Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
Davy Jones of the Monkees had died from a heart attack. I remember my sister being crazy about The Monkees show when I was a kid, and several of their pop songs were excellent pop songs, like Davy’s work on “Daydream Believer,” which was written by John Stewart of the Kingston Trio. Davy Jones also sang shis 1971 single “Girl” on The Brady Bunch, which he reprised for The Brady Bunch Movie (1995).
Somewhere, Marcia Brady is heartbroken. RIP Davy.
If you are wondering why we have the Leap Day of February 29 every four years, it is all about keeping the calendar lined up with the earth and the sun. If Leap Day is your birthday, then unlike every other day where the birthday odds are approximately 1 in 365, the odds of being born on today’s date is 1 in 1,461. If you are curious about the tradition of women proposing to men on this day, then you should thank St. Bridget and Sadie Hawkins, the latter who was from a Li’l Abner cartoon.
If you are looking for a movie to watch for Leap Day, there is always Leap Year (2010), a light romantic comedy with Amy Adams and Adam Scott that is not terrible. But the critics hated it.
Finally, if you are looking for an excellent song to go with the day, there is Billy Bragg’s song “Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards” from Workers Playtime
Jumble sales are organized and pamphlets have been posted,
Even after closing time there’s still parties to be hosted;
You can be active with the activists,
Or sleep in with the sleepers
While you’re waiting for the Great Leap Forwards;
One leap forwards, two leaps back,
Will politics get me the sack?
Bragg’s excellent song is about getting involved instead of just waiting or sleeping “with the sleepers.” As such, it might remind one of the connection between Leap Years and U.S. presidential elections, both which happen every four years.
Occasionally, we have an election year that is also not a Leap Year. But that will not happen again until we make a great leap forwards to 2100. Leap Years skip on years on turns of the century that are not divisible by 400, like 1900.
So enjoy the extra day this month. And remember, if you are on an annual salary, you are working for free on Leap Day. If you think that is unfair, remember as Bragg reminds us, “The Revolution is just a t-shirt away.”
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Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Wrecking Ball
The song “Wrecking Ball” may be familiar to Springsteen fans because in 2009 Springsteen debuted the song at the Meadowlands, i.e., Giants Stadium, during his final shows at the stadium before it succombed to the wrecking ball. The song maintains references to the stadium being demolished (“where the blood is spilled, the arena’s filled, and Giants played”), but it holds up on the album because the song connects the stadium’s wrecking ball to more universal themes of aging, hard times, and standing up to both.
[2020 Update: Unfortunately, the Jimmy Fallon video is no longer available so below is Springsteen performing “Wrecking Ball” at Giants Stadium.]
While the lyrics on the album are touched by our recent economic troubles, the music of several of the songs are influenced by Springsteen’s uplifting work with the Seeger Sessions Band. This recession-era CD is the first E Street band album without Clarence Clemons, so it seems appropriate that the album is tinged with sorrow while steeped in joyful horns helping us through the rough times.
(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)
Last year, along with John Fullbright’s cover of Steve Earle’s “Me and the Eagle,” we posted a live feed of a bald eagle and its eaglets in a nest in Iowa. Well, those babies have flown off, but the feed now has a bald eagle with some new eggs, so we check in on the new babies while we also listen to a Johnny Cash song on a day that would have been the country legend’s eightieth birthday. Recently there was posted live feed of a mother Bald Eagle from Decorah, Iowa. [2024 Update: Unfortunately, the live stream is no longer available.]
The nest seems fairly secure for the high winds, but seeing the family so high up reminds me of one of Leonard Cohen’s most covered songs, “Bird on a Wire.” Cohen originally recorded the song in 1968 for the album Songs from a Room (1969). The song has been covered by The Neville Brothers, Willie Nelson, KD Lang, and others. My favorite cover is the one made by Johnny Cash for the 1994 album that marked a comeback for him, American Recordings. The weariness of his voice goes perfectly with the song.
A version of Cash singing the song with an orchestra appeared on Unearthed (2003), and Cohen has also performed his song with an orchestra. But I like the sparse instrumentation versions.
The song is so beautiful that Kris Kristofferson, who has written many beautiful songs, has stated that he’d like the first three lines of “Bird on a Wire” on his tombstone.
Like a bird on a wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir,
I have tried in my way to be free.
The song has been described as a “bohemian My Way,” and one can sense a more realistic and darker life appraisal in Cohen’s song than the Frank Sinatra classic. While “My Way” is underscored with pride, “Bird on a Wire” is tempered with regret (“I have torn everyone who reached out to me”). There are some reports that the song inspired the title of the Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn movie, Bird on a Wire (1990), but it is hard to see the meaning of the song in the action-comedy film, so I hope that story is not true.
For today, here is to the Iowa bald eagles who unlike us, live free without regret. And here is to Johnny Cash on his birthday, because his music helped us comprehend freedom as well as sorrow, atonement, and grace.
What is your favorite version of “Bird on a Wire”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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The Academy Awards show organizers have decided not to schedule the traditional musical numbers for the best song nominees this year. The Academy had already shown disdain — or disappointment — in the film songs this year by only nominating two tunes out of thirty-nine possible choices through a criticized nominating process. But now even those two songs will not get to take the stage. And we lose the chance to see Muppets singing on stage.
So, you will have to enjoy the nominated songs elsewhere. One is “Man or Muppet,” featuring Jason Segel, from The Muppets (2011).
And another is “Real in Rio” from Rio (2011).
Which song do you prefer? Should the Academy allowed the songs to be performed Sunday night? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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