Jesse Sheidlower traces the antecedents of Britney Spears' catchy but horribly-depressing ode to low self esteem If U Seek Amy. I'm not sure if the use of 'U' in the title is (like the ham-handed opener of the video) an attempt to remove any remote bit of sly-ness from the joke so that idiot fans don't miss it or if it's just a reflexive post-Prince convention that undermines the joke unintentionally.

Back in the old Music Club days one of our themes (which I somehow neglected to blog) was songs with curse words and Jill brought in the Memphis Slim classic If You See Kay. (My contribution was the trifecta of Shit, Damn, Motherfucker.)

I remember reading about the Joyce poem when the Amy faux-controversy first hit a while back, but Jesse also points out a related Shakesepeare gag that I'd never noticed, despite having read or seen Twelfth Night countless times. Handwriting analysis at it's most gratuitously raunchy:

"By my life this is my lady's hand. These be her very C's, her U's and her T's and thus makes she her great P's."

9:27 AM :: Comments (13)

So how excited are you about the announcement of a Spider-Man Broadway musical directed by Julie Taymor with songs by Bono and the Edge?

Not very, right?

But wait — what if the show turns out to be based on the classic 1975 album: Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero?

It won't be, of course, but just the thought sends shivers down my spine. I loved this weird novelty record as a kid and a few years ago I bought the CD re-release in anticipation of a music club meeting that would never actually materialize on the theme of superheroes.

Sadly, it was a bit of a disappointment, although it was worth it just for the artwork of the backup band — Captain America on tambourine, Conan and the Barbarians on strings. One song that holds up (more or less) is the haunting ballad Peter Stays and Spider-Man Goes, written (it says here) by a 17-year-old kid.

For a limited time only, you can download the MP3 here. After that, you can find a low-fi clip here.

Maybe proto-emo song-styling should be a challenge on the next season of Who Wants to Be a Superhero.

Update: J tells me there's still a chance for you (Time magazine's person of the year!) to be in the Spider-Man musical.

There's also some suggestion on that page that the show might be better than a simple rip-off of the movies, notably the creation of a new character, Arachne (apparently not the Marvel heroine of the same name) and of a "geek chorus," that gives the show a meta spin.

Also from Superhero Hype, depressing news on the Y:The Last Man front:

We wondered whether Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men might make it easier for Hollywood to understand Vaughn's vision, to which Goyer countered, "But Children of Men didn't do well..."

Well, maybe if it's a hit on DVD, hint hint. Related: The entire first issue of Y is now free online.

10:12 AM :: Comments (3)

Hey, I didn't say it, John Lydon did. Recently, NR published a list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs of all time (hey, didn't music club do that ages ago?) and a quick read through it shows that at least — at least — half of them aren't conservative at all — the Sex Pistols's Bodies being the example that Lydon was presciently objecting to when he said (so very colorfully) that he is pro-choice and that people who think his lyrics are anti-abortion aren't thinking hard enough. Pete Townshend less eloquently blasts NR's top choice.

As others have noted, there are a few general flaws with the list, including the facts that the NR editors think any song that is anti-Stalinist is conservative and that they clearly don't understand irony.

But there are also several instances where they just seem to be hoping that nobody knows what the chosen song actually says.This satirical list of 50 more "conservative" rock songs makes the point pretty well, and this analysis tackles the question of what is meant by conservative, but for sheer missing the effing point:

My City Was Gone is about Wal Mart-ization, not "central planning."

I Fought the Law is about, um, fighting the law, not obeying it.

This one's more open to interpretation, I guess, but I've always heard Stay Together for the Kids as a lament about parents who think fighting all the time in a miserable marriage is preferable to getting a divorce.

Keep Your Hands to yourself doesn't "affirm old-time sexual mores," it whines about them.

If the last verse of Godzilla means anything, it means the same thing as the movie: no good can come from nuclear weapons.

Why Don't You Get a Job "capture[s] a motive force behind welfare reform"?! Whaaaa? Tell me what these lyrics have to do with welfare: "My friend's got a girlfriend and he hates that bitch... She sits on her ass/He works his hands to the bone/ To give her money every payday/ But she wants more dinero just to stay at home/Well my friend/ You gotta say... Why don't you get a job?" Shouldn't conservatives be encouraging men to be breadwinners?

Frankly, the most conservative thing about NR's list is that there are no almost no blacks allowed. What did they ever do for rock and roll anyway?

6:22 PM :: Comments (1)

A while ago, probably during the Music Club era, I had an e-mail exchange with Kevin about the shelf-life of today's rap songs. He suggested that the over-reliance on product placement as shorthand for style would limit the appeal of current hits in years to come. I agreed that this was probably the case by and large, but argued that an exceptional song would have no problem sustaining itself well past the era of its status symbols, and pointed to Cole Porter's You're the Top as evidence. The song is still considered one of the all-time greats, even though few people know what half of it means. (Personally I prefer the less gimmicky Porter tunes; give me So in Love or Night and Day over Let's Do It anytime).

My curiosity about the dated references in You're the Top was satisfied recently when Timothy Noah posted an exhaustive annotation. But now that Noah has posted an addendum I find myself curious all over again.

Continue reading "What, you thought I only know teen pop?" »

9:26 PM :: Comments (11)

EW music critic David Browne has a box this week on cover songs that are better than the original, which as you know was a music club theme in November, 2002.

There's no overlap, largely because Browne's picks are predictable (Aretha Franklin's Respect), wrong (Nirvana's Where Did You Sleep Last Night) or both (Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower). Browne also cites Eliza Carthy's version of Ben Harper's Walk Away -- not knowing either, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. And while he's right that the Monkees' version of I'm A Believer trumps Neil Diamond's, I'm not sure Music Club would accept Diamond's as the original, seeing as how it wasn't released until after the Monkees turned it into a hit. (As noted, we rejected Anthony's attempt to claim Patti Smith's Because the Night as a cover of Springsteen).

2:16 PM :: Comments (0)

I am very excited about next month's music club theme... but first, let's have a quick with the results of our last session, songs you want played at your funeral. I complained about this theme, as you may recall. As Kevin pointed out, pretty much any song, no matter how sappy or cheesy, when played at an actual funeral becomes sanctified by its context. And yet, this being not an actual funeral but merely a gathering of music geeks, I found it hard, as I said, to think of a song that wouldn't be trite.

As it happens, in Jewish tradition, we don't play music at funerals. While I'm not down with every Jewish law (I'll be drinking the tap water, thanks), this one makes sense to me. Which led me to the only possible choice I could make, a recording of Kaddish being chanted.

What did other people come up with? Well, Eve had a touching story about Emmylou Harris's Born to Run, certainly a fine reminiscence of a life well lived. Gina chose the song whose sentiment comes closest to the one I'd want at my funeral if I had to have music -- What A Wonderful World as performed by Victoria Williams. Tracy, knowing it's hard to go wrong with either gospel or Dylan, brought the Chicago Mass Choir's rendition of Pressing On. Francis and Rose both went for the joke, he with You'll Miss Me (They Might Be Giants), she with Too Darn Hot (Ella Fitzgerald). Emily will be laid to rest to Dobie Gray's Drift Away.

Next month: superheroes. Some say best theme ever. I've got some swell ideas already, but I'm always open to more. Remember, it doesn't have to be "songs about superheroes" (though there are enough of those). Interpret how you will. Up, up, and away!

4:50 PM :: Comments (5)

This month's Music Club playlist will not be all that exciting to most people, because the broad category — songs in a foreign language — meant that we were able to choose pretty much anything that struck our fancy, thereby eliminating the gameplay aspect that often makes the Club intriguing to outside observers. (But stick around to the end for something you might want in on).

Though a pleasure to listen to, this mix will also never be shared on iTunes 4.5 because, and here's the problem with iTunes in general, I'd be shocked if even three of these songs were available on it. (Upbdate: Good call. Only tracks 2 & 12 are on iTunes.)

Anyway, I'll at least claim the mantle of most obscure languages chosen for my own picks (tracks 3 &4).

1. Mariza: O Silencio da Guitarra (Portuguese)
2. Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys: J'Aimerais te Pardonner (French)
3. Alpha Blondy: Sebe Allah Y'e (Dioula)
4. Kula Shaker: Govinda (Sanskrit)
5. Quruli: March (Japanese)
6. Peter Gabriel: Eindringling (German)
7. Lhasa: El Desierto (Spanish)
8. Psi Vojaci: Russian Mystic Pop, Op. IV (Czech)
9. The Ukrainians: Batya (Bigmouth Strikes Again) (Ukranian)
10. Luna (with Laetitia Sadier): Bonnie and Clyde (French)
11. Omara Portuondo: Donde Estabas Tu? (Spanish)
12. Alcione: Sufoco (Portuguese)
13. Faudel: La Valse (French)
14. Susana Baca: Zamba Malato (Spanish)
15. Kirsty MacColl: Complainte Pour Ste. Catherine (French)

Next month's theme, against my strident protests, is songs you want played at your funeral. My problem is that I can't think of anything that's not trite (and also, I don't particularly want to spend the next month thinking about my funeral). But while this is a personal choice, maybe you can inspire me. Use the comments section to tell me what song you want playing when you're buried, scattered, or picked apart by vultures.

10:59 AM :: Comments (5)

Local acts were out in force for Music Club's session on songs about parties, with both Life in a Blender and Little Gray Books troubadour Jonathan Coulton getting nods. In other willful obscurity news, Francis had to go and inflict one of his annoying bootlegs on us (it's not as good as the original of either), and I got around the obviousness of All Tomorrow's Parties by bringing the demo version (a combination of takes 1 and 3 if you must know) from the 1995 box set.

So, let's get this party started:

1. Joe Logic — Pinkarama (Pink's "Get This Party Started" vs. the theme
to Futurama)
2. Hank Williams Jr. — All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight
3. Etta James — In the Basement, Pt. 1
4. The B-52's — Love Shack
5. Eminem — My Fault
6. The Dismemberment Plan — You Are Invited - Rose
7. The Velvet Underground — All Tomorrow's Parties (demo)
8. Jonathan Coulton — I'm Having a Party
9. Oingo Boingo — Dead Man's Party
10. Desmond Dekker and the Aces — Intensified Festival 68
11. Life in a Blender — Party Soon
12. Nat King Cole — The Party's Over

Next month's theme is foreign-language songs. This one's tricky in a different way: how do you narrow it down? Like many people, I went through a bit of a world music phase in college, so I've got plenty of ideas and won't, for a change, seek suggestions. But since I have these comments now, why not let everyone know if the club overlooked your favorite party song?

5:08 PM :: Comments (4)

Before Landesman, before Easterbrook, before even Arnold's manhood, Radosh.net's signature feature was dispatches from Music Club, a monthly gathering in which assorted music geeks assemble a mix CD on a randomly-chosen theme. Previous installments have included murder, cover songs that are better than the original, and songs by artists whose first or last name is the same as the last name of a US president.

After a hiatus to allow various members to relocate and procreate, Music Club returned last weekend for songs about musical instruments. My pick was track 2 Ð not just a great song, but the one I found that is most about the musical instrument. Rose was prepared for a fight over track 4, but got none. Of course two turntables and a microphone are instruments!

1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps — The Beatles
2. Fender Stratocaster — Jonathan Richman
3. Coney Island Washboard — The Firehouse Five Plus Two
4. Where It's At— Beck
5. Tamborine — Prince
6. Mr. Theremin — Barbara Gaskin & Dave Stewart
7. The Violin — Brian Dewan & Eileen Ivers
8. The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) — Tom Waits
9. The Hurdy Gurdy — Agnes Bernelle

Gina found track 6 by thinking of the instrument first then searching for songs about it. It's a lovely bit of early 80 prog rock. Track 9 is the oddball here. It could also have worked for the murder set.

Next month (really!), songs about parties. There are lots to choose from, and I'm certain that most of the club has already thought of every possible definition of party. Since everyone's first reaction was, At least this will be a fun CD, I would kind of perversely like to find a song that's really bleak and depressing. Any suggestions?

1:23 PM

Music Club convened last night to spin songs by movie or TV stars. Numbers from musical productions account for a big chunk of the entries, perhaps not surprisingly. Because we had a small summer turnout, there was room for a couple of people's back-up songs. Bill Cosby's deranged funk Dope Pusher, from the Grammy-winning 1971 album Bill Cosby Talks to Kids About Drugs, was Francis's back-up and our only so-bad-it's-funny entry. My pick was Dan Rather's gloomy news-rap, assembled by The Evolution Control Committee, a discovery from Carrie's fabulous Illegal Art exhibit (do yourself a favor and right-click to download the MP3). I was also glad to be able to include my back-up, Kirsten Dunst's lovely rendition of the jazz-age standard After You've Gone, from The Cat's Meow soundtrack.

1. Movin' Right Along — Kermit the Frog & Fozzy Bear
2. Road to Morocco — Bob Hope & Bing Crosby
3. A Little Girl from Little Rock — Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell
4. That Old Black Magic — Kevin Spacey
5. After You've Gone — Kirsten Dunst
6. Green Acres — Eddie Albert & Eva Gabor
7. I've Got a Theory — Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast
8. Rocked By Rape — The Evolution Control Committee feat. Dan Rather
9. Dope Pusher — Bill Cosby

Next month: Songs about musical instruments. Lots of possibilities here. I already have three strong contenders, but I'd like to hear your suggestions. Extra points for unusual instruments, as two of my top three are about guitars.

1:39 PM

A small turnout for the latest music club, but everyone managed to bring a tune that doesn't make the usual lists of songs with stuttering:

1. Back In The U.S.S.R. — The Beatles
2. Cherry Bomb — The Runaways
3. Girl O'Clock — The Dismemberment Plan
4. Move Your Feet — Junior Senior
5. Tennessee — Arrested Development
6. My Kingdom — Echo & the Bunnymen
7. D'yer Mak'er — Led Zeppelin

A Radosh.net visitor recommended Dismemberment Plan, but I didn't choose it, partly 'cause I knew Francis would. My pick was Junior Senior. The trashy pop fan in me rears its head again. Next up: Get out your earplugs for songs by movie or TV stars.

10:08 PM

Music Club's profanity session produced our most musically-coherent mix to date (a title previously held by presidents) -- not counting the bonus track intentionally added at the end for much-needed comic relief. Heavy on the post-punk. No rap ("fish in a barrel," said Ivan). Elizabeth (track 3) and Gina Sue (track 12) chose, cleverly, to work with the first dictionary definition of profanity, while the rest of us went with the more common definition 2a. My pick (track 9) was a suggestion via this site. Thanks, Tim!

1. Untouchable Face — Ani DiFranco (fuck you)
2. Song for the Dumped — Ben Folds Five (fuck you too; you bitch)
3. The Ballad of John and Yoko — The Beatles (they're gonna crucify me)
4. Chowder — The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (fuck)
5. Add It Up — Violent Femmes (screw; fuck)
6. Pablo Picasso — Jonathan Richman (asshole)
7. Flower — Liz Phair (fuck you like a dog; blowjob; fuck you till your dick is blue)
8. Precious — The Pretenders (shitting bricks; fuck off)
9. Tits and Whiskey — Mary Prankster (tits; fuck me)
10. Why'D Ya Do It? — Marianne Faithfull (balls; cock; snatch; dick; cunt; barbed-wire pussy)
11. Break Stuff — Limp Bizkit (fucked; sucks; motherfucker; bullshit; shit; fuckin' up; ass)
12. Highway To Hell — AC/DC (I'm on the highway to hell; hey, Satan, paid my dues)
13. Uncle Fucka — South Park (Shut your fucking face, uncle fucka; cock-sucking, ass-licking uncle fucka; fucked your uncle; fuck your uncle; boner-biting bastard; suck my balls)

That's one hot mix not to play with your parents in the car! Our next theme is (sorry, Joel Stein) songs with stuttering. I knew right away what I'm going to bring, but I should probably have a backup, so please, let me know your f-f-favorites (other than My G-g-generation, Ch-ch-changes, and You Ain't Seen N-n-nothin' Yet).

1:01 PM

Music Club ended up with a pretty nice mix this month, considering that the theme was a recipe for randomness: Songs From Your Vinyl Collection. We're heavy on childhood and teenage favorites, of course, but a couple of folks went with tracks from albums that have never been released on CD (egregiously). My pick was the Lotte Lenya, from the first LP I ever owned, and was obsessed with from age 3 through 7.

1. Think About Your Troubles -- Harry Nilsson
2. Sail Away -- Etta James
3. Freedom -- Wham!
4. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville -- R.E.M.
5. A Clean Break -- Talking Heads
6. Pirate Jenny -- Lotte Lenya
7. Running Up That Hill -- Kate Bush
8. Here Is The House -- Depeche Mode
9. All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side) -- Peter Frampton
10. Sara Smile -- Hall & Oates
11. You Can Get It If You Really Want -- Jimmy Cliff

Now the fun begins. Our next theme is Songs With Profanity I have something in mind that has great profanity, but is not the best song in the world, so I'd like your suggestions.

4:16 PM

In my opinion, Music Club had its first bust. The category was songs you disagree with. Most people tried to bring songs they liked, but that expressed opinions or sentiments to which they objected. Several folks, as you'll see, "disagreed" with a narrator's emotional reaction to a specific situation, which strikes me as petty. Here's the mix:

1 Bob Dylan - Neighborhood Bully (I chose this rockin' apologia for Israeli militarism)
2 - Steve Earle - N.Y.C. (disses our fair city)
3 - Johnny Cash - Understand Your Man (mean to his woman)
4 - Dusty Springfield - You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (you know those songs where the singer is a strong woman? This isn't one of them)
5 - Alanis Morrisette - Ironic (too busy on "You Can't Do That on Television" to pay attention in English class)
6 - Adam Brodsky - Cubicle Girl (shallow)
7 - Bloodhound Gang - Three Point One Four (Not sure what Jenn "disagrees" with, other than the song's attitude, which I think everyone agreed is actually pretty funny. She'd be on stronger ground if she'd argued that in fact it's easy to find rhymes for vagina.)
8 - Graham Parker - You Can't Be Too Strong (pro-life)
9 - Bob Marley - Redemption Song (I never thought about it, but Anthony's absolutely right: this is a song that advocates abandoning political struggle in favor of spiritual struggle because bad things that happen on earth -- atomic energy, killing our prophets -- are all part of the plan spelled out in the Book of Revelation.)

I'm afraid our next theme is fairly uninspired too: Songs in your vinyl collection. Although there was a funny moment when Eve said, "I was born in 1980. I don't have a vinyl collection." (She later confessed to owning a Wham LP, so there's one slot taken.)

7:50 PM

Humorist and Music Club member Francis Heaney is, as you'd imagine, both funny and smart about music. In fact, he's been known to be both at the same time. This weekend he'll be performing some of his catchy, comedic pop songs in NYC. You'll find him along with Charles Herold (and me, in the audience) at 22 Below (155 E. 22nd St) on Saturday 4/26 at 9pm.

3:11 PM

Music club met Saturday to spin songs on theme of childhood. Three people chose favorite songs from their own childhood (marked with a * below). The rest brought songs about childhood. Jill's pick -- number nine -- was both. Mine was number seven. I'm going to hell.

1. We're Going To Be Friends -- The White Stripes
2. The Cape -- Guy Clark
3. Your Smiling Face* -- James Taylor
4. V.F.D. -- Michelle Shocked
5. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown* -- Jim Croce
6. Furry Happy Monsters -- REM
7. Dur Dur D'etre Bebe! (It's Tough To Be A Baby) -- Jordy
8. Veronika Der Lans Is Da* -- The Comedian Harmonists
9. Kooks -- David Bowie
10. Hockey -- Jane Siberry
11. Wild Horses -- The Rolling Stones

Our next theme is: Songs You Disagree With. My understanding is that Francis intended it to mean songs that espouse views you disagree with. Donald Rumsfeld might bring Give Peace A Chance (in the unlikely event that we invite him to join us). But this needn't limit us to songs that make political or social statements. Someone who has only had positive romantic relationships might bring Love Hurts. A pessimist could choose Tomorrow (I'll see your bottom dollar and double it). If you hate, hate, hate New York in June, a Gershwin tune, and holding hands in the movie show when all the lights are low, your choice is clear.

But some people argued that it is possible to disagree with a song for other reasons. That you could disagree with the songwriter's musical choices, or the producer's arrangements. Or, I believe it was said, you could disagree with a song on principle if it was a favorite of your ex. To me this is all smacks of deliberately confusing Songs You Disagree With with Songs You Find Disagreeable. Obviously this is more of a personal decision, but most of you know me, or at least have a sense of the views I espouse, so if you have suggestions, fire away.

6:17 PM

Not Your Mom's Book Club. The new issue of Newsweek gives Music Club its first national press. Or any press. And the buzz begins for the Music Club how-to book -- coming soon to a bookstore near you! And by soon, I mean, three years or so, seeing as how we haven't even quite gotten the proposal to our agent yet.

Here's the last graf of Seth Mnookin's article about a little-known trend of people getting together to read and discuss books:

"Of course, this isn't a generation known for its long attention spans. Fittingly, some clubs aren't about books at all. Daniel Radosh decided the whole reading thing wasn't going to work for him, so he started a music club instead. "I wanted a shared experience where I could get together and talk about something cultural," he says. His club has held meetings on whether [sic] cover songs are better than the originals, and, of course, songs where the artist shares a first or last name with the last name of an American president. (Think June Carter or McKinley Morganfield, a.k.a. Muddy Waters.) The club's been such a success, Radosh wants to tell other people how to start their own. So what's he going to do? Write a book, of course."

10:08 AM

The results of Music Club's PERFECT POP Songs meeting is in. There were so many possibilities for this one — I had really tough time after narrowing it down from my half dozen finalists. Went back and forth several times before settling on Teenage Dirtbag, which, while perhaps not as perfectly poppy as some of my backups, seemed the right combination of relatively obscure and insanely catchy. And as obvious as I thought my backups were, only one person brought a song by the same artist, Marshall Crenshaw (though I was considering Someday, Someway). Among the songs I had to let go: You Might Think, There She Goes, Let the Music Play, Cruel to Be Kind, and Up the Junction.

Inevitably there were a few quibbles. OK, fist fights. The most iffy track is Elizabeth's offering of Badge, which, however much you may like it, can only be considered pop in comparison to the other Cream songs. A lot of people also vehemently objected to Anthony's pick: Don't Tell Me. Sure, I would've gone with early Madonna instead, but I personally don't have a problem classifying this one as pop. I'm more unsure about Eve's Marvin Gaye song, but no one else seemed to mind. Other than that, here's 45 minutes of fine head-bobbing pop:

1. I Want To Hold Your Hand — The Beatles
2. Cynical Girl — Marshall Crenshaw
3. Wouldn't It Be Nice — The Beach Boys
4. Seems So — Apples In Stereo
5. A Taste Of Honey — Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
6. Sugar Sugar — The Archies
7. David Duchovny — Bree Sharp
8. Teenage Dirtbag — Wheatus
9. Letter From An Occupant — New Pornographers
10. Badge — Cream
11. Can I Get A Witness — Marvin Gaye
12. Funky Town — Lipps, Inc.
13. Don't Tell Me — Madonna
14. I Get Around — The Beach Boys
15. Don't Do Me Like That — Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Next month's theme is CHILDHOOD. Very tricky. Can be songs about childhood, or songs that evoke childhood (one's own or in genera), or that are performed by or for children, etc. I'm likely to go with a song about childhood, but my cutoff is adolescence. Teenage angst/romance songs are a separate category. I can think of a few, but nothing really great, so please send in your suggestions.

5:56 PM

Bob Dylan: The Motion Picture. "It will be a very Todd Haynes kind of approach," says Haynes. "It won't be a traditional biopic by any stretch of the imagination, which is why Dylan has agreed to it and has given me permission to do it. It's the first time he's done that for any film that's related to his life in any way. It will be refracted into seven different characters, who are all aspects of Bob Dylan standing in for parts of his life."

I was underwhelmed by Far From Heaven, but this sounds like it'll be more along the lines of Velvet Goldmine, Haynes' freaky, fabulous riff on David Bowie. Is it too early to buy tickets?

Naturally, Music Club is on the case. Check back after February 9th for our casting picks, and submit your own.

5:47 PM

Music Club met again last weekend. As you'll recall, the theme was songs performed by artists whose name (first or last) is the same as the last name of a US president. Tricky enough, but several folks set the bar even higher. Some brought two-fers, in the form of songs whose titles are also president-themed. Some ferreted out presidential given-names of artists better known by nicknames. And Jill wrapped up the list up with a lovely bit of political commentary.

1. Happy Birthday, Mr. President — Marilyn Monroe
2. White House Blues — Bill Monroe
3. Milkcow's Calf Blues — Robert Johnson
4. Meanest Woman — McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield
5. Jackson — June Carter & Johnny Cash
6. Will the Fetus be Aborted — Mojo Nixon & Jello Biafra
7. Bonnie & Clyde — Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter
8. Mama Told Me Not To Come — Wilson Pickett
9. Rome (Wasn't Built In A Day) — Johnnie Taylor
10. ABC — The Jackson 5
11. Happy Loving Couples — Joe Jackson
12. If Not For You — George Harrison
13. Isn't It Romantic — Betty Carter
14. It's My Party — Leslie Gore

Next month: Inspired partly by the great Britney Spears debate of 2002, our next theme is perfect pop songs. Define pop however you want. I'm thinking catchy, concise, polished. And I'm definitely seeking suggestions.

2:55 PM