A Symposium of Popular Songs
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 and Butthead.…
More Episodes of A Symposium of Popular Songs
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 of party…
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 R&B. On…
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 without talking…
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 share, inspired…
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.
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