Songs of the Day: As McCarthy Gets the Gavel

As McCarthy finally takes the gavel, commentary by Tom Petty, The Beatles and Johnny Cash, plus five cartoons.

Keeping it simple today, Tom Petty with “It’s Good to be King,” perhaps a fitting commentary on (take your pick): belated Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump, Joe Biden or Matt Gaetz (in his own mind the King-maker). Or just quoting the Mel Brooks online: It’s good to be the king.

Plus rarely heard Beatles and Johnny Cash commentaries—and four cartoons on the final wacky day of the disorder in the House. Enjoy, then subscribe—it’s still free!

The Beatles, alternate version of “The Fool on the Hill.”

Johnny Cash from 1974, “King of the Hill”

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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 atomic bomb movie twisted by the White House and Pentagon), 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. His 2021 film, Atomic Cover-up, drew extraordinary acclaim, and his current one, The First Attack Ads, aired over hundreds of PBS stations this past fall. 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.