Month: January 2013
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If I Were an Angel (30 Days of Marc Cohn — Day 7)
“If I Were an Angel” Join the Parade Yet one more in Marc Cohn’s intermittent series of relationships that are just bad news. (Others include “Giving Up the Ghost” and “Shadow“.) At least this time he takes some responsibility. Well you probably think I’m foolin’ myself That I just want to have my fun But…
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29 Ways (30 Days of Marc Cohn — Day 6)
“29 Ways” Marc Cohn This is the first song on my list drawn from Marc Cohn’s self-titled debut album, but it won’t be the last: Every one makes it eventually. To be honest, it didn’t nearly make it. The album version isn’t much to talk about. But in concert, this is one of the most…
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Shadow (30 Days of Marc Cohn — Day 5)
“Shadow” Marc Cohn Live 04-05 This is a slow sultry jazz-y tune that seems like it’d be fun to sing. In keeping with a developing theme, it’s an anthem for a dysfunctional and probably unhealthy relationship. After all, lines like You’re a shadow Over my soul You’re the heart of darkness An unfillable hole do…
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Turn on Your Radio (30 Days of Marc Cohn — Day 4)
“Turn on Your Radio” Burning the Daze This is a very gentle song you might expect to hear winding down an evening. It’s got a catchy refrain which I find myself humming. It also ends with a somewhat-strange coda: Everybody had a hard year And everybody had a good time Everybody had a wet dream…
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The Calling (30 Days of Marc Cohn — Day 3)
“The Calling (The Ghost of Charlie Christian”) Join the Parade This is a song that sort of snuck up on me. I first heard it in concert (in at least 2007, though I think it was earlier), and it initially underwhelmed me. The guitar is amazing, but that’s Shayne Fontane and to be expected. It…
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Newshound explains: The Curious Case of the Silent Filibuster
http://newsbound.com/the-silent-filibuster/ This is a really good, really clear, and (mostly) nonpartisan explanation of the rise of the silent filibuster in the US Senate — where it came from, the damage it does, how it might be fixed.
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Giving Up the Ghost (30 Days of Marc Cohn — Day 2)
“Giving Up the Ghost” Join the Parada Appropriately, this is a very haunting melody. It’s a ghost story, of course. As is usual for Marc Cohn, it’s also an extended metaphor for a relationship in trouble. She gave me something I needed but now the feeling is gone And it’s high time I told her…
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Noah Smith on the Rise of the Machines
Here’s a worthwhile read from Noah Smith on the future of an economy where most work is done by robots. I’ve actually thought about this for a long while. How can a democracy survive if all the economic oomph lies in the very few owners of capital? As much as he was (justifiably) derided, President…
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Lost You in the Canyon (30 Days of Marc Cohn – Day 1)
“Lost You in the Canyon” Burning the Daze Marc Cohn’s third studio album seems, more or less, to be universally seen as his weakest, and I guess I mostly share that opinion. But even so there are a number of quite good songs on it, and “Lost You in the Canyon” is one of them.…
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Extremism begets extremism
I would not normally be this way, but I’ll admit: The unyielding intransigence of the doomsday gun nuts is beginning to make me think it’s time to amend the Constitution and repeal the Second Amendment. If 2A means that no reasonable efforts can be made at all to reduce gun violence, then maybe it’s time for…