A Symposium of Popular Songs 13
Not Roaring but Weeping: Songs About Crying
We’re listening to songs about crying this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and there are so many of them that I’m only playing artists I’ve never played on…
Don’t the Last Time Come Too Soon?: Break-Up Songs
Inspired by absolutely nothing in my personal life, we’re listening to break-up songs this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs. I’ll try not to make it too depressing! Send…
A Hammer Needs a Nail: Songs About Work
In conjunction with the most recent issue of Local Culture and with FPR’s fall conference, we’re listening to songs about work on this week’s Symposium of Popular Songs.
The Gin Is Cold, but the Piano’s Hot: Songs About Bars
Bars, saloons, taverns, whoopie spots—we talk about them all this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and I get to give one of my hackneyed theories about Cheers, too.…
Some Needles Find a Groove: Songs About Music
We’re listening to music about music on this week’s Symposium of Popular Songs. I’ve got fewer literary readings for you than usual, but more personal stories, including my all-time favorite…
A Little Time in Quiet: Songs About the Morning
We’re listening to songs about my favorite time of day, morning, this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs. Accordingly, it’s a pretty mellow episode. Send recommendations my way at…
Burning Warm and Bright: Songs About Fire
We’re talking about fire in all its forms this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and I managed to get all the way through the episode without referencing Beavis…
Can We Dance on the Tables Again?: Songs About Parties
It’s party time at A Symposium of Popular Songs, though we’re going to oscillate wildly between the kind of party you go home from in an ambulance and the kind…
No Kings and No Landlords: Songs About Freedom
We’re talking about freedom this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and I demonstrate my freedom by going all the way from “guy with guitar” folk to overcranked contemporary…
You Don’t Have to Go Blind: Songs About Fame
Inspired by some recent criminal activity in the Christian rock world, this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’re listening to songs about fame—mostly its negative aspects.
Time for Leaving: Songs About Restlessness
This week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’re listening to songs about restlessness—or, as the scholar Frederick R. Karl calls it, spatiality. I managed to do this whole episode…
Terrestrial Otherness: Songs About Insects
In conjunction with my recent FPR article “Terrestrial Otherness,” this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’ll be listening to music honoring the noble six-legged creatures whose world we…
Soft in the Middle: Songs About Middle Age
In this first episode of A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’ll be listening to music about middle age and talking about its various indignities.