A Music series
American Crisis Playlist #18
How long has this been goin’ on?
Been keeping up with the news lately? No? Did you know that “Schitt’s Creek” swept the Emmys? That was so last week, you say? Well, I mention it for two reasons. One, I forgot to mention it last week and after all, it’s one of my all-time favorite shows (rivaled by “Twin Peaks,” “Six Feet Under,” and “Fleabag”), and two, whatever absurdity the Rose family brought to us each week — or in those binge moments when nothing else would do — could anything Johnny or Moira, Alexis or David, or Stevie, Bob, and Roland and even Twyla have done, make you think the world is crazier than whatever that was that we witnessed last Tuesday night?
Actually, I didn’t witness it because I knew better. I knew that if Biden fucked up, I didn’t want to see it, and if the other guy — the orange plague — was merely himself, well, I didn’t want to witness that either. I read the news the next day, oh boy, and I felt as contaminated as if I had been Chris Wallace sitting there like the world was normal, or was supposed to be; or even if it wasn’t, we would somehow get through this together, we and Chris.
He later admitted that things could have gone better, a line that reminds me of the Lusitania, the Hindenburg, and the Cleveland Browns (who actually won a game yesterday), all wrapped into one.
Chris also revealed that the T***p family did not follow mask-wearing protocol at the debate. They refused to listen to Cleveland doctors’ medical advice — that makes the Browns look better, but everybody else???
Oh, hindsight!
One of my neighbors asked me Friday if I thought that the plague that hit the orange plague was a hoax — a way of grabbing attention and playing on our sympathy because, though I didn’t see the debate, I have gleaned, like so many others have, that the orange one didn’t fare so well. So, sympathy can do wonders, sure.
But I think we all know now that it isn’t hoax, or at least 70% of surveyed Americans think that way. The rest? I just don’t know, but I’m betting that there’s a certain Supreme Court nominee who, like me, just saw a photo from Saturday before last of her young son sitting in the White house on a bench next to Sen. Tillis of North Carolina, and neither of them is wearing a mask, and you could maybe sit a plastic truck in between them. Like the master he serves, Tillis is quarantined right now, prognosis uncertain.
Such is life in crisis mode.
So what music do you have for us today to ease our worried minds?
Well, glad you asked.
AMERICAN CRISIS PLAYLIST #18
- “Instant Karma,” John Ono Lennon, from a 1970 single on the green Apple label. It beat out “Let It Be” for number one at least one week on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Top Ten countdown. I remember how dark and haunting it sounded, Lennon’s voice seemingly coming from a beyond I had never thought about. It might seem low, or lowdown, or even on the “downlow” to bring this up, but the buffoon did ridicule Biden for wearing a mask, and just yesterday, T***p campaign official Justin Miller defended his boss. Go ahead man. “Why on earth are we here?” To live meaningfully and without fear, I thought.
- “Walk Away,” James Gang from Thirds (1971). Seems to me that when you engage in a mob on an occasion where no one is wearing a mask, and you embrace people because now you think you can pack the Supreme Court with people who value faith over science, you might want to take some responsibility for your actions. Seems to me, you don’t wanna talk about it, Mike Lee. I wish you well anyway.
- “Let the Mystery Be,” Iris DeMent, 1992, Infamous Angel. I could quote every line of this beautiful song and apply it to the mystery that is today. The mystery of how we’ve gotten to this point, where a sick man has to take a drive to get yet another moment’s adulation from a few fanatical well-wishers, likely infecting his guard in the process. No one knows for certain, do they Iris, of where we’re going or even where we’ve been. I notice he wore a mask then. Too little?
- “Jump Into the Fire,” Harry Nilsson, from 1971’s Nilsson Schmilsson. Even I think I’m overdoing it here, though I had to hear Harry’s weird chanting laughter, and I wonder just how he and his partner are making each other happy? Or if they can. What other crazy thing will we jump into before the year, the month, the day’s over? Will we even be here next week for American Crisis Playlist #19? Do you think we’ll be dancing, jumping, or will there be another kind of fire breaking us down?
- “Ventilator Blues,” The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street, 1972. I’m feeling shameless. I’m trying to remember my emotions when I got the news last Friday. Worried? No. Sad? No. Elated? Not exactly. I’ll stop there before someone accuses me of being heartless. I didn’t come up with this, but I will appropriate it: what if he recovers, and then dies after he loses the election? Would Pelosi be President then? We’d get a woman for a few months and then ol Joe? How crazy would that be? Nothing so crazy like that could happen, right? Right?
- “Shut Up and Let Me Go,” The Ting Tings, from 2008’s We Started Nothing. Speaking of Uncle Joe, isn’t this what he shouted at the orange plague once or twice during the debate the other night? What if he had said, “You know Donald, you remind me of that Ting Tings song?” Wouldn’t that have caused the last remaining Bernie supporter to come over to Biden’s team? And imagine what T***p would have heard when the Ting Ting name was used. Only imagine, but not for too long. Show some respect, after all.
- “Close to You (They Long to Be),” The Carpenters, 1970, from Close to You. A song from another administration for this one. Yep yep yep. If you’ve ever heard this song, you’ll never hear it the same from here on. I don’t know how to explain it either. I could see longing to be close to Eugene or Daniel or Sarah Levy, but to…him? Remember when Iris sang let the mystery be? That’s really hard. I have this single, by the way.
- “Dark Days,” Local Natives with Sylvan Esso, from a single released this year. Did they know? Did they foresee it? In the summer, they say, but right now in the early fall of October, it couldn’t be brighter from my porch as I see nothing but blue skies, with a bit of breeze reaching my weary mind. A song with such a title can actually be a feel good song if you let it be. And I am, while my dog lies by me giving us both more comfort than we’ve had all day. I so love this song, and my dog. Have I told you this lately?
- “The Ground Walks (with Time in a Box),” Modest Mouse from 2015’s Strangers to Ourselves. Another band I want(ed) to see live. Are they still around, and if so, how do we tell? So danceable and so happy. I feel like the ground is moving under my feet, or is that the earth, and if it is, sorry Carole. Modest Mouse makes all things possible and reminds me of “Future Mouse” in Zadie Smith’s life changing novel White Teeth. Read that one if you haven’t and think about what happens when you’re so sure the world is ending. And listen to more Modest Mouse as you do. (It’s not, by the way).
- “How Long?” Ace, from Five-a-Side (1974). Such a tease, if you remember the story’s subtitle. My graduation year, and no, I don’t know the answer. A few days? A week? Four years? It depends on who you are, in your “fancy persuasion, don’t admit that it’s part of the scheme.” Yeah, it really does. For some, nothing’s so wrong; for others, it always has been so wrong. Are we as dumb as we seem? What say you, Ace? November 3 is coming quickly.
And so another week ends and lord only knows what’s next. Anyway, thanks for reading as usual, and though Medium itself seems to be shifting and shifty, Noah Levy keeps bringing us together, and so goodnight sweet ladies, goodnight, goodnight.
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