SOME SCARY SONGS

Halloween is just around the corner. Here are some scary songs--not your standard rubber-headed monster mash crap--but some truly scary songs about about murder, madness, and the dark clouds in the crystal ball.


"Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave. Have you ever walked past a murderer in a crowded street? Probably. "You'll see him in your nightmares, you'll see him in your dreams..."


"Magic" by Bruce Springsteen. "I wrote this song about how we live in this Orwellian time," Springsteen says, "when what's true can be made to seem like a lie, and a lie can be made to seem true. The song's not about magic, it's about tricks and their consequences." Let's hope the future is not foretold in the chilling final verse.


"Cold, Cold Ground," by Tom Waits. Don't let the gruff manner and rumpled suit fool you; Tom is the fool who speaks the truth. In medieval mystery plays, a buffoon or prankster often got the better of the Devil in a game of wits. Here Tom goes toe to toe with El Diablo.

A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY

Randy Newman is back with maybe the best album he's done in a couple decades. For a while, it seemed he'd gotten sucked into the animation soundtrack whirlpool and we'd never again see the brilliance of "Sail Away" and "Political Science" and "Rednecks."

In the new album, "Harps and Angels," Randy takes on America. There are songs about the president, and immigrants, and the economy--politics mix with ballads, and stories are told by unreliable narrators. Entire states may not get this album. Irony and satire don't work in certain zip codes and voting precincts, but that's all right. We're hip. We knew he didn't really want to bomb the rest of the world ("Boom goes London, boom Paree") that he really wasn't an antisemitic redneck ("Last night I saw Lester Maddox on the TV show, with some smart ass New York Jew") and that he really didn't want short people to die ("short people got no reason to live..."). Or did he?

Maybe we're too dumb for satire. Maybe we're a little gun shy, sitting on this powderkeg with Randy Newman flicking lit matches at us.

I hope not.

For the New York Times review of the new album, click HERE.

Jonathan Swift, satirical bastard

For extra credit, read "A Modest Proposal For Preventing The Children Of Poor People In Ireland Being A Burden To Their Parents Or Country, And For Making Them Beneficial To The Public" by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) For Swift, click HERE.