaggle at the WSJ and Fox News), and so on.

In other words, being a hard line conservative, which to be fair involved some career risks back in the 60s and into the 70s, became a safe choice; you could count on powerful backing, and if not favored by fortune, you could fall back on wingnut welfare.

And Eric Cantor...came across very much as a movement conservative apparatchik. He took very hard line stances, but never seemed especially passionate; he was, arguably, basically a careerist, and as such was fairly typical.

Maybe that’s what the primary voters sensed.

Digby on Democratic Presidential Politics

As the saying goes, what Digby said.

In essence, the result of that 2008 near tie vote was that Obama got to go first with the understanding that Clinton would automatically get the nomination 8 years later. What this means is that (barring unforeseen circumstances)there will have been no left wing challenge in presidential races for 16 years and I think that suits the Party and its rich donors just fine.

Harry Nilsson - Save The Last Dance For Me (Demo)

Not crazy about the fact that we get to see nothing but his tombstone while listening to this track, but there you go. There was a full-blown version of STLDFM on Pussy Cats, the John Lennon-produced 1974 album, but this more intimate version really appeals to me.

Johnny Rivers - Memphis Tennessee

JR's version of "Memphis" is good, but for me part of the value of this clip is the interview at the end. It's a real time capsule of the era.

Lonnie Mack - Memphis

A 1963 instrumental version of Chuck Berry's great song.

Krugman on the New Carbon Pollution Rules

I could say something cute, but hey, why not just say it's here.

For what it’s worth, however, the attacks on the new rules mainly involve the three C’s: conspiracy, cost and China. That is, right-wingers claim that there isn’t any global warming, that it’s all a hoax promulgated by thousands of scientists around the world; that taking action to limit greenhouse gas emissions would devastate the economy; and that, anyway, U.S. policy can’t accomplish anything because China will just go on spewing stuff into the atmosphere.

I don’t want to say much about the conspiracy theorizing, except to point out that any attempt to make sense of current American politics must take into account this particular indicator of the Republican Party’s descent into madness. There is, however, a lot to say about both the cost and China issues.

Mumford & Sons - The Boxer

who can calculate the periodicity of nada?

Nothing today, sorry.

Mance Lipscomb - Motherless Children

From Les Blank's film A Well Spent Life.

Bruce Springsteen - Your Own Worst Enemy

Been a while since I posted some Bruce, so why not.

Vera Lynn - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

In 1940 Britain was already at war, and the young, who love love and are the ones who go to war, wanted to hear songs like this, understandably.

Bobby Helms - Fraulein

I've posted this before, but the link is broken, so it's fair game.

The Four Seasons - Sherry

Classic pre-Beatles pop.

RIP Maya Angelou

My favorites of her works are the memoirs. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is deservedly a classic, but the books that follow, which take her through much of her adulthood and a rich and fascinating life, are also good.

Bobby Morse - The Best Things in Life Are Free

I don't have cable these days so haven't been able to watch Mad Men, but hey, I hear things. This is a wonderful moment.

nada keeps no schedule

So distracted I hadn't realized until now that I hadn't posted on Saturday. Which is sort of ironic, since this post is just to say that I don't have anything to post today.

Krugman on What Works in the European Economy

It's all here.

Europe’s financial and macroeconomic woes have overshadowed its remarkable, unheralded longer-term success in an area in which it used to lag: job creation.

What? You haven’t heard about that? Well, that’s not too surprising. European economies, France in particular, get very bad press in America. Our political discourse is dominated by reverse Robin-Hoodism — the belief that economic success depends on being nice to the rich, who won’t create jobs if they are heavily taxed, and nasty to ordinary workers, who won’t accept jobs unless they have no alternative. And according to this ideology, Europe — with its high taxes and generous welfare states — does everything wrong. So Europe’s economic system must be collapsing, and a lot of reporting simply states the postulated collapse as a fact.

The reality, however, is very different...

Harry Nilsson - Walk Right Back/Cathy's Clown/Let the Good Times Roll

I've posted another piece of this 1971 BBC show before. The "Let the Good Times Roll" portion made it onto his next album, Nilsson Schmilsson. Using the available technology to let him sing with himself was an excellent idea.

John Cale - Paris 1919

Still listening to this a bunch these days.

Nilsson - The Flying Saucer Song

This is the demo version that's one of the bonus tracks on the Pussy Cats CD.

Willie Watson - CC Rider

How about some more Willie Watson? How about live at SXSW 2014?

Willie Watson - The Hills of Mexico

Seems to be based on the Roscoe Holcomb version. Willie Watson was a mainstay in Old Crow Medicine Show and has now started a solo career. Note that the left channel in the clip's audio isn't working for some reason.

Krugman on Population Growth and the Economy

As usual, interesting stuff.

What’s important to realize, then, is that slower population growth indeed could and should be a good thing — but that what passes for sound economic policy is all too likely to turn this potentially good development into a major problem. Why? Because under the current rules of the game, there’s a strong bicycle aspect to our economies: unless they’re moving forward sufficiently rapidly, they tend to fall over.

nada

The well is empty today.

Hound Dog Taylor - Wild About You Baby

Recorded live at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival sometime around 1970.

Harry Nilsson - What'll I Do?

From his album of standards, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night. Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.

The Lumineers - Boots Of Spanish Leather

A song from Bob Dylan's third album. Sometimes love does not work out. Shocking, I know.

Henry Purcell - "When I am laid in earth" from Dido and Aeneas

As sung by Emma Kirkby.

John McLaughlin - Follow Your Heart

Live solo acoustic in Munich in 1972.

John Cale - Hanky Panky Nohow John Cale - Hanky Panky Nohow (Live with orchestra)

One of the songs from the great Paris 1919 album, here performed live with orchestra sometime in recent years.

The Mothers of Invention - Mom & Dad

Not sure why the last ninety seconds are devoid of sound, but the song is basically complete.

Tommy Bolin - Teaser

How about some seventies' guitar rock?

The Allman Brothers Band - Stormy Monday

From the Fillmore East recordings that gave them their fame, this is the unedited version with harmonica solo by guest Thom Doucette. Of course the real stars are Duane Allman and Dicky Betts. The eagle flies on Friday.

The Grateful Dead - Rosemary

From their third album, Aoxomoxoa.

Alison Krauss & Jerry Douglas - Carolina in My Mind

From the James Taylor tribute of several years ago, which is why JT is seen. A friend of mine is moving soon, and this song has been in my mind.

Roscoe Holcomb - Moonshiner

One of my favorite voices.

Charlie Chaplin - His New Profession

How about something other than music? How about a silent movie from almost exactly a hundred years ago?

Jimi Hendrix - Belly Button Window

I've posted a cover of this before, but here's Jimi's original. Ripped from vinyl, no less.

Arlo Guthrie on The Johnny Cash Show

From September 1970.

Lake Street Dive - What About Me

Another one from my new favorite band.

Son Volt - No More Parades

The Lulus - The Lottery Song

A nice cover of one of my favorite Nilsson-penned songs. There's a bit of goofiness after the song ends.

The Monkees - What Am I Doing Hangin' Round

One of my favorite songs by the Monkees. It was written by Michael Martin Murphey, later famous for "Wildfire" among others.

Krugman on "Rugged Individualists"

The Bundy effect.

At the heart of the standoff was a perversion of the concept of freedom, which for too much of the right has come to mean the freedom of the wealthy to do whatever they want, without regard to the consequences for others.

Start with the narrow issue of land use. For historical reasons, the federal government owns a lot of land in the West; some of that land is open to ranching, mining and so on. Like any landowner, the Bureau of Land Management charges fees for the use of its property. The only difference from private ownership is that by all accounts the government charges too little — that is, it doesn’t collect as much money as it could, and in many cases doesn’t even charge enough to cover the costs that these private activities impose. In effect, the government is using its ownership of land to subsidize ranchers and mining companies at taxpayers’ expense.

Finnish Lullaby

Hat tip to Echidne at eschatonblog.

nada is just around the corner

Damn. Second Saturday in a row I've forgotten to post. Can you forgive me? All three of you?

Krugman on the Conservative Response to Piketty

About what you'd expect.

 For the past couple of decades, the conservative response to attempts to make soaring incomes at the top into a political issue has involved two lines of defense: first, denial that the rich are actually doing as well and the rest as badly as they are, but when denial fails, claims that those soaring incomes at the top are a justified reward for services rendered. Don’t call them the 1 percent, or the wealthy; call them “job creators.”

But how do you make that defense if the rich derive much of their income not from the work they do but from the assets they own? And what if great wealth comes increasingly not from enterprise but from inheritance?

Harry Nilsson - This Could Be The Night

The clip starts with a snippet of another song, "Superman,"  by Nilsson, but then pivots into "This Could Be The Night." TCBTN is a curiosity because it was co-written with Phil Spector sometime in the early to mid sixties. It shows what a careful student of songwriting Nilsson was, both because he was willing to apprentice with an established figure like Spector, and because the style is so different from his better-known work. Might have been a hit for someone, but in the end wasn't.

Prospero's Speech on Mortality in The Tempest Act 4 Scene 1

Happy four hundred and fiftieth birthday to WS. This is not the best version  of this speech available, but it's still pretty good.

The First Earth Day

I won't post all the parts - this is just part one - but it looks like YouTube has the complete program. Earth Day was a big day when it started; the energy companies hadn't yet declared war on it.

Krugman on Sweden's Sadomoneratists

This is depressing, in more than one meaning of the word. Krugman lays it out.

At least as I define it, sadomonetarism is an attitude, common among monetary officials and commentators, that involves a visceral dislike for low interest rates and easy money, even when unemployment is high and inflation is low. You find many sadomonetarists at international organizations; in the United States they tend to dwell on Wall Street or in right-leaning economics departments. They don’t, I’m happy to say, exert much influence at the Federal Reserve — but they do constantly harass the Fed, demanding that it stop its efforts to boost employment.

Lake Street Dive - Dedicated To The One I Love

Nice cover of a cover of a cover. One of my favorites of the new bands.

Oops

Got busy yesterday and totally blew off blog posting. I notice that the world is still turning, though, so apparently no harm done.

Linda Ronstadt - Keep Me From Blowing Away

Harry Nilsson - I'll Never Leave You

One of my favorite Nilsson songs. The voice, the sentiment, a quirky but sweet arrangement by George Tipton, just...everything.

the glories of nada

Nothing today, sorry.

Petra Haden - Tattoo

Let's see...how about some more of Petra Haden's multi-track a capella work? This is from her re-creation of The Who Sell Out.

Petra Haden - God Only Knows

Nothing but Petra Haden's voice overdubbed multiple times.

The Haden Triplets: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Still listening to the new Haden Triplets album. Recently they performed on NPR's Tiny Desk series, so here you go.

Jesse Winchester - Black Dog

RIP James Ridout Winchester, better known as Jesse. I was one of the people who bought his first album when it came out. Produced by Robbie Robertson, it featured at least one other member of the Band, Levon Helm, among the backup musicians. This haunting and disturbing song was a standout.

Beethoven - Piano Sonata no. 31 opus 110

Igor Levit is making a name for himself among classical piano aficionados. Here he performs for Dutch television last December.

The Doors - Alabama Song

How about another song from the sixties with a sort of circus-y background? Plus the second song from this album I've posted recently. Why? Not sure, really. Just because.

Leonard Cohen - Sisters of Mercy

From his first album, which he soon decided was over-produced. But I kind of like the circus-y backing.

Krugman on Stupidity of the Right vs. Stupidity of the Left

It's not considered good form on a blog that's meant to have a relatively wide scope to have two posts in a row that are very similar (unless it's done deliberately as part of a series), but hey, Krugman is good.

People understand the world in ways that suit their tribal identities: in controlled experiments both conservatives and liberals systematically misread facts in a way that confirms their biases. And more information doesn’t help: people screen out or discount facts that don’t fit their worldview. Politics, as he says, makes us stupid.

But here’s the thing: the lived experience is that this effect is not, in fact, symmetric between liberals and conservatives.

Krugman on Economic Conventional Wisdom and Who Benefits From It

As per usual, Dr K clears out the underbrush.

So what makes the obvious unsayable? In a direct sense, what we’re seeing is the power of conventional wisdom. But conventional wisdom doesn’t come from nowhere, and I’m increasingly convinced that our failure to deal with high unemployment has a lot to do with class interests.

RIP Peter Matthiessen

I've only read Far Tortuga, but thought it was very good. Guess I'll have to read the others now. Matthiessen was a writer of a particular type, erudite but never the least bit showy, deeply interested in human beings both as individuals and in the aggregate. His last book will be published on Tuesday. Here's the Guardian obit.

Mavis Staples - Losing You

Another version of the Randy Newman song I posted a few days ago.

Jackson Browne - The Naked Ride Home

Sometimes you figure things out much too late.

Morten Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna: "O Nata Lux" - Los Angeles Master Chorale

H/t LR.

Charlie Parker - Ornithology

Finally got a decent Charlie Parker best-of compilation and have been listening to that lately. Here's one of his classic tunes, featuring a young Miles Davis on trumpet.

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

I think I've posted this before, but no matter. One of my favorite cultural artifacts ever. First saw it when I was a child, and am happy that thanks to modern technology it is now easily available. H/t Atrios for the link.

The Haden Triplets - Single Girl

This is a big part of what I've been listening to lately.

Randy Newman - Losing You

Nick Lowe - Raining Raining

The Doors - Break OnThrough

First song on their first album.

Aram Khachaturian - Adagio from the Gayane Ballet Suite

The musicians aren't credited for this version, but they obviously know what they're doing. This piece was used very effectively in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

James Taylor - Fire And Rain

I've posted this before and may again. It's a song about loss and pain, but is so smooth that it's easy to miss that.

Elvis Presley - Trouble

The Beatles - Julia

John Lennon's elegy for his mother.

nada nada nada

Couldn't think of anything. Sorry.

Walt Whitman - Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking / From Pent-Up Aching Rivers

As read by Alexander Scourby. I'm really only pushing "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" here; "From Pent-Up Aching Rivers" is good as well but not my focus. Unfortunately I don't know how to restrict the clip to play only part, so both are given.

"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" is about as good an example as I can think of that shows what it means to begin to try to comprehend what it means that living things die. It's beautiful, sad, and uplifting simultaneously.

Lila Downs - La Llorona

A traditional song done in a mostly traditional style, but this rendition is only a few years old.

Mozart - Requiem

This is just the first two sections (Introitus and Kyrie) of the complete work. John Eliot Gardiner conducts the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir.



The English translation of the words:

Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
You are praised, God, in Zion,
and homage will be paid to You in Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Harry Nilsson - Sister Marie

Another rarity from the Nilsson box set that really stands out for me. It was apparently released as a B-side, and is notable for being another of Nilsson's covers (like "Everybody's Talkin'"). Interesting that someone originally known as a songwriter would regularly perform other people's songs, but if you really love songs as songs, then it's not so surprising.

Harry Nilsson - Leggenda

A lost gem from the Harry Nilsson box set. This clip is actually ripped from an original vinyl release, where it was the B-side of the Italian single version of "Without You."

Krugman on Ryan's Dog Whistle

There's a fair amount that's already been said about Paul Ryan's comments on the roots of poverty, but Krugman as usual sums things up pretty well.

We are told, for example, that conservatives are against big government and high spending. Yet even as Republican governors and state legislatures block the expansion of Medicaid, the G.O.P. angrily denounces modest cost-saving measures for Medicare. How can this contradiction be explained? Well, what do many Medicaid recipients look like — and I’m talking about the color of their skin, not the content of their character — and how does that compare with the typical Medicare beneficiary? Mystery solved.

Or we’re told that conservatives, the Tea Party in particular, oppose handouts because they believe in personal responsibility, in a society in which people must bear the consequences of their actions. Yet it’s hard to find angry Tea Party denunciations of huge Wall Street bailouts, of huge bonuses paid to executives who were saved from disaster by government backing and guarantees. Instead, all the movement’s passion, starting with Rick Santelli’s famous rant on CNBC, has been directed against any hint of financial relief for low-income borrowers. And what is it about these borrowers that makes them such targets of ire? You know the answer.

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Title track from her first studio album after Court and Spark, her breakthrough, so expectations for this one were high. At the time I thought there were some good songs but was kind of disappointed. Now I think it's very good.

Terry Southern in eBook Form

I was talking last night about Terry Southern with someone. A little online searching turned up this clip about how his works are now available in eBook format.

Robert Plant - Darkness Darkness

How I'm feeling. He does the old Youngbloods song up right.

Joan Baez - De Colores

)

Jerry Garcia - Loser

Only a true loser would ever say, "I've got no chance of losing this time." You can always lose; the likelihood just depends on the odds in that particular situation. It's not always easy to know those odds. Still, you have to play the game.

)

Ed Kilgore on the Conservative Crossroads

Ed Kilgore contributes regularly at Talking Points Memo. Here he discusses the conservative movement's present as it looks into its future.

Conservative self-confidence has regularly alternated or even coincided with defeatism and paranoia. There’s always been an undertone of cultural despair in the post-Moral Majority Christian Right, where the legalized-abortion “regime” that has prevailed since Roe v. Wade occasionally tempts conservatives to compare the U.S. to Nazi Germany or the antebellum South. And even in times of conservative political ascendancy, claims that the Judiciary or academic elites were thwarting the achievement of conservative policy goals have been very common. But at least since 2008, the question of whether conservatives are winning or losing in the battle for dominance of American culture and politics has been confused by internal conservative disagreement as to whether majoritarian or anti-majoritarian values are at stake.

Pierce on Palin

Charles Pierce will never be taken seriously by the DC punditocracy because he lacerates them so regularly, but he's usually right. Here he is on Sarah Palin's appearance at CPAC.

In 2008, we should remember, she wasn't sure how many Koreas there were, thought Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, and was unclear whether or not Africa was a country.  So, in an act of Christian charity, I will grant that some anonymous staffer, who very likely has only now recovered from the serious heroin habit he developed while working with Palin on foreign policy in 2008, was slightly clairvoyant about the intentions of the Putin government. Well done, unsung hero. If you respect her knowledge of anything beyond where her next speaking fee is coming from, you're an idiot and I feel sorry for you.

Joan Baez - Let it Be

One Week

Los Lobos - La Pistola y El Corazón

"Lycidas" by John Milton (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

Trio Los Panchos - Adiós Mariquita Linda

Not good recording quality, but an excellent performance of a beautiful song.

The Band - The Unfaithful Servant

This is a song I always associate with sorrow. I've posted it before, but need to again.

Bette Midler - The Rose

I've posted this before more than once, but need to post it again.

RIP LML

I've used this poem before when someone in my life unexpectedly died, but I can't think of anything better. It's by the English poet Thomas Gray, who lived from 1716 to 1771.

"On the Death of Richard West"

In vain to me the smiling Mornings shine,
    And reddening Phoebus lifts his golden fire;
The birds in vain their amorous descant join;
    Or cheerful fields resume their green attire;
These ears, alas! for other notes repine,
    A different object do these eyes require;
My lonely anguish melts no heart but mine;
    And in my breast the imperfect joys expire.
Yet Morning smiles the busy race to cheer,
    And new-born pleasure brings to happier men;
The fields to all their wonted tribute bear;
    To warm their little loves the birds complain;
I fruitless mourn to him that cannot hear,
    And weep the more because I weep in vain.

Three Dog Night - One

Let's listen to another Nilsson song that he wrote but someone else recorded.

The Monkees - Cuddly Toy

Let's listen to a Nilsson song that he wrote but someone else recorded.

Harry Nilsson - Don't Leave Me

Yet more Nilsson, as I'm still working my way through the 17-disc box set. This one is off his very first album.

Paco de Lucia - Entre dos aguas

RIP. I only saw him once, with Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin when they toured as a trio.

RIP Harold Ramis

Krugman on Obamacare Horror Stories

About what you'd expect in terms of the right's reporting. Krugman explains.

Even supporters of health reform are somewhat surprised by the right’s apparent inability to come up with real cases of hardship. Surely there must be some people somewhere actually being hurt by a reform that affects millions of Americans. Why can’t the right find these people and exploit them?

The most likely answer is that the true losers from Obamacare generally aren’t very sympathetic. For the most part, they’re either very affluent people affected by the special taxes that help finance reform, or at least moderately well-off young men in very good health who can no longer buy cheap, minimalist plans. Neither group would play well in tear-jerker ads.

Sam Cooke - Having A Party

What a voice.

Stevie Wonder - My Cherie Amour

Stevie before he took full control of his music was still really good.

They Might Be Giants -- Birdhouse In Your Soul (Live At Music Feeds Studio)

One of my favorite songs. I've posted it before, but this stripped-down version is kind of cool. H/t Atrios.

Sid Caesar - "This is Your Story" with Carl Reiner and Howard Morris (Full Sketch)

One more to mark the passing of Sid Caesar. This is often said to be the most memorable of the pieces done for Your Show of Shows in the early fifties.

Devo - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

RIP Bob Casale.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore - Just A Wave, Not The Water

Jimmie Dale performs a song by his fellow Flatlander Buch Hancock. For this TV appearance he's backed by an all-star band: Bill Frisell on guitar, Jerry Douglas on dobro, and Viktor Krauss on bass.

Krugman on Comcast/Time Warner and Monopoly

Dr K explains.

The point is that Comcast perfectly fits the old notion of monopolists as robber barons, so-called by analogy with medieval warlords who perched in their castles overlooking the Rhine, extracting tolls from all who passed. The Time Warner deal would in effect let Comcast strengthen its fortifications, which has to be a bad idea....And there are good reasons to believe that this isn’t a story about just telecommunications, that monopoly power has become a significant drag on the U.S. economy as a whole.

Clara Smith - Clearing House Blues

Another of the great African-American singers of the 1920s-1930s. H/t Dog Ears Music.

Now the Day Is Over (performed by the Hastings College Choir)

This hymn is about a hundred fifty years old. The harmonies in this rendition are nice, but perhaps a tad too prominent, because the simplicity of the melody is part of what makes the song. Still, the overall effect is excellent.

Henry Purcell - Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary - March

I posted a version of this less than six months ago, but the link is already dead. Like a lot of people, I was first introduced to this piece of music through Wendy Carlos's version for the soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange. But the original version, for horns and drums, is full of a strange power, and it's clear why Stanley Kubrick was drawn to it.

RIP Sid Caesar

Shirley Temple - Animal Crackers In My Soup

You know time is passing when former child stars die of old age. RIP.

The Grateful Dead - Candyman

I've posted this song before, but the link is broken, so it's fair game. "Candyman" is notable among other things for featuring a Jerry Garcia pedal steel guitar solo. The Dead didn't do it all that often live, I think partly because it's hard to pull off the atmosphere of melancholy menace that pervades the song.

The Who - Heaven And Hell

For years this was the Who's usual concert opener. It's written and sung by their bassist, John Entwistle, and the lyrics reflect his sense of humor.

Scrapper Blackwell - Whiskey Man Blues

One of my ongoing informal life projects is to listen more to musicians I've heard are good but just haven't spent much time with yet. So recently I bought some Scrapper Blackwell, one of the blues guitarists of the 1920s-1930s. Here's a taste.

Bob Wills - Right Or Wrong

A pop song from the 1920s that became a country music standard. George Strait, among others, has recorded it. On this recording Bob Wills is the bandleader, Tommy Duncan the singer.

Grateful Dead: Althea

The Dead played a lot of kinds of music. This is one of their deceptively laid-back songs.

The Last Unicorn - Opening

Arthur Rankin of Rankin-Bass productions has died at eighty-nine. They produced many of the best-known animated TV shows and holiday specials of the sixties and seventies. Here's the beginning of one of their lesser-known efforts, an adaptation of Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn.

Edith Piaf - Comme Moi

I've actually posted this song before, but the link is broken, so hey, it's time to do it again. Piaf was one of the great popular music singers of the twentieth century. She's heard here in a live performance from 1958. What a voice, what a heart.