Songs For Surviving A Pandemic (Vol. 2, #5)

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A.????Songs For The Times

“There Is No Time”; Lou Reed (1989). From what is arguably Lou Reed’s best album, about his love affair with New York, the good and the bad. This song really speaks to what is going on there now. Google the lyrics. ‘This is no time for phony rhetoric. This is no time for political speech.’ ‘This is the time, because there is no time.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygNAnIG8g_E.

“Don’t Fence Me In”; David Byrne (1990). I chose this quirky cover because I don’t know which version goes with the tale that follows, although I think it was probably Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters’, and the early versions are bit schmaltzy for my tastes. The story: Chet the Barber had cut the hair of the men in my family for five generations, starting when he was a 15-year-old apprentice for his dad. His was a typical barber shop, where lots of reminiscing went on. Chet told me he served in the Navy as the barber on a ship that patrolled the Gulf of Mexico during WWII looking for enemy subs. His barber chair was in a room that also served for recreation and included a record player. A sailor called “Tex” (you can guess why) loved ‘Don’t Fence Me In,’ and played it over and over. When it got on the nerves of the other sailors, one would grab the record and toss it overboard. Each time, Tex would pull another copy out of his locker, until finally he ran out. They went ashore in Galveston one Saturday night. Chet and Tex stopped in a bar with a jukebox that contained, you guessed it. Tex got change and proceeded to play his song incessantly. Chet could take no more and went out on the town alone. A few hours later, Chet went looking for Tex and found him, you guessed it, still at the bar. The barkeep told Chet that he respects a man in uniform so he was reluctant to put his foot down, but enough is enough, no one can bear hearing ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ another time, get your buddy out of there. As they left, Tex asked whether there were any stores nearby that sold records, and of course there were. They stopped in one and Tex bought the last dozen copies of his fave and smiled all the way back to the boat. He was one fella who did not want to be fenced in! (Or was he already?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuMvkNDuOuQ.

B.????Real-Life Cheaters Department

“Me and Mrs. Jones”; Billy Paul (1972). What always fascinated me about this song is that it describes scenes witnessed by the Gamble and Huff songwriting team at what was Boots Stage Door, a cafe downstairs from the Merriam Theater in Philly. See https://www.roadsidehistoricalmarkers.com/property-listings/item/569-Me_and_Mrs._Jones_lyrics_originated_here,_Boot's_Stage_Door./address=jones. I don’t know that the song is as good as the story, but it’s catchy and memorable enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYOQDnWFXYI.?

C.?????Physical Romance Division

“Stay”; Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko (2012). A superbly sultry song, sung like they mean it, with a video that is hot enough to melt steel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF8BRvqGCNs.

D.????Too Sexy For My Shirt

"Je t'aime ... moi non plus"; Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (1969). The song that was banned because of what was supposedly going on while it was being recorded (and shows up on the recording), which brought it great infamy. You can Google the story, but you get the hint. In any event, a very pretty sounding song. (I don't know what they're singing, but it may not matter.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpDf6XX_j0.

E.?????Man Plans, God Laughs (with apologies to Public Enemy)

“Laughing With [God]”; Regina Spektor (2009). The no atheists in a foxhole song. For a couple of weeks after 9/11, the service at the Church on the (Plymouth Meeting) Mall near my workplace at the time was standing room only. Churches presently have pretty much closed up physically, so it is hard to say whether the situation would be the same during the COVID-19 crisis. But I have a feeling that this song fills the bill during our pandemic. ‘No one’s laughing at God in a hospital. No one's laughing at God in a war. No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor.’ The song ends, ‘No one's laughing at God, we're all laughing with God.’ Pro-God or anti-God? (I vote pro. Very much so.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pxRXP3w-sQ.