Category: Music

“American Music,” the Violent Femmes “California Stars,” Billy Bragg and Wilco “The City of New Orleans,” Arlo Guthrie “Song to Woody,” Bob Dylan “The Body of an American,” the Pogues “Born in the USA,” Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band “Fortunate Son,” Creedence Clearwater Revival “American Idiot,” Green Day “War,” Edwin Starr “Buffalo Soldier,”… Continue reading American Music

A while back, Kate and I saw Richard Thompson play a solo acoustic show at The Egg in Albany. Last night, he was back in town, this time with a band, touring in support of his new album, Sweet Warrior. Here are the band credits from the program: Michael Jerome: drums, percussion Taras Prodaniuk: electric… Continue reading Richard Thompson Band Live

It’s the first day of the summer research session today, which means I’m going to be run ragged getting my three (!) summer students started with their various projects. So, here’s a pop-culture post inspired by the wedding Kate and I went to over the weekend: What’s the most inappropriate song you’ve heard played at… Continue reading Non-Dorky Poll: Bad Wedding Songs

I’m turning in my grades today, which means another year has come to an end. Also, I’m on sabbatical next year. Woo-hoo! To celebrate, here’s a silly random songs post. In honor of the end of the term, iTunes chose to serve up a set of songs with lyrics that are either completely insipid or… Continue reading End of Term Shuffle

Only four songs from the Memorial Day music post remain unguessed, so here are some additional hints: 1) “So, she said it’s time she goes, but wanted to be sure I know she hopes we can be friends.” 2) “And as we sort out the who said, you said, who said, I said, I only… Continue reading Guess-the-Lyrics Hints

While poking around to double-check the lyrics for several of the songs in the previous post, I stumbled across SongMeanings.net, which turns out to be fairly entertaining. As the name suggests, it’s a site where you can find a pretty comprehensive list of song lyrics by different artists, with notes attached regarding the meaning of… Continue reading Open Source Musical Interpretations

For most people in the US, this is a day off. For most academics in the US, this is already summer. Not so for us– we’re on trimesters, so we’re still in session, and have classes scheduled. This tends to undercut the solemnity of the occasion. There’s also an Admissions event today, and then I’m… Continue reading Memorial Day Nostalgia Tunes

Top choices from the recent acquisitions playlist: “Sly,” Cat Empire. I bought this because of the 75 or Less review, which asks the important questions: When did G Love become the bandleader for the Blues Brothers? And when did they add reggae and Latin influences? And why are my feet doing this stupid dance under… Continue reading Songs of the Moment

The iPod giveth, and the iPod taketh away. Back in the day, there was this technology called “audio tape,” which people used to record music. On a typical tape, you could record maybe ten or elevent pop songs, and then you had to flip it over, and record another ten or eleven songs on the… Continue reading Not the Same Old Song