by

Song of the Day #1,748: ‘Accidental Racist’ – Brad Paisley with LL Cool J

paisley_wheelhouseMy old pal Brad Paisley has been in the news a lot the past week or so, and not in a good way.

A track on his new album, Wheelhouse, called ‘Accidental Racist’ has been vilified as racist itself, or at the very least tone deaf about race relations.

The track, a duet between Paisley and rapper LL Cool J, is an imagined conversation between a “Skynrd fan” with a confederate flag on his T-shirt and a black Starbucks employee who (presumably on his off hours) wears a do-rag, sagging pants and gold chains.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #1,745: ‘Kid About It (alternate version)’ – Elvis Costello

imperialbedroomRandom Weekends are looking a lot like Elvis Costello Weekends this week.

Today’s track is another of the many bonus tracks Costello has released on the numerous reissues of his back catalog. I will let the man himself describe this version of the Imperial Bedroom track ‘Kid About It,’ as well as the story behind the writing of the song.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #1,744: ‘The Other End (of the Telescope)’ – Elvis Costello

uselessIt’s funny how some songs drift in and out of our good graces.

When Elvis Costello released 1996’s All This Useless Beauty, I loved every minute of it, including (perhaps especially) its opening track, ‘The Other End (of the Telescope).’

Years later the song started to get on my nerves, particularly due to one lyric toward the end in which Costello sings of putting “a bamboo needle on a shellac of Chopin,” as pretentious a phrase as he’s ever uttered.

Continue reading →