Advice for a "rigged" election

 274,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Moscow Mitch, Russia's bitch

 274,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCVIII--Better Midler: The Glory of Love

 As I've gotten older my appreciation for what might be called standards has increased exponentially.  Songs such as "Mona Lisa," or "Smile," or "My Funny Valentine," or even "La Vie en Rose," really stay with me and I especially enjoy hearing the many different takes that numerous artists have on them.  While I am unfamiliar with any versions of this week's tune not sung by the Divine Miss M, I still have a few years left to seek them out and give them a listen....

Bette Midler left her hometown of Honolulu in 1965 for the bright lights of New York City at the ripe old age of 20, landed a few Broadway roles later in the decade, and built a name for herself singing in gay bathhouses throughout the city.  She released her first album in 1972, had her first hit, and the rest as they say, has been history.  Throughout her career Midler's larger than life charisma has served her well, leading her into acting and stand up comedy.  She is an Oscar away from having a career EGOT (she's been nominated twice), having won three Emmys, one Tony, and three Grammys.  She's also won four Golden Globe Awards.  For her musical career, Midler has released 14 studio albums (with four reaching the top ten), 41 singles (a #1, a #2, and a #3), and had twenty world tours.  Earning extra bonus points from me, Midler had been a frequent and unapologetic critic of Donald Trump and his administration.  Frequent readers (both of them) know I am quite the fan of female vocalists, and Midler is as good as it gets for me.

"The Glory of Love" (Midler's version) was released in 1988 on the soundtrack to the movie Beaches.  It was not released as a single.  The soundtrack reached #2 on the Billboard 200, and is the best selling album of her career (and also features her only #1 single, "The Wind Beneath My Wings").

If you've never seen it, the movie Beaches is overly sentimental tripe, with Barbara Hershey doing a perfect impersonation of a wooden toy soldier (emphasis on wooden) though she's supposed to be playing Midler's (whose performance is the only reason to watch) BFF since childhood.  Nonetheless, I've seen it numerous times...just to watch Midler's performance of "The Glory of Love" (and I actually own the soundtrack).  Originally written in 1936 by Billy Hill, the song is a simple paean, amazingly enough, to the glory that is love.  But it's not sappy--Hill's lyrics make perfectly clear that love has its ups and downs, but in the end is worth the while.  Midler, accompanied by a piano and a touch of strings, sings it with all the kindliness that such a topic richly deserves.  Her closing--the singing slowed, almost in a whisper, is just the right lush flourish to make the song her own...and a fine way to end a tune that will be song for generations.

Lyric Sheet:  "You've got to win a little, lose a little/Always have the blues a little/That's the story of, that's the glory of love..."

Enjoy:

273,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Thanksgiving turkeys

 269,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

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Delusional crank city

Three Liberal Heroes

Numbnut Dan Crenshaw, a republican representative from the not so great state of Texas, said this week  that the reelection of Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey was an insult to the legacy of JFK.

Leaving aside the obvious fact that one wonders why a no-name congressperson from Texas would have any concern about an election in Massachusetts, especially considering his republican run state leads the nation in coronavirus cases, what exactly does he think JFK's legacy is?

I've been following politics since 1976 and in all that time I have never once heard any Kennedy say they were a republican, run for office as a republican, or endorse a republican.  And judging from their record, I can unequivocally state that had any of the sons of Joseph and Rose Kennedy been alive over the course of the past four years they most assuredly would have called out Donald Trump and the republican party for being the racist cowards they are.  Republicans can spare us all their phony historical revision--to a person, they would have hated JFK.  His legacy shapes much of what the Democratic Party is today.

And just for future reference, can they also not invoke the name of Martin Luther King, Jr.?  I can guarantee you that had he lived he would have been marching in the streets protesting black Americans continued subjugation to white Americans' racism to this very day.  And King as well would have called out Donald Trump and republicans for their white nationalist rhetoric and support.

Our leaders are not your heroes--it's not our fault there hasn't been a heroic republican since Lincoln.

268,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

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emaycee

13 million cases

 265,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

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Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCVII--Foo Fighters: Big Me

 This week's featured tune is brought to you by the caramel industry...because it's a gooey and sugary sweet slice of pop music.

The Foo Fighters began in 1994 when Dave Grohl of Nirvana fame went into the studio to record some of his own tunes as a way of reconciling with Kurt Cobain's suicide and the end of Nirvana.  Grohl recorded an album's worth of material, playing all of the instruments himself, and after the sessions, handed out cassette copies to friends and acquaintances to see what they thought of his solo project...and shortly thereafter got a record deal.  Grohl had to hire a band to tour, and the Foo Fighters have now been recording and touring for twenty-six years.  Impressively, four of the five band members have been in the group for twenty-three years or more, and the fifth has been an on again/off again member since the beginning.  Over their career, the Foo Fighters have released nine studio albums (with two of them reaching #1 on the album chart), and will be releasing a tenth next year.  They've also released 53 singles, with two of them hitting the top twenty.  The Foo Fighters have won 11 Grammys, and have also won an MTV Video Music Award.  Not a bad career for a one off project....

Fun Fact:  A foo fighter is what American World War II pilots called unidentified flying objects.  Dave Grohl later admitted that had he known he would have a career with the band he would have called it another name, saying that "...it's the stupidest fucking band name in the world." (Which is a rather dubious assertion, as it's really not such a bad name for a band)

"Big Me" was the fourth single from their above noted debut album, the oh, so cleverly titled Foo Fighters.  The single was released in 1996, but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.  The album is the second best selling of their career, and peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200.

"Big Me" was written as a love song for Dave Grohl's then wife (sadly, the song has far outlasted the marriage which ended after three years), and while lyrically it might not match "How Do I Love Thee," musically it's mind-blowing catchy.  Every time I hear it the song will stick in my head for days, but it's so melodically wonderful that I'll be bopping around the house singing it to my heart's content.  The instrumentation is as simple as it gets, guitars (at their jangly best), bass, and Grohl doing his usual drum driving beat.  Grohl's vocals are soothing soft, and accentuate the melody flawlessly.  This one isn't going to change the world, but it's a fine and dandy way to say "I love you."

Lyric Sheet:  Well I talked about it/Put it on/Never was it true/But it's you, I fell into..."

Enjoy:

263,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

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Stay at home order

Ralph Warnock and Jon Ossoff, future Senators

 There is currently a social media platform known as Parler, which is a site for Donald Trump supporters, that is calling for Trump voters to boycott the upcoming Georgia runoff election (for the two U.S. Senate seats in which no candidate received 50% of the vote in the general election) because republican candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have not been subservient enough to Trump.

I would just like to state that I heartily endorse this boycott--Senators Loeffler and Perdue haven't been nearly nice enough to Donald Trump and the best way to make them pay would be for Ralph Warnock and Jon Ossoff to be elected as the new United States Senators from Georgia.

The republican party really needs to weed out the snowflakes!

263,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Idiot quotient

 263,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

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emaycee

A cure for Trump fatigue

 

262,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Good men doing something

Good folks in Michigan saving our Democracy

 Yesterday, when two republican Wayne County Board of Canvassers (William Hartmann and Monica Palmer) refused to certify the votes of Black Americans in Detroit, the outrage from Michigan voters was so quick and so overwhelming that within hours they reversed themselves and certified the votes.  Keep in mind that Hartmann and Palmer were questioning a couple hundred votes (Trump lost Wayne County by more than 300,000 votes), and both made it perfectly clear that they were happy to certify white votes, just not black votes.

After the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government had been created for America and Franklin famously responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."  If we do indeed save our Democracy from Donald Trump and his minions, I have no doubt that the actions of Michigan Democrats yesterday to cry foul and call for our better angels to guide us will be taught ages hence to our school children as an important moment in the salvaging of our great nation.

Ned Staebler, a Democratic activist and businessman, gave an impassioned speech that--and I say this with all due respect to hyperbole--may go down with Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech as one of the most important and courageous in our history:

In the end, republicans like to talk about heroes, but Democrats actually become them and in so doing, come to represent the moral center that has held us together for 144 years.

256,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

About that socialism

One of many great Socialist ideas

 Don't know about you, but I sure hope all those folks who voted for Trump because "Socialism!" will be turning down their Social Security checks and eligibility for Medicare.  Also think that any of them who are first time home buyers should turn down that FHA loan and pay premium dollar for their first mortgage.  And college loans--forget the government, go to a bank and get a market based interest rate and pay thousands more over the course of their repayment.  Same thing for anyone starting a business--why use the Small Business Administration when you can get gouged by a for profit bank?  And don't even get me started on all the medical breakthroughs provided by the NIH or the CDC.

I'm not holding my breath--most of those folks who voted republican because "Socialism!" firmly believe in socialism for me but not for thee...especially when the "thee" is black and brown folks.

256,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Sarah, plain and dull

A real President

 In his new book, Promised Land, President Barack Obama reminisced about how the republican slide into lunacy began with Sarah Palin.

This apparently hurt snowflake (is it okay if I call you Sarah?) Sarah's feefees, and she went on Newsmax (what the fuck is Newsmax? I've been following politics for forty-five years and never once have I heard of Newsmax) and said how happy she was that she was living in Obama's head and that he didn't understand their movement and that she and lamebrain Donnie gave voice to the voiceless.

Where to begin?

• Relatively certain that Obama spends close to zero time thinking about Sarah fucking Palin.  If I recall correctly he actually had a country to run over his two terms, while Sarah was busy...not being able to complete one term as Governor of the sprawling state of Alaska.
• As far as Obama being unable to grasp their "movement," he must have at least grasped the family values part.  If I'm not mistaken, unlike Sarah, the Obama marriage has actually survived and neither of his daughters have had a child out of wedlock.
• As for those voiceless folks?  That would be racists--who if we truly had a competent media, would have remained in the sewer where they belong.
• Obama is so out of touch that he was busy this past fall campaigning to overflow crowds for Joe Biden while the most notable achievement Palin has over the past several years was a picture with two of the lamest rock stars ever, Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, in the Oval Office.
• One thing that Obama understands is because of his intelligence, success, and charisma that he doesn't have to embarrass himself singing out of tune on a lame ass show like The Masked Singer.
• Did I mention that Palin's movement was so successful that Democrats have now won the White House three out of the last four elections?

Frankly, Sarah should hop back on the train to Loserville because that's where she and landslide loser Donnie belong.

254,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Laugh of the day

Buh-bye, losers...

 Some republican numbnut from Virginia (who he is just doesn't matter anymore--just another whining idiot) is asking Biden voters to unfriend him on Facebook and finished by saying that all Biden voters were ignorant, anti-American, and anti-Christian. 

Rightie-o!  Talk about your self projection:

• Ignorant--hey, if they don't like facts and figures, it's just fake news!  Or a hoax!  Because nothing says intelligence quite like ignoring reality.
• Anti-American--happily letting Russia interfere in our election, trying to get the Ukraine to make up lies about Joe Biden, and denying the results of a legitimate election are among the most patriotic of acts, are they not?
• Anti-Christian--Because Jesus was all in on racism and sexual assault, and also told so, so many lies.

These people are beyond pathetic.

But the joke's on them--Joe Biden won.  Got that?  Joe Biden won, Joe Biden won, Joe Biden won, Joe Biden won...sing it!...Joe Biden won, Joe Biden won, Joe Biden won....

254,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCVI--The Heartbreakers: Born to Lose

 Now that we've completed the magical mystery tour, I'm going to milk No Thanks! The 70's Punk Rebellion for another power pop punk gem....

Unfortunately, the history of the Hearbreakers is a tale too often told in the annals of rock and roll--extremely talented band never quite gets the break they need...and a helping heap of drug addictions finished whatever chance they might have had.  They formed in 1975 from the remnants of the New York Dolls and Television (though Richard Hell lasted but a short time) and played until 1980, though they reunited twice, in 1984 and 1990.  They were widely regarded as an amazing live band, but it did not translate for their one and only studio album.  Original members Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan died in 1991 and 1992 respectively, and while it's uncertain as to whether they were drug related, the drugs certainly played a part.  Other original members Walter Lure (who went on to be a stockbroker on Wall Street--WTF?) and Billy Rath (who became a substance abuse counselor) have both since passed as well, though they both eventually conquered their drug addictions and lived to relatively ripe old ages.  

(Not so) Fun Fact:  From the When You Know God Hates You Files:  the Heartbreakers only LP suffered greatly from poor sound quality, and the band members tried several times to go back into the studio to remix it but were unable to improve it.  A few years after the band broke up, the LP was released on cassette, and the sound quality improved markedly, leading many to believe that the production problems were actually an album pressing problem from their label.

"Born to Lose" was released in 1977 on their album L.A.M.F.  Neither the single nor the album hit the charts.  For the two of you who are wondering, L.A.M.F. stands for "like a mother fucker," a popular addendum to New York City graffiti in the 1970's. 

For me, there's a frenetic energy to the best punk singles, and "Born to Lose" has that in spades, shaking like a tree in an earthquake that hits ten on the Richter scale.  It's simple stuff, just guitar, bass, and drums, but the band plays all of them with an exuberance that makes you want to thrust your fists into the air around you again and again the entire time you're listening.   There's one of those special moments in the chorus when Thunders screams "I said hit it!" before the band sings "born to lose" that takes the song up another notch, and makes you understand why the band was so beloved when it performed live (you can just imagine the entire audience screaming "I said hit it!" every time it comes around).  It's a three minute nihilistic ode to New York City that captures the 70's punk explosion in all its power and fury.  And most certainly makes you thankful for its very existence.

Lyric Sheet:   "I've nothing to do/I've nothing to say/Only one thing that I want/It's the only way/I said hit it/Born to lose..."

Enjoy:

251,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

There is no legacy for losers

You, as in Donald Trump

 I've been hearing over the past couple of days from the handful of republicans who seem to understand that impugning our elections isn't so good for America's long term health, who either worry about or try to explain to Trump that in so doing, he's destroying "his legacy."  He is doing nothing of the sort--his legacy is already set in stone.

In fact it's going to be branded upon his ass, just like the Great Depression has been permanently branded on Herbert Hoover's ass, and it's going to be that in the moment of the greatest health crisis that America has ever been exposed to, his administration had one of the greatest failures in our republic's history.

And also like Hoover, he's going to spend eternity in the circle of Hell reserved for our worst Presidents.

249,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

I've got a question for you

Michigan making American great again

 It was surprising to me that in regaining the blue wall, Joe Biden won Michigan by so many more votes (146,000) than he won Pennsylvania (63,000) and Wisconsin (20,000).  How much, do you suppose, he was hurt here by his "that woman" comments in referring to our Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, by Michigan women who have had about as much condescension from asshole men as they can stomach?  How many votes did he lose with his tepid denunciation of the plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer, in which he essentially said it was her own fault, from Michigan women who have taken enough verbal abuse from asshole men to last them a lifetime?  How many cast their votes against a man who shorted the people of Michigan PPE equipment, knowing full well that Trump's petulance was a threat to the lives of their children?

I certainly hope that the Democratic Party is taking a long look see into why Michigan performed so much better than in 2016, but I have a hunch it's about the women, stupid.

249,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Pfuck up

Donald Trump's middle name

 For the sake of argument. let's say you're at the top of the food chain at Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant who recently announced they have some very promising results in their development of a vaccine for COVID-19, and you're making plans for distributing said vaccine and you're naturally hoping to maximize your profits and bathe in the good press you're about to receive.  Which Presidential administration do you want spearheading this?

Do you want the guy who has botched the pandemic response from its beginning or the guy who isn't even President yet and has already put more effort into a response than Trump has in the past eight months?  Do you want the guy who thinks science is a scam or the guy who respects scientists and will put them in charge of the plans for your vaccine?  Do you want the guy who has lied over 20,000 times in the last four years or the guy who truly has your customers best interest at heart?  

Donald Trump can whine all he wants about the timing of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine announcement (and time will tell if the timing of the announcement was made because of a prudent scientific testing schedule or Pfizer's interest in maximizing profits), but if I'm making that decision I'd want anyone but Donald Trump to be running the government.  He's never shown the slightest desire to run a business let alone one of the biggest governments in the world.  The odds that his administration would have fucked up the distribution are 100%.

The people at Pfizer might well be greedy assholes, but they're not fools.  A real President beats a man who would be king every single time.

249,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Fuck you, Donnie

 144,000 new cases of COVID-19 today while the Coward in Chief whines about losing the election--which he lost in no small part because of his epic mishandling for the pandemic.  What a pathetic weakling of a man.

But you know what gives me joy?  Knowing that with each passing day we're one day closer to January 20th and his putrid ass heading to whatever golf course it is that accepts fascist crybabies.

In fact, it makes me...

247,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCV--Ringo Starr: You Never Know

 Sappy story:  I was single for many years after my first marriage ended, and whenever it seemed hopeless that love would enter my life again...I'd play this week's tune.  Even sappier, the song's main theme, that life is a gamble and you never know when something or someone special will enter your life...most certainly came true with my life.  I'd say it's embarrassing, but the Beautiful Girl and I are eighteen years down the road now and it seems to be working out just fine....

For the fourth straight week I'm going to note that the artist biography will be short because what else could I possibly add about Ringo Starr that hasn't already been written--and then proceed to write a lengthy paragraph about his life anyway.  Of all the Beatles, Ringo was the one that probably would have been voted least likely to have much success as a solo artist, but he's fifty years down the road and has frankly had a hell of a solo career.  Like each of his fellow Beatles, he's a two time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is widely considered one of the five best rock and roll drummers of all-time.  He still tours regularly (well, when there's not a pandemic anyway) with his Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band group, which features any number of rock and roll veterans (Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Bill Preston, Bonnie Raitt, and Clarence Clemons to name but a very few).   Starr has won an Academy Award and Grammy Awards with his fellow Beatles, but in a first, he is the only Beatle to be nominated for an Emmy (Daytime Emmy for Shining Time Station, a Thomas the Tank Engine spin-off).  For his solo career, Starr has released 20 studio albums (with two top ten LPs), nine albums with his All-Starr Band, and 44 singles (with two #1's and six more top ten hits).  He celebrated his eightieth birthday earlier this year with a virtual concert.

Fun Fact:  Starr has been knighted, but he was given the honor by his real name, so he is Sir Richard Starkey instead of Sir Ringo Starr.  And I'm probably the only person on the planet who finds that interesting....

"You Never Know" was released in 1991 on the soundtrack to the mildly entertaining film, Curly Sue.  Neither the song or the album came anywhere near the Billboard charts.

As with "Watching the Wheels" by John Lennon from a few weeks back, "You Never Know" is not Starr's best single, but it's my personal favorite and so the rest of y'all are going to have to suffer with my choice.  As noted above, the song is an ode to keeping your eyes open for that four leaf clover that's going to change your life, and Starr sings it with all the happy-go-lucky charm that he can muster.  Both the music and the lyrics have a whimsical quality to them which fits with a song about keeping the dice rolling because that 7 might just hit on your next roll.  In the end, it's a sweet slice of pop music pie sung by a man who's seen his share of both the best and the worst of what life has to offer--and who knows that the rainbow is always just a rainstorm away.

Lyric Sheet:  "I never saw exactly where the road would lead me/One day I woke to find somebody needs me/I thought I'd taken luck as far as it would go/But then again you never know..."

Enjoy:

244,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

A victory tune

 Goddamn right, it's a beautiful day, uh-huh...

243,000+ Dead Americans

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emaycee

Hasta la vista, baby

 A message from the American people to Donald Trump!

I feel about as frazzled as Linda Hamilton looks in the above scene....

243,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Bye Don 2020, Vol. XXVII--The Fat Lady Is Singing Edition

 We just might have saved our nation today....

243,000+ Dead Americans

Peace,

emaycee

Haulin' (an) ass

You're fired!

 Donald Trump has been signalling to his allies that once Joe Biden wins the Secret Service will have to drag him from the White House "kicking and screaming."

While I can believe Trump will scream like a little girl, I have my doubts that Tubby the Turd could do much kicking given that he has trouble walking down a ramp.

But we're going to have to hire the Bulgarian National Weight Lifting Team to haul his corpulent ass out of there--don't want our Secret Service guys getting hernias.

242,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

It's getting better all the time

 

It's a beautiful day

Joe Biden is making a difference already--here in Michigan, we just had our second straight day of sunshine and seventy degree weather...and it's the first week of November!

He's already got my vote in 2024....

242,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

A song for today

Beats hell out of the alternative

 The Beautiful Girl has been telling me for the past two days that regardless of what happens with the election, somehow, someway we're going to be just fine.

In honor of our having slept, oh, about three hours combined since Monday, I thought this song would be a nice soother:

Has there ever been anybody who played music with more joy than Bob Marley?

240,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Bye Don 2020, Vol. XXVI--Election Day Edition

237,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCIV--George Harrison: What Is Life

When I go over my favorites list on my iPod, it always surprises me that I have as many songs by George Harrison and Ringo Starr as I do by John Lennon and Paul McCartney...which probably shows just how much the Beatles were a sum of their parts.  And probably one of the numerous reasons why they're considered by many to be the greatest rock and roll band of all time.

For the third straight week the biographical portion of this week's post will be brief (though I should note that each of the Beatles' entries on Wikipedia takes longer to read than it does to write the corresponding week's post)--the life of George Harrison has been written about numerous times by writers much better than myself (including Harrison himself).  Though he developed a reputation as the quiet Beatle (mostly because he got strep throat on their first trip to America and didn't speak much at press conferences to protect his voice), Harrison was anything but.  He was very active in charities of every stripe (civil rights, poverty, animal rights, environmental to name but a few), and was also known for playing and corroborating with numerous other artists (Dylan, the Band, Eric Clapton, Badfinger, Billy Preston to name but a few).  Unlike the other Beatles, Harrison joined another band--the Traveling Wilburys--who released two albums before going their separate ways.  Like his bandmates Lennon and McCartney, Harrison is a double inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  He won thirteen Grammys altogether, and an Academy Award.  For his solo career, Harrison released twelve albums (two of which reached #1), and 35 singles (with three hitting the top of the charts).  Harrison passed away in 2001 after battling numerous cancers over the last four years of his life.

"What Is Life" was the second single released from Harrison's seminal 1970 LP All Things Must Pass.  The single reached #10 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album reached #1 on the Billboard 200.  Rolling Stone ranked it 368th on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All-Time."

Fun Fact:  All Things Must Pass, surprisingly enough, is widely considered to be the best of all the solo albums by the members of the Beatles.  Bet you there weren't many people that had that ticket in 1970 in the greatest Beatles solo albums pool....

For whatever reason, George Harrison's sense of pop music always meshed very well with mine--there are really any number of his songs that I could have featured this week, but I chose "What Is Life" for the sheer exuberance of its music, lyrics, and vocals.  From its laser gun burst guitar opening to its snazzy horns throughout, the song is a celebration.  Harrison mixed the best of the Beatles catchy hooks with a Motown vibe and came up with a pop masterpiece worthy of the ages.  While there is some minor disagreement as to who the song is speaking of (is it God or a woman who love he can't live without?), in the end the song is a paean to a special love--with Phil Spector's Wall of Sound providing the soundtrack.  Other than the whole using real musicians who play real instruments (God do I sound like a cranky old fart), it's the kind of song that even fifty years down the road sounds as if it would be a hit right here in 2020.

Lyric Sheet:  "What I feel, I can't say/But my love is there for you anytime of day..."

Enjoy:

237,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Bye Don 2020, Vol. XXV

 236,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Bye Don 2020, Vol. XXIV

 236,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee