Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman) died in May. I've been meaning to cover his death, but couldn't find the song or a succinct way to describe his enormous influence on rock-n-roll. I've decided to just link my way out of describing his impact on music since I'm unlikely to have anything novel to say on the subject. But thanks to a tip from my friend Gregg, I've finally found the right song.
Bill Withers passed recently, which I first noted via a comment on the "No Diggity" post (Blackstreet sampled "Grandma's Hands"). Via Scott Fur on Facebook I came across this four hour DJ set by Questlove (of The Roots) as a much better way to memorialize him.
If you just want uninterrupted Bill Withers, listen to "Live at Carnegie Hall" or "Still Bill". Questlove gives a four hour lecture, with personal stories, exploring the many covers of Withers' work, the even more songs that sampled his work (including "No Diggity"), along with the contextualization of Bill Withers and his discography (see also NPR's "Bill Withers' Legacy Is So Much Deeper Than The Hits We All Know").
Super Bowl LIV is in the books and it was a good game, especially since I won $100 off my friend Drew. Neither of us particularly cared who won, but the group of people we were with decided that a wager would make the game more entertaining. I chose Kansas City simply because VT alum Kendall Fuller plays there, and there's no way I could bet against a Hokie.
The halftime show, featuring a double bill of Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, was well received by most -- or at least those who aren't afraid of sexy, middle-aged Latin women making a number of political points: kids in cages, a reversible Puerto Rican / USA flag, and a snippet of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA". Yes, that "Born in the USA". I was going to riff on the segment of "Kashmir" they cleverly snuck in, but I can't pass up the opportunity to address the point that "Born in the USA", while patriotic, is not a jingoistic anthem. Instead, it is a protest song, a bittersweet acknowledgement that for some the American Dream remains inaccessible.
First, borrowing the Wikipedia page, they managed to squeeze a lot into 14 minutes:
While the show was entertaining, outside of the hits I'm not really qualified to review most of their songs. But the inclusion (at 12:14), however brief, of "Born in the USA" was genius. The best way to understand the song is to remove the chorus and focus on the remaining stanzas:
Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just covering up
I had a brother at Khe Sanh
Fighting off the Viet Cong They're still there, he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms, now
Puerto Rico is part of the United States, to the surprise and/or dismay of some, and referencing Bruce in Shakira's and JLo's celebration was a great way to tap into the powerful history of this song, as well as provide a hat tip to a great 2009 halftime show.
