Cartoons Monday, Plus: Enjoy a "Waterloo Sunset"

And John Oliver, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's "Octopus."

May 05, 2025

Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre.” Now watch trailer for acclaimed 2025 film “The Atomic Bowl.” Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for FREE.

Let’s open with John Oliver’s hit last night on Trump deportations.

For all you fans of the Octopus—or “Fleabag”—here is trailer for the heralded Prime series narrated by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, launching this week:

Now on to music and a single released on this date in 1967, a little ditty from The Kinks called “Waterloo Sunset”—called the most beautiful song in rock history by Robert Christgau and #14 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of the rock era.

There have been surprisingly few covers in the years since—Bowie tried it and didn’t even release it—with perfection hard to match or surpass. It was believed for decades that “Terry and Julie” referred to Terence Stamp and Julie Christie, who had recently starred in “Far From the Madding Crowd,” but Ray Davies finally said that was bunk.

Here is the original and also a link to my first major interview after reviving Crawdaddy in 1971, with Sir Raymond Douglas Davies himself.

Ray performed it at Glastonbury in 2010 with a large choir behind him and enormous audience out front singing along.

Annie Lennox sang a snippet on her IG account during Covid lockdown after calling it one of her favorite songs “ever ever ever.”

Less well-known, the Kinks recorded that same year another of the most beautiful songs, which flopped as a single and never appeared on a regular album from the group. Apparently about his beloved sister Rosie moving to Australia.

»Three headlines, first one from Financial Times:

Trump says he does not know if he needs to uphold the US constitution

»And from NY Times:

As Gaza Siege Grinds On, Gazan Children Go Hungry and Patients Die

The effect of Israel’s total siege has become “catastrophic,” doctors say. Food, water and medicine shortages are prompting a surge of preventable illnesses, and deaths.