Music Diary, Vol. -61

The rationale behind this mad project is here. The full playlist is above, also here.

Week of Nov. 7-13, 2022

LYRICS: Henry Gibson (Richard Reicheg), "For the Sake of the Children"

SONG: With a great artist who is endlessly versatile, it's tough to pick one representative song. This elegant bossa track by Gaby Moreno is too good not to share, though it gives no hint of her facility with Americana, rock, and other flavors.

LYRICS: Tom Waits, "Cemetery Polka"

SONG: Sometimes just a few notes make all the difference: In this haunting, sneaky Andy Shauf classic, it's the dominant 7th of the opening guitar riff (G note over an A chord) and the dissonant G# of the vocal melody on "week." The rest is great too.

LYRICS: Stevie Wonder, "Big Brother"

SONG: Outside the catalog of Kander and Ebb, the banjo has seldom sounded sexier than on this world-weary Marlene Dietrich classic, whose title line seems to link the personal to the political with a frustrated shrug. This song is a whole mood.

LYRICS: Rob Kendt, "No One Waits Alone"

SONG: This happy-sad Ashe track is adorable from the jump, but when the ELO-esque backup vocals pop up on the chorus, I'm all in.

LYRICS: Warren Zevon, "Similar to Rain"

SONG: The phrase "punk rock" is thrown around a bit too liberally to describe music that is manifestly not punk. But I'll be damned if Lotte Lenya's no-fucks-given rendition of this whorehouse chanty from Mahagonny doesn't qualify.

LYRICS: David Bowie, "It's No Game (Pt. 2)"

SONG: I loved a lot of what came after, but this early single is what first sold me on Sinéad O'Connor. It has it all: pop hooks, crunching guitar, her signature banshee keen. Soon I could give her my heart.

LYRICS: Paul Simon, "Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy"

SONG: The stark theology of George Glenn Jones could merit its own lengthy thesis. I keep trying to find the right Sunday to play this bleak classic at Greenpoint Reformed Church but I don't want to bum people out.