#345 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Saturday May 7)
Good morning,
Another Saturday and more poetry and music.
MUSIC
Here are more clever novelty songs of the 60s and 70s:
Weird Al Yankovic remains an iconoclastic performer who was most popular in the 80s and 90s. He began on Doctor Demento, a goofy music hour that had traction in the nerdy set. I loved his riff on “My Sharona,” entitled “My Bologna.” And the classic, “Another One Rides the Bus” (with apologies to Queen) introduced by Tom Snyder (remember him?!), classic tie-dye pants, accordion and all:
Kinky Friedman and His Texas Jewboys, performed at Live at Austin, TX. The song, much like Archie Bunker’s rants in All in the Family, but more offensive and utilizing a fair number of offensive phrases: “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore…”
If you want more, try “Asshole from El Paso.”
Mad Magazine. This is the “tear out” plastic record that came with the magazine. It’s stupid and juvenile and, in that, is its appeal: “It’s a Gas”:
POETRY
Rob Eshman provided today’s poem on the day of his father’s 95th birthday on April 21st. Collins is one of the great ones!
Today
By Billy Collins
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies
seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,
releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage
so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting
into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: