10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1259.
THE BINGS: Hold On
"Hold on?" Good advice, and I'm happy to take it out of context right now.
This week's show was programmed before the election results came in, when our sense of nauseous optimism deluded us into believing there was no way American voters could...well, do exactly what American voters wound up doing. The show was recorded in the aftermath of that awful mourning in America, but nearly all of the original song selections remained in place.
So we hold on, hope for the best, prepare for the worst. We'll play some music to comfort our battered, broken hearts. The Bings were an obscure but fantastic early '80s SoCal pop band, and their great stuff is gathered on a cool collection bearing the appropriate title Power Pop Planet (The Lost Tapes).
The Bings' "Hold On" has nothing to do with our current goal of trying to figure out ways to hold on. We will accept its advice nonetheless.
THE KENNEDYS: Waging Peace
A few days after the election, many from our local community of Syracuse music fans got together at The 443 Social Club & Lounge for an evening of companionship and commiseration. The Kennedys are an internationally-renowned coffeehouse pop duo, and while they're not headquartered in Syracuse, we regard them as a native daughter and native son. Maura Kennedy actually is from the 315 originally, a North Syracuse girl who came of age in the Syracuse music scene, but we likewise embrace Northern Virginia boy Pete Kennedy fully and wholeheartedly as one of us. No matter where the Kennedys go, they belong. When they're in Syracuse, though, we like to think that the Kennedys are home.
My God, we all needed this night of music. The Kennedys played and sang their songs of hope and harmony, of love and justice, of better days to keep us safe until tomorrow. Music can help us heal. And maybe it can help us wage some peace in these embattled times.
SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go
I'm trying. Honest, I'm trying.
Like the Bings' "Hold On," the title of Slyboots' luscious current single "If We Could Let Go" is only coincidentally related to my emotional miasma. Such a good track in any context, and "If We Could Let Go" returns to the TIRnRR airwaves on our next show.
LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Brand New Boyfriend
The new Librarians With Hickeys album How To Make Friends By Telephone is one of several 2024 releases from the esteemed Big Stir Records label that I would consider among this year's very best. This has been a great, great year for new rockin' pop music. The dichotomy between this lousy year and its invigorating soundtrack is off-putting. I wish 2024 could have been as good as the music it produced.
THE SMITHEREENS: Face The World With Pride
Face the world with PRIDE! We...tried that. Didn't seem to help. But the effort will continue.
THE DICKIES: Banana Splits
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE BANDWAGON: People Got To Be Free
This cover of the Rascals' "People Got To Be Free," recorded by underrated '60s/'70s soul group the Bandwagon (aka Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon), is even better than the original, and that (to quote the Velvelettes) is really sayin' somethin'. The Bandwagon should have been huge.
ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS: (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
Other than the show-concluding Irene Peña track listed below, Elvis Costello and the Attractions' "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding" is the only selection we added to the playlist after learning that the country had chosen pain and hatred and misery over peace, love, and understanding.
I fail to see anything funny in that.
WONDERBOY: Girl Songs
A championing of giddy delight can be among our most effective coping mechanisms. Comfort foods. A hand held. A popcorn flick. An escapist paperback novel. Trash TV.
Girl songs.
Robbie Rist understands that appeal and delivers on it. Robbie wrote "Girl Songs" back in the '90s, recorded it with his ace then-combo Wonderboy, and it's buoyed many a TIRnRR playlist since we belatedly discovered the damned thing earlier this year. Giddy delight means a lot to me.
IRENE PEÑA: I Won't Back Down
We won't back down. Not now. Not ever. It's our country, too.
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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
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