Music Diary, Vol. 99
For the rationale behind this mad effort, the initial post is here. The full series of Music Diary posts are here. The full playlist is above, and also here.
Week of Nov. 24-30, 2025
LYRICS: Paula Laurence (Weill/Nash), "Very Very Very" (note: Laurence's version is on YouTube but not on YouTube music, so the playlist above features Victoria Clark, singing slightly different lyrics)
SONG: I love every note of the record on which Marc Ribot covers Arsenio Rodriguez classics, but my fave tune on it is actually the one original: a rowdy, arpeggiated jam powered as much by Robert Rodriguez's rackety percussion and John Medeski's organ as by Ribot's overpowered electric.
SONG: I love every note of the record on which Marc Ribot covers Arsenio Rodriguez classics, but my fave tune on it is actually the one original: a rowdy, arpeggiated jam powered as much by Robert Rodriguez's rackety percussion and John Medeski's organ as by Ribot's overpowered electric.
ALBUM: I only just heard Judee Sill’s third album—recorded in the 1970s but not released until 2005, a quarter century after her death—and I’m happy to report it’s as rich and layered and ornery and moving as her first two. What a blazing talent we lost.
LYRICS: Jimmy Cliff, "Many Rivers to Cross"
SONG: Playing through this iconic Jimmy Cliff tune today, I noticed one thing that makes it work so well: Apart from the instrumental intro, he doesn’t land on the song’s home chord (D-flat) until the end of the chorus. The longer the wait, the harder it hits.
SONG: Playing through this iconic Jimmy Cliff tune today, I noticed one thing that makes it work so well: Apart from the instrumental intro, he doesn’t land on the song’s home chord (D-flat) until the end of the chorus. The longer the wait, the harder it hits.
ALBUM: Guitarists Carlos Alomar and Ricky Gardiner remain the standouts on this still-fresh-sounding Iggy Pop classic, though of course its guiding, shaping personality is the inimitable, irrepressible Osterberg himself, under strong Bowie influence.
LYRICS: Raye, "Where Is My Husband?"
SONG: One of the all-time single-chord jams, this Eleni Mandell classic has a lip-smacking malevolence that’s all the keener for being underplayed. I always savor the bongo fills that enter around 1:31; they sound like a rattlesnake.
SONG: One of the all-time single-chord jams, this Eleni Mandell classic has a lip-smacking malevolence that’s all the keener for being underplayed. I always savor the bongo fills that enter around 1:31; they sound like a rattlesnake.
ALBUM: I prefer their third record, Black and White, but there’s no denying the visceral power of The Stranglers’ aggressive, arresting 1977 debut, whose rich musical layers reward repeat listens. The bonus tracks are some of my faves here.
LYRICS: Dolly Parton, "If I Lose My Mind"
SONG: Cootie Williams’s trumpet is out front on this catchy jazz cut, for which he’s credited as the writer, though a few other boldface names are involved (clarinetist Barney Bigard, pianist Duke Ellington). I’m a sucker for tunes built on this kind of Beiderbecke-ian arpeggio.
SONG: Cootie Williams’s trumpet is out front on this catchy jazz cut, for which he’s credited as the writer, though a few other boldface names are involved (clarinetist Barney Bigard, pianist Duke Ellington). I’m a sucker for tunes built on this kind of Beiderbecke-ian arpeggio.
ALBUM: I was mostly a snob about synth-heavy New Wave while it was happening, but I always admired Alison Moyet's powerhouse pipes. What a belated pleasure it is now to spend a day letting this lush 1982 record wash over me. Fave track: "Bad Connection."
LYRICS: Molly Bryant, "Charlie Quinn"
SONG: Digging this grungy all-guitars mix of one of McCartney’s greatest creations and relishing anew the 2 notes that cinch it: the dominant-7th leap on “find there” and the minor 3rd (Bb) over the major chord (G) on “Got to get you.” Also: Love how the guitar outlines the horn charts.
SONG: Digging this grungy all-guitars mix of one of McCartney’s greatest creations and relishing anew the 2 notes that cinch it: the dominant-7th leap on “find there” and the minor 3rd (Bb) over the major chord (G) on “Got to get you.” Also: Love how the guitar outlines the horn charts.
ALBUM: Many Yes fans swear by this 5-track record from 1977 as one of their best, and after years of trying to hear what they hear, I think I’m closer than ever—mainly because I’ve finally succumbed to the mad, labyrinthine majesty of “Awaken.”
LYRICS: Paul Simon, "Hearts and Bones"
SONG: With this catchy, underrated tune from 2005, Paul McCartney both captures a recognizable scene—waiting on a friend’s friends to clear out for some one-on-one time—and hints at the melancholic isolation of fame (fwiw he said he felt like he was channeling George).
SONG: With this catchy, underrated tune from 2005, Paul McCartney both captures a recognizable scene—waiting on a friend’s friends to clear out for some one-on-one time—and hints at the melancholic isolation of fame (fwiw he said he felt like he was channeling George).
ALBUM: More haunted and hungover than his brilliant solo debut, George Harrison’s 1973 follow-up makes for unsettling and moving listening. 24 years to the day since he slipped from this material world, it still sounds like he’s in the room (because he is).
LYRICS: Joni Mitchell (adapted from William Butler Yeats's "The Second Coming"), "Slouching Towards Bethlehem"
SONG: Like Dylan's, Judee Sill's work was was full of religious imagery and feeling, no matter what she was singing about. Gospel was in her music too, as this extended version of one of her more apocalyptic tunes makes clear—i.e, it opens with a gratifying 3 minutes of "Pentecostal licks."
ALBUM: Blues and gospel are close siblings, but Blind Willie Johnson’s music allows no distinction between the two genres. His songs sound no less haunted than Robert Johnson’s, and no less beatific than Thomas Dorsey’s. The lamb throws down with the lion.
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