"Don't Fear the Reaper"

That ain't an ipod, that is a hearing aid.

Iraq Cliffs Notes, as read by Joe Lieberman.

Funny? Not really.

Now, I'll tell you what I enjoy. I enjoy Leonard Bernstein's takes on spring--both Copland's Appalachian version and Stravinsky's rite thereof. Then there was last night, when Mozart's Symphony #41 in C brought tears to my eyes on the train ride home. The day before, I listened to the Manhattan Transfer's version of the 1939 hit "Tuxedo Junction" and had to play it thrice, it sounds so nice. Ray Charles borderline-misogynistic "I Got a Woman" (1954), which Obama by definition is not allowed to listen to, leads off my iPod's "Blues" paylist. (No serious candidate would be caught dead with the lyric "She knows a woman's place is right there in her home" within forty feet of his or her MP3 device.)

Old enough for you?

Also, as some of those who rushed out to buy the "O Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack may have realized for a split-second before conveniently forgetting, American (let alone world) music has too many glorious nooks and crannies, largely unexplored and poorly understood, for anyone other than the occasional obsessive insomniac to properly survey and comparatively judge. Hence it behooves us not to rank the taste of one above that of another. Ranking one kind of music over another misses the point of music altogether, and is just sad; hence McCain could listen to nothing but Lawrence Welk and he will get no argument from me.

Juvenile attempts to mock John McCain--who, if I'm not mistaken, is a former war hero and prisoner of war--serve no purpose other than to lower the stature of those doing the mocking in the eyes of any observer with a conscience.

Am I the only one who thought John McCain's "Bomb, Bomb Iran" joke was funny?

"Your Dictionary" by XTC (might help him with the wife-name-calling)

"Land of Plenty/This Land is Your Land" and "La Linea" by Lila Downs, to help with immigration policy

"Afternoons and Coffeespoons" by Crash Test Dummies, to help him ease into retirement

**

for Hillary & Barack: "You Were Meant for Me" by Ute Lemper or "Do You Wanna Partner?" from the Indian movie "Partner"

and maybe McCain & Obama should both have "I Got Life" (i.e. 1948 vs 1968) from "Hair"

and one for W: "El Orangutan" by The Iguanas

Amen Yard...

I get grief from friends who wonder how I can listen to Miles, MJQ, Dave Alvin, New Order, Burial, My Morning Jacket, the Cure or Albert King in the same play list. Variety is the spice of life indeed. But also not limiting my listening habits to the Billboard 100 or the latest Pitchfork review also insures my being able to pick the jewels out of the crap that sometimes gets passed for music these days.

forgot one:

"Charge" by The Divine Comedy

come on yard, if America can't poke fun at itself over the aging process then growing older is definitely going to be a drag. I am not advocating a Logan's Run solution.

I recently had to buy my first pair of reading glasses, never needing them before I bought them at the eyestore and found them very expensive, but I didn't realize what they charged me for so much was that I got "designer" frames. If I knew that, I could have saved a lot of money. I can find my ignorance funny or I can cry. I choose to laugh at myself over it. My own personal history has nothing to do with it, aging is the lot of everyone who survives into old age, if you don't want to suffer any indignities of old age, one can always choose the alternative. And the indignity I am talking about is not what any stupid young person says, it is the indignity of my body not doing what it used to do so well. I used to be able to do a split, now all I can do is split my pants.

Oh come on: Mark Linsday "Arizona" (one hit wonder from the 70's)

For the record, I too choose to laugh at blackton.

John McCain is a total Goth.  He was against Bush when Bush was cool, and is for Bush now that Bush is not cool.  McCain was not a war hawk when the Iraq War was popular but now that it is unpopular he is the emobdiment of a war fiend.  He's a total non-conformist--you know he's listening to "Bela Lugosi's Dead" and "Boys Don't Cry".

blackton

Any guy who could do anything approaching a full split must have been either a dancer, gymnast or martial artist. :-)

If he can have multiple R.E.M. tracks, I suggest "Exhuming McCarthy."

Well, if McCain had my iPod, he'd make a playlist with these songs:

Barnaked Ladies - If I had $1000000

Europe - The Final Countdown

Five For Fighting - 100 Years

Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia

The Ink Spots - I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire

Rage Against The Machine - Calm Like a Bomb

why thank you adaglas, so we can laugh together.

Aaron, I lived in China for a long time and took up a lot of Chinese things for a few years, but then got lazy and fat. And it was a front split, not a side one, I only ever got to 140 degrees with a side.

Kind Of Blue 24 hours a day 7 days a week 52 weeks a year every year especially Flamenco Sketches.

And then for the other hours of the day, days of the week, weeks of the year, Janis Joplin's Little Girl Blue and Ball And Chain comparing and contrasting the latter with Big Mama Thornton's.

It's "Ride of the Valkyries," not "Flight."  Tyo-o-ho, O!  And besides, I'm guessing he goes with the overture to Flying Dutchman instead.  Probably picked it up on those bizarro Fox Sports spots that aired briefly right after 9/11.  

In truth, McCain just doesn't strike me as much of a music listener at all, no matter the technology.