Bob, Buddy and the Beatles

Plus: We finally hear from Ted Cruz's dog. The shocking story of "He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)." Lady Gaga protests. And then do the "Rubber Duck" with Bert & Ernie and friends.

Today is a red letter day in Bob Dylan history. On this date in 1964 he appeared for a rather awkward interview with TV host Steve Allen, but then sang his topical song (still relevant today) “Hattie Carroll.” Exactly 34 years later, riding his Time Out of Mind comeback, he played his new tune “Lovesick” live at the Grammys—only to be joined midway by an uninvited dancing fool soon known as “Soy Bomb.” Anyway, here’s Bob and Da Bomb, who arrives at the 2:33 mark. Then consider subscribing—it’s free!

News/Politics

Quote of the Day (not sure who used it first): "I am not working remotely—I am living at work." Second best (also unsure of source): “Look, Twitter, if I want to know what Glenn Greenwald thinks I’ll ask Tucker Carlson.”

Often hard to say what is real and what is satire these days when a GOP politician is involved. Here’s Andy Borowitz with fake if plausible comments by one:

During the Senate hearing on the U.S. Capitol attack, Senator Ron Johnson called the absence of Hillary Clinton from the videos of the insurrection “highly suspicious. I’ve combed through hours of these videos looking for Hillary Clinton, and there’s no logical explanation for why she’s not there,” Johnson said. “Except, of course, for the obvious one: she is disguised as a Trump supporter….How hard would it be for Hillary Clinton to put on some horns and fur pelts and paint her face red, white, and blue?” he asked. “That is vintage Hillary.”

Lindsey Boylan in her own words on Wednesday finally out with full details of alleged sex harassment treatment by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Here’s the Wash Post account.

In case you missed: NJ court drops drunk driving charge against Springsteen, though fines him for imbibing in the park. Fun exchange when judge asks if he can come up with the 500 bucks. Some say Jeep looks stupid now for dropping that ad considering how this case ended up.

CNN scoop last night: A close ally of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took part in the January 6 mob at the Capitol and confessed he was among those who made their way into the building. “Greene has falsely suggested that those who had broken into the Capitol were not Republicans and instead implied so-called ‘Antifa’ dressed as Trump supporters were to blame….In fact, Anthony Aguero, a conservative livestreamer, activist and associate of Greene, said on video following the January 6 assault on the Capitol that he had been among those who entered.” Plus Greene has now endorsed the right-wing, self-described “proud Islamophobe” House candidate Laura Loomer.

Amazing new video based on two Phoernix nurses wearing cameras to reveal the full sadness and Covid tragedy in an ICU unit and the heroic work of health care workers.

From Barry Blitt at The New Yorker site, re: the abandoned Ted Cruz canine:

Dana Milbank: Most of Neera Tanden’s “mean tweets” were…true. And the truth hurts. Then there’s this:

Can you believe that Neera Tanden called Hillary Clinton the “anti-Christ” and the “real enemy”? Oh, wait. It was Ryan Zinke who said those things. Fifty-one Republican senators (and several Democrats, including Joe Manchin III of West Virginia) , confirmed him as secretary of the interior in 2017.

And how about the times Tanden allegedly called the NAACP a “pinko organization” that “hates white people” and used racial epithets? My bad. That was Jeff Sessions. Again, 51 Republican senators (and one Democrat, Manchin) voted to confirm him as attorney general in 2017. Surely Tanden went beyond the pale when she “liked” a tweet calling then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry a “traitor” and “Vietnam’s worst export,” and when she suggested Clinton supporters leave the country. Except Mike Pompeo was the one who did those things. He won confirmation as secretary of state in 2018 with the votes of 50 Republicans and six Democrats, including Manchin.

Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) is seriously considering a run against Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022.

We honored the late Lawrence Ferlinghetti yesterday, but no better tribute than one of his late-in-life topical poems:

PITY THE NATION (after Gibran)

Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture

Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed

Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!

Sen. Bernie Sanders: “As the occupying power, Israel is responsible for the health of all the people under its control. It is outrageous that Netanyahu would use spare vaccines to reward his foreign allies while so many Palestinians in the occupied territories are still waiting.”

More bad news on the vote-suppression front, with the GOP still controlling most states: According to a new analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice, 253 bills to restrict voting access have been introduced in 43 states already this year.

The New Yorker this week hits a little too close to home for (ahem) newsletter publishers, below. The caption is: “Unsubscribe all of us—or face total annihilation!”

Media

Sacha Baron Cohen calls out Zuckerberg and Facebook in new op-ed.

Among the winners of the prestigious George Polk Awards yesterday was Luke Mogelson for his three major pieces on street protests in 2020 for The New Yorker (George Floyd, rightwing militias, anti-fascists in Portland). A full account of winners here, almost half for pandemic-related work, including in a new category for oral history.

Music

Song Hits: As discussion of the popular film Framing Britney Spears continues unabated, some attention has been paid to her early song, “Hit Me Baby (One More Time).” This brings to mind (for some of us) the notorious 1962 song that was decidedly not a top seller, as protests pretty much got it kicked off the radio and semi-banned for decades: “He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss).” I mentioned it in passing a couple of weeks ago in my tribute to Carole King on the 50th anniversary of Tapestry. It always shocks people to learn that Carole, then barely out of her teens, co-wrote the song with her usual writing partner (and husband) Gerry Goffin.

Now, digging a little deeper: The tune was requested by Phil Spector in his Wall of Sound heyday—and before his murderous gun-toting—for his group The Crystals. Spector’s production made it sound utterly creepy and seemed to endorse the woman’s acceptance. Normally it might have climbed the charts but protests short circuited that. Carole later explained that it was inspired by her babysitter Little Eva (most famous for singing the Goffin-King song, “The Loco-motion”), who had told the couple that her boyfriend sometimes beat her but she stuck with him because this showed he loved her. King claimed that Goffin wrote the lyrics by himself (not unusual for them) and finally renounced the song. The couple eventually divorced. Carole would allege domestic abuse with a later partner.

Courtney Love’s Hole in 1995 performed the song on MTV Unplugged. Amy Winehouse called it one of her favorite tracks. Mad Men used it as a closer in 2012 for its “Mystery Date” episode. Lana Del Rey used the title (and sentiment) in her song “Ultraviolence, ” which drew some heat of its own, including from Lorde, who said: “This sort of shirt-tugging, desperate, don’t leave me stuff. That’s not a good thing for young girls, even young people, to hear.” And, of course, there are many prominent recent songs that approach the same subject, including Rihannna’s “Love on the Brain” and Beyonce’s “Drunk in Love.” Plus the Chicks’ revenge fantasy, “Goodbye Earl.” Here’s Lady Gaga’s Oscar night “protest” performance of the Diane Warren song, “Till It Happens to You.”

As mentioned above, here’s the Dylan 1964 appearance with Steve Allen (who was more of a jazz guy and famous for mocking rock ‘n roll), complete with interview and then “Hattie Carroll.” Can’t recall that I saw it at the time, though at fifteen I was already a Dylan “folk period” follower. Don’t miss:

Growing up, Dylan was a huge Buddy Holly fan, and has written about attending a Crickets show in his native Minnesota as a teen, sitting up close and making eye contact with the star. So let’s note that today also marks the day in 1957 when the Crickets recorded “That’ll Be the Day” in Clovis, New Mexico. It would hit #1 that September. I will save for another day the time I found Buddy’s mom still listed in the Lubbock, TX phone book (under the family’s real name, Holley), and gave her a call. Had a nice little chat.

Here’s Buddy and the boys on Ed Sullivan’s show, below. If you think it sounds a little creaky—well, keep in mind, Buddy was in the process of inventing the rock ‘n roll framework that would endure for decades: lead singer who writes his own songs; a durable group, not a pickup or studio band, behind him; electric guitar far out front (the blistering solo on “Peggy Sue” soon to set the standard). Sadly, he would be gone a little more than a year later.

And one more thing, if you don’t know: The future Fab Four changed their name to the Beatles inspired by the Crickets. And via this link: here they are, still known as the Quarrymen, singing “That’s Be The Day,” with John on lead. (Or if you prefer the updated Ronstadt version, it’s here.)

Books

One day after we brought you news of a Jim Morrison doorstop collection of writings, we learn of a pair of coffee table crushers coming from Paul McCartney: collected lyrics since 1956, over two volumes and 960 pages. Help! But at least there will be unpublished notes on each song. The collection was edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and poet Paul Muldoon.

Song Pick of the Day

Well, you can’t say we don’t have any musical range here. On this date in 1970, Sesame Street (in its first season) debuted a song by Jeffrey Moss, called “Rubber Duckie,” sung by Jim Henson as Ernie in the bath—and it was so popular it was released as a single and reached #16 on the Billboard chart. With a daughter and son arriving, I became very familiar with the song, but much preferred years later a more upbeat sequel, “Do De Rubber Duck,” which was not a hit, but far catchier and with a reggae feel. Practically a desert island disc for me! See if you agree:

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including the bestseller The Tunnels (on escapes under the Berlin Wall), the current The Beginning or the End (on MGM’s wild atomic bomb movie), and The Campaign of the Century (on Upton Sinclair’s left-wing race for governor of California), which was recently picked by the Wall St. Journal as one of five greatest books ever about an election. For nearly all of the 1970s he was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. Later he served as longtime editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. He recently co-produced a film about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and now has written and directed his first feature, Atomic Cover-up, which will have its American premiere at a festival this spring.