Is there anything lower than lying about a double amputee veteran?

Don’t tell me Fox News didn’t know this, they’re just there to disinform their viewers….

[image or embed]

— Dutchy Patrick (@dutchiepatrick.bsky.social) June 21, 2026 at 8:57 AM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXCIV--Pokey LaFarge: End of My Rope

 Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer, you take one down, you pass it around...and I'm (twelve days--yikes!) late again....

As has happened here numerous times before, my introduction to this week's tune was...my darling daughter.  A couple years back she sent me a short list of songs she was enjoying and thought I might enjoy as well. For whatever reason, this one really stood out and was literally love at first listen.  Unfortunately (never enough time!), this song remains the only one of his I know...but if you're only going to know one, might as well make it a good one....

Pokey Lafarge was born Andrew Heissler in Bloomington, Il in 1983.  He took an early interest in music thanks to one of his grandfathers (who was a banjo player), and after graduating from high school in 2001 hitchhiked to the west coast where he earned a living busking.  He would continue to travel the country, self-released his first album in 2006, and had a musical contract for his second release in 2008.  Over the next two years he would team up with three musicians who would become his backing band, the South City Three.  Though significant commercial success has thus far eluded him, he has built a nice career, with his band having backed Jack White on a couple of songs and been White's opening act, toured regularly, as well as him writing songs for soundtracks and acting in a couple of movies.  He's also won two Independent Music Awards for album of the year.  For his career, Lafarge has released eleven studio albums, one live album, and five singles.  He released his latest album just this year.

Fun Fact:  The "Pokey" in Pokey LaFarge comes from a nickname his mother gave him when he was a child, because, surprisingly enough, he often moved slower than she wanted him to.

"End of My Rope" was released on LaFarge's 2020 album, the rather lowly entitled Rock Bottom Rhapsody.  The song was not released as a single.  In what's become something of a trend over the last few Jukebox posts, neither the single nor the album had a Wikipedia entry, so any chart positioning (likely none) is unknown.

Featuring a driving bass and a rock-solid drum line throughout, LaFarge, tongue planted firmly in cheek, spins the tale of a man at the...end of his rope.  The lyrics are smart, the vocals compliment perfectly the song's rockabilly roots, and there's a gospel-tinged organ that screams "come to me Jesus."  There's also a heaping helping of "yeahs" (and a couple of "oh yeahs" for good measure) in the chorus, and all of it makes for a dynamite song to lighten up our world.  A simple--and subtle--gem.

Lyric Sheet:  "Let me die on stage/Singing the last song I know/Let the spotlight shine the skin/Off my bones..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DLXXII--Uncle Tupelo: We've Been Had

 We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again, so...I'm (four days...closer?) late again....

My original introduction to this week's tune came when my darling daughter sent me a copy of this week's bands greatest hits (discussed in earlier posts--see below) sometime shortly after the turn of this century, though that version was a live recording.  During the pandemic when I used to have to wait in my car while my son had his Tae Kwan Do lessons, I used to play music on my phone to pass the time, and for some odd reason one night it dawned on me that I'd never heard the studio version of this week's song.  I played that album version, fell in love with it anew, and quickly added it to my list for the pantheon that is Friday Night Jukebox....

I've written about Uncle Tupelo twice before (Vol. XL and Vol. CDLXVIII), and once about band member Jeff Tweedy's band, Wilco, since the band's break up (Vol. DI)) and therefore that's all I have to say about that (seems I heard that in a movie....).

"We've Been Had" was the eighth song on Uncle Tupelo's final studio album, the rather inoffensively entitled Anodyne (word's meaning here).  The song was not released as a single, and the album did not chart on the Billboard 200, though the album is considered by some to be among the best in the Alt-Country genre.

Fun Fact:  The lyrics make mention in the first line of a Marshall Stack, and if you've ever been to a rock concert and seen the amps upon amps stacked on stage...well that's a Marshall Stack.  The set-up is widely credited to John Entwistle and Pete Townshend of The Who which both used to let their instruments be heard over the others.

Ostensibly a song about the bullshit the band was fed by record labels, "We've Been Had" was written by Jeff Tweedy.  Featuring some punk influenced guitars that sound like a veritable whirlwind (and absolutely make the song), some tongue in cheek/happy go lucky vocals by Tweedy, and a spirited performance from the rest of the band (sans Jay Farrar who by that time hated Tweedy so much he refused to play his songs).  The song is a rollicking tribute to music, musicians, and fans--which is what Friday Night Jukebox is all about.  And the fact that I can play a really bad version of it on my guitar is just the icing on the rock and roll cake....

Amazingly enough (and how many times have I used that phrase over the years), this marks the end of my eleventh year of writing posts for Friday Night Jukebox.  Don't fret--fate willing, there'll be many more music posts to come.  That said, I just wanted to thank my loyal readers (all three of you) for their, well, loyalty, and offer my sincerest hope that it's been as much fun for you to read as it's been for me to write.  Onward....

Lyric Sheet:  "There's a young girl screaming/All the way in the back/Poor kid, she never saw it coming/Now she knows she's been had..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

More Nazism from Donald Trump

Congressional candidate @katmabu.bsky.social, who was indicted today for protesting outside the Broadview ICE facility: "We've been punched, dragged, thrown, shot with pepper balls, tear gassed, rubber bullets from snipers on roofs going into local businesses windows."

[image or embed]

— Jordan Uhl (@jordanuhl.com) October 29, 2025 at 8:47 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

The Nazi playbook

Pritzker: "He wants to militarize major cities because he wants us to get used to the idea of troops on the streets. I believe he's gonna post people outside of polling places and if he needs to in order to control those elections, he'll assume control of the ballot boxes & count the votes himself"

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Chicago defeated Capone, they can defeat Trump

The president of the United States just declared war, actual military war, not a metaphorical one, on a major American city, and one governed by his political opponents. In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.

[image or embed]

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) September 6, 2025 at 11:54 AM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Corporate America getting what it paid for

This my friends is Communism The Trump administration flexed its new authority over U.S. Steel, blocking the company’s plan to shut down production at an Illinois plant this fall. www.msn.com/en-us/money/...

[image or embed]

— bennythesnitch.bsky.social (@bennythesnitch.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 7:40 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

This is smart--continually question Trump's mental faculties

"Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You're neither wanted here, nor needed here. Your remarks about this effort over the last several weeks have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties – and are not fit for the auspicious office that you occupy." Governor JB Pritzker

— Dr. Jack Brown (@drjackbrown.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 5:21 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

You know what? Fuck off

Phang: Good for Pritzker, good for Hochul, good for Newsom—good for these other Democratic governors who are saying, “You know what? F off.” We’re not going to let people in these other states—people who are under attack and trying to do the right thing for their constituents—go without support

[image or embed]

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) August 4, 2025 at 4:53 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Democracy requires your courage

Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage.

[image or embed]

— Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov) February 19, 2025 at 9:14 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Because he's a Nazi?

HELL YES: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker just SLAMMED Trump for bowing to Elon Musk: "If he doesn't agree with Elon or two Sieg Heils at his own rally and backing a party that backs Nazis, then he ought to say so. Why isn't Trump speaking out?”

[image or embed]

— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@calltoactivism.bsky.social) January 26, 2025 at 10:41 AM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DI--Wilco: What Light

Back to my old ways....

Sometime during the pandemic, my youngest son and I became enamored of a small movie called Bandslam (highly recommend), that featured the story of a group of oddball kids coming together to form a band and compete in a competition (Bandslam) for a chance at a recording contract.  As the credits are running, a song comes on--amazingly enough it's this week's tune--in which the vocals (but not the song) sounded very familiar.  A little Google search and--voila--I came to find out it was a band that I like, from an album that I own, and somehow missed (or forgot about) in my musical adventures.  Whatever gets you there, one supposes....

Wilco formed in 1994, when three of the remaining members of Uncle Tupelo (featured in Jukebox XL and CDLXVIII) decided to form a new band in the wake of Jay Farrar's departure.  They moved north from my one-time home of Belleville, Illinois (Illinois side of St. Louis) to Chicago, and over the last twenty-eight years have enjoyed both commercial and critical success (as well as neither).  Led by Jeff Tweedy, Wilco has won a Grammy for best alternative album, made Woody Guthrie inspired albums with Billy Bragg (also a Jukebox alumni, Vol. VII --way back in the early days), had numerous tours, and made the rounds of the talk show circuits.  For their career, Wilco has released thirteen studio albums (with four reaching the top ten on the Billboard 200), one live album, six EPs, and twenty-eight singles (with nary a one reaching the charts). Wilco released its latest EP earlier this year.

Fun Fact:  Wilco's fourth album, Yankee Foxtrot Hotel, was not only rejected by their label, Reprise Records, but the band was fired from the label and given the rights to it for free.  It went on to become the bestselling album of Wilco's tenure and is a perfect illustration of how fucked up the music industry has been for too many years to count.

"What Light" was the first single released from their 2007 album, the rather atmospherically named Sky Blue Sky.  The song would go on to be one of their twenty-eight single releases to not hit the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would be the first of their two albums to reach #4.

"What Light" is a simple song with a simple message that says so much more than the sum of its parts.  The message:  let your light shine in whatever you do.  The simplicity of the song is in the band's elegantly quiet instrumentation, Tweedy's understated but heart-rending vocals, and the subtle sparseness of its melody.  In the end, I can't help but think that if a moment of clarity had a theme song, "What Light" is what it would be.  

Lyric Sheet:  "And if the whole world's singing your songs/And of your paintings have been hung/Just remember what was your is everyone's from now on..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXCVII--The Chi-Lites: Have You Seen Her

 Shitski, really late once again....

I have absolutely no recognition of when I began hearing this week's tune, so I'll just chalk it up to being someone who came of age musically in the seventies.  And, oh, what an era that was...and, oh, what a song our featured song this week is....

The Chi-Lites formed in Chicago (hence the "chi" in their name) in 1959, which was the same year I was born--coincidence?  Most certainly.  They started out as a six-member band, but by their heyday in the seventies they were a four-piece outfit.  The Chi-Lites have had so many iterations that I could have used this entire bio just to name half the people that at one time or another were in the band.  They have been inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the R & B Music Hall of Fame.  For their career, they released eighteen studio albums (with one top five LP), and sixty-four singles (with two top three singles).  Sadly, only one of the original Chi-Lites is still alive, but to end on a positive note, Marshall Thompson is keeping their music going some sixty-five years down the road.

Fun Fact:  I've spent years pronouncing the band's name with a hard "ch" (as in chair), only to find out as I was doing my half-assed research that the "Chi" is actually pronounced as in the word "shy."  You learn something new every day, friends.

"Have You Seen Her" was the fourth single released from their rather omnipotently (and stunningly cool, as well) entitled album (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People.  The single reached number three (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would peak at #12.

There has never been a decade like the 1970's for what was once called soul music--just off the top of my head (in addition to this week's band), I can think of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, the Spinners, the O'Jays, War, and Stevie Wonder (and I'm certainly missing countless more), all of whom created a legacy that will last generations.  "Have You Seen Her" is an incredible addition to that legacy--from its spoken opening (Eugene Record's intro is truly an Oscar worthy performance) to the band's heavenly harmonies to Record's falsetto solo mixed in the chorus.  It's also an excellent addition to the pantheon of songs dealing with a broken heart, though with the added bonus of being from a viewpoint of a guy who thought he "had her in the palm of [his] hand."  One of the surest ways I know to how much I love a song is how much I smile while I'm playing it during my weekly half-assed research and this week my smile was absolutely plastered to my face.  A joy, a triumph--one of those songs that make all the time you devoted in your life to music well worth it.

Lyric Sheet:  "Well, I know I can't hide from a memory/Though day after day I've tried/I keep sayin' she'll be back/But today again I lied..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXCVI--Cheap Trick: If You Want My Love

 Could it be? Yes, it is--on time again....

For anybody who wasn't of a certain age (or even born) when MTV began in 1981, it's hard to imagine that unlike its current form (all reality shows all the time), it was once like a pretty damn good radio station.  It was music 24/7, and they really had a pretty nice mix of musical genres (for the most part--it was mostly geared to white folks).  All of which is to say that my introduction to this week's tune (even though I was running a music store and could have played the album in store) came from watching its video on MTV.  Couldn't have begun to tell you anything about the video before I did my half-assed research this week, but the song itself I could never forget....

I wrote about Cheap Trick more than 350 Friday nights ago (Vol. CXXXVI), and other than them releasing three studio albums (one of which was a Christmas record--probably the ultimate proof of an artist's longevity anymore) and the fact that they're still touring regularly, there's nothing else of note to add.  So, I'm going to let that original bio paragraph stand.

Fun Fact:  In 2007, the Illinois State Senate passed a resolution that every April 1st henceforward would be Cheap Trick Day in Illinois.  Didn't get the school kids a day off, but it's still pretty cool if you ask me.

"If You Want My Love" was the first single from their 1982 LP, the rather singularly named, One on One.  The song peaked at #45 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album hit #39 on the Billboard 200.

Bassist Tom Petersson (who, incidentally, had left Cheap Trick to try his hand at a solo career and thus did not play on it) has called "If You Want My Love" "the best Beatle song we ever recorded."  There is a kernel of truth to it--the song is most definitely Beatlesque, and many have noted its similarity to parts of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."  That being said, after several listens this past week the song brought back smile after smile--I'm not sure Robin Zander has ever had a more passionate or heartfelt vocal, and in addition to writing a simple yet incredibly tight song, Rick Nielsen adds a wailing guitar, which echoes Zander's vocals seamlessly.  In the end, if you're going to emulate another band might as well make it the best.  This week's tune is an incredible piece of power pop, and while I'm usually ambivalent about how high up the charts a song goes (a good song is a good song regardless of sales) it absolutely stuns me that this one wasn't a top ten single at the very least.  Sheer brilliance.

Lyric Sheet:  "'Cause lonely is only a place/You don't know what it's like/You can't fight it/It's a hole in my heart, in my heart..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

It's always about Donald, and Donald only

He has a hotel in Chicago. If he stays there, he can personally profit from the USSS having to stay there.

If he stayed in Milwaukee, some random hotelier not named Trump would get that money, and who wants that. https://t.co/SSBJ7ltJQs

— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) June 18, 2024

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

Growing and growing and growing...

BREAKING JUST IN: On Thursday, voters from Illinois and Massachusetts submitted motions to eliminate Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot, joining the list of states where the ex-president's candidacy is being contested based on the 14th Amendment's insurrectionist ban.

In… pic.twitter.com/ontvn3k1el

— Popular Liberal 🇺🇸 (@PopularLiberal) January 4, 2024

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, CDLXVIII--Uncle Tupelo: Sandusky

 A Christmas miracle--only one day late!

My introduction to this week's tune--as it has numerous times before here on Friday Night Jukebox--came when my daughter sent me a copy of this week's album after I had told her how much I enjoyed the Greatest Hits CD she'd sent me earlier from this week's artist.  Turned out to be a great record--I listened to it for months driving back and forth from my home and Warren, MI where the tail end of my career in retail management had taken me....

I wrote about Uncle Tupelo in Jukebox XL (akin to last week more than four hundred FNJ posts ago), and like last week's post, I'm happy with the brief bio I wrote and don't have anything to add...other than to say how much I still enjoy listening to Uncle Tupelo.  One hell of a short-lived band.

"Sandusky" was the second to last track on their third studio album, the rather timely titled March 16-20, 1992.  The song was not released as a single, and though the album sold more than their first two studio efforts combined, did not chart either.

Fun Fact:  The album was named for the five days the band recorded it--and it's absolutely amazing to me how they managed to put together such a tremendous record in so little time.

Fun Fact #2:  The album was produced by Peter Buck of REM fame.  Buck let the band members stay at his house while recording the album so as to save money for the studio recording fees.

Jeff Tweedy said that "Sandusky" was the track he was most proud of and that the band created it in a collaborative effort while in the studio.  He also described the song as beautiful--and I think his description nailed it.  The song is a simple instrumental: it's basically an acoustic guitar with a banjo providing the backing vocals (so to speak), and the softly stated drums capturing the subtle nuances of its hopeful core (all of the instruments are played exquisitely).  For whatever reason, the song has always seemed to me to be the soundtrack for having survived some sort of tribulation and watching it in the rearview as you move on with your life.  As an F.Y.I., I have absolutely no idea why Sandusky (assuming it's named for the city of Sandusky, Ohio) was chosen as the title.  The city (famed for being the home of the amusement park Cedar Point) is believed to be named for a Wyandot word meaning water (it sits on Lake Erie), so maybe that holds a clue.  No matter--it's a moment where a band came together and created a little folk magic...and the world is always a better place with a little folk magic.

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Completely out of his mind

Trump says the elections are “rigged” if he doesn’t win in California, Illinois, and New York.

This is not a sane comment. https://t.co/awPETyRLTA

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) December 2, 2023

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

Punching back harder

This is the way to do it. Illinois Gov JB Pritzker rips the College Board's cave to DeSantis as “a weak attempt to please extremists," hitting him for fearing open discussions of history.

Dem govs can showcase an alternative to red state culture-warring.https://t.co/kuuwPZCl27

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) February 3, 2023

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDVIII--John Prine: Souvenirs

 Like so many things in life, the beauty of this week's featured tune came to me much later in life than it should have.  I first heard it in the early nineties, but it wasn't until the middle of the last decade while on one of my periodic John Prine listening fests, on a cold winter's night driving home from my job at the thrift shop, that I listened to the lyrics in its first stanza with my much older ears while sitting in another of too many traffic jams, and thought, "Holy shit--there's a lot more to this song than I've noticed before...."  I played it several more times while I sat stuck in a sea of cars, and the song has become a favorite of mine, and, even better, a never-ending source of wonder ever since that fateful night.....

I wrote about Prine's song "Christmas in Prison" in a December 2015 post, and I wrote about his song "Sam Stone" in a December of 2016 Friday Night Jukebox.  Unlike last week's post about the Faces, John Prine's bio has had some significant (and not all good) changes since then.  On the good end, Prine had his two highest charting LPs, 2016's For Better or Worse which hit #30, and The Tree of Forgiveness, released in 2018, which gave Prine his lone top ten hit, landing at #5.  He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.  On the sad end, after years of poor health (including beating cancer) Prine contracted the COVID-19 virus and never recovered, passing away in April of 2020.  

"Souvenirs" was featured on Prine's second album, the 1972 release Diamonds in the Rough.  It was never released as a single (though it should have been) and the album would peak at #148 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  Prine first began performing regularly at a club in Chicago called Fifth Peg.  He didn't want people hearing the same songs every Thursday when he performed so he tried to add a new song each week.  Prine said he wrote "Souvenirs" in a '65 Malibu while en route to one of his Thursday night performances--which for me makes the song just that much more amazing.

From the acoustic guitar interplay between Prine and frequent collaborator Steve Goodman at the beginning, "Souvenirs" sets forth a folk and bluegrass-tinged tale of the fleeting nature of loss.  Prine's lyrics (maybe the best of his career and that's saying something) subtly paint a picture that effortlessly moves from the lost joys of childhood to the heartbreak of lost love.  Prine's vocals are heartfelt without being maudlin, and the harmonies he and Goodman share in the chorus are superb.  I'm not one to ascribe literary qualities to a song, but "Souvenirs" is much like a well written short story--it's three and a half minutes of us watching a man look into the mirror that reflects his life...and his sorrow for how quickly so much of it has disappeared without his even knowing.  

Lyric Sheet:  "All the snow has turned to water/Christmas days have come and gone/Broken toys and faded colors/Are all that's left to linger on..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Traitor

Peace,

emaycee