"The Last of Us" Music, Plus: The Beatles Are Still "Getting Better"

And Jon Hamm has herpes! Who knew? And our usual cartoons.

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. At Blue Sky and Twitter: as @gregmitch. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for FREE. Sustain this newsletter by ordering one of his books.

Jon Hamm has herpes, no wonder he is a mad man, or breaking into houses: I posted three bits from “SNL” yesterday which proved quite popular—perhaps, like me, many find no reason to watch the show live and have to sit through all the commercials and lame skits and would rather cut to the chase. So here is one I missed, a well-conceived parody ad for…. herpes medication.

If you watched the “Last of Us” season premiere on HBO last night you might be wondering about the two, rather hard to hear, songs played from a stage at the end of the room at the New Year’s party/dance near the end of the episode. We recognized the voice of someone we’ve featured here several times, singer/songwriter (and Grammy nominee this year) Aoife O’Donovan, and the first upbeat tune sounded like the classic olde folk song “Little Sadie.”

Turns out that was her, shrouded on stage, with her old string group Crooked Still, which has re-united and playing some dates over the past year. Since I have never played the “Last of Us” game I did not know that this group and that song were included in Part II of the game a few years back. And apparently they performed live at the series’ HBO premiere party. Anyway, here is “Little Sadie” as they did it live one year ago….

And then the slow number leading to “the kiss” and homophobe attack:

Despite all my recent T Bone Burnett tributes, I forgot to mention yesterday that he wrote a review that made the front page of the hallowed New York Times Book Review section on Sunday. He likes the new “John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs,” but I am going to bring you only the final bit, and then a couple of versions of “Getting Better”:

There is a passage about them being high on LSD, after recording the song “Getting Better” during the “Sgt. Pepper’s” sessions, that seems to me central to Leslie’s understanding of his subjects:

That night, John and Paul did something that the two of them practiced quite a few times during this period: They gazed intensely into each other’s eyes. They liked to put their faces close together and stare, unblinking, until they felt themselves dissolving into each other, almost obliterating any sense of themselves as distinct individuals. “There’s something disturbing about it,” recalled McCartney, much later, in his understated way. “You ask yourself, ‘How do you come back from it? How do you then lead a normal life after that?’ And the answer is, you don’t.”

One plus one equals two unless you are counting, say, drops of water, in which case one plus one can equal one, or it can equal a fine mist. In “John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs,” one plus one equals eternity.

You’ve heard the song maybe a thousand times so in my usual fashion I will offer you two special takes. First, known as Take 12, is basically the final instrumental-only backing:

And naturally now: the isolated vocals:.

Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you:

This Will Cheer You Up?

Steve Brodner:

Brad Holland, the most influential illustrator/op ed artist of my (relative) youth, has died. I wonder if he ever thought of updating and putting Trump—who may never leave us—instead of Nixon on Easter Island.