Even though he’s California’s “top cop,” Attorney General Jerry Brown got two of his tires stolen yesterday. “No matter,” he tweeted on Twitter. ” I got 2 new ones and I’m rolling again.”
Jerry sometimes goes quiet with his Twitter posting but this week he’s been entertaining.
For instance, he planned a “recession reception” and solicited possible songs for a playlist, which he has posted on his Facebook page.
(In case you also have need of such a playlist-–and who doesn’t?—I’ve pasted in below.)
Name – Artist
Brother? Can You Spare A Dime? – Abbey Lincoln
Why Don’t You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too) – Peggy Lee
Money Blues – Camille Howard & Her Boyfriends
Money – Pink Floyd
Busted – Ray Charles
Money Honey – Elvis Presley
Get A Job – Sha Na Na
I Walk The Line – Johnny Cash
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Come Together – The Beatles
For The Love Of Money – The O’Jays
I Get Lifted – George McCrae
Take the Money And Run – Steve Miller Band
Sad Songs (Say So Much) – Elton John
Cash Machine – Hard Fl
Crumblin’ Down – John Mellencamp
Once In A Lifetime – Talking Heads
Under Pressure – David Bowie
Get Up Offa That Thing – James Brown
Youthless – Beck
Black Friday – Steely Dan
Takin’ Care of Business – Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Money (That’s What I Want) – Barrett Strong
Emotional Rescue – The Rolling Stones
Road To Nowhere – Talking Heads
Like A Rolling Stone vs. Times Are Changin’ – Bob Dylan
I Need A Miracle – Grateful Dead
Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
Try Me (Remix) – Bob Marley
Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen
Wild World – Cat Stevens
Working On A Dream – Bruce Springsteen
He also directed our attention to the latest polling information on the Dem side of the 2010 governor’s race.
Yes, Jerry’s ahead. Otherwise would he have told us to go look at the poll? Uh, no.
He’s 71 years old. So, as everyone reporting on the issue has noted, if he wins, he would become California’s oldest governor.
Or as Republican contender Steve Poizner put it on his own website, “When it comes to Jerry Brown and Election Day for California voters, it reminds us of the film ‘Groundhog Day.’ Every day is the same. Jerry’s always on the ballot.”
Note to Jerry if he’s reading this – If you’re gonna reach back to Camille Howard – who was terrific and whose “Boyfriends” were Roy Milton and the Solid Senders, with whom she played some mean piano – better to also use her contemporary Lil Green’s version of “Do Right” rather than Peggy Lee’s. (Aside from preceding Peggy’s by just a bit, it’s not as “frosty” and mannered.)
Also – can’t believe Little Milton’s “We’re Gonna Make It” (Ain’t got a cent to pay the rent, but we’re gonna make it…) isn’t included. Nor Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December” which was the blue-collar anthem of the ’74 recession. And I’d pick Johnny Cash doing “Sunday Morning Coming Down” as a better “depression” song (in every sense of the word) than “I Walk The Line”.
As for Dylan, play the new album – it’s totally of this time – and add a few tracks from Leonard Cohen’s current tour album, “Live In London”. “Everybody Knows”, of course. And “Democracy” is a perfect anthem to counter the “Banker’s Screwed Us Blues” and usher in the Obama era, which Jerry obviously wants to be a part of.
The Tax Man – The Beatles
Get a Job – The Silhouettes (Sha na na is just more white men stealing songs from brothers.)
Working in a Coal Mine – Lee Dorsey
Hit the Road, Jack – Ray Charles
Mercedes Benz – Janis Joplin
Sixteen Tons – Tennessee Ernie Ford
Sumertime Blues – Eddie Cochran, Alan Jackson
The Best Things In Life Are Free – Sam Cooke
Money (That’s What I Want) – Barrett Strong (The Beatles were just more white men stealing songs from brothers.)
Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
Woody, Mercedes Benz, is great, ditto Sixteen Tons. All good suggestions.
Reg, I LOVE the Leonard Cohen “Live in London” album. Both “Democracy” and “Everybody Knows’ would be great. (“Democracy” reads very well as a poem, by the way.)
“We’re Gonna Make It,” wonderful.
(BTW, “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down,” while recorded by Johnny Cash was written by Kris Kristofferson.)
You’re reminding me that I need to order Dylan’s new album immediately. (Most things I order by the song from iTunes, but some releases still require that I have the physical— album sort of as a talisman, I guess.)
I like those live Leonard Cohen versions better than the originals. We saw the current tour at the Paramount a couple of weeks ago and it’s up there on my ten best concerts ever list. I’d not really listened to Cohen for a while and forgot – or perhaps never quite got – just how funny (ironic and dry funny, of course) the man is. He’s not really a downer at all, if you catch the wry.
The Dylan album’s at Starbucks, among other places, but there’s a “Deluxe” version that’s probably worth the extra couple of bucks because it’s got a cool “Radio Hour” disc in addition to the album.
You two can take the poll: What is Bob Dylan’s Best Studio Album to Date?
Oh, I left off a song for this time in our country, and you’re sure to love it.
God Bless The USA – Lee Greenwood
To that we can add this.
God Bless America – Kate Smith
Of course, when Obama says “God bless America,” I wonder if he’s referring to himself (Should that be a capital H?).
You guys really think that’s Jerry’s page? Come on. Like he would really list all of those songs about money. Somebody reg’d under his name. Come on, guys. Let’s eat our wheaties. LOL.
This is totally Jerry’s page. For one thing, he did that 25 things you don’t know about me and posted it there. Plus he links to it from time to time from his Twitter account, and the Twitter is definitely Jerry, trust me. EGB used to have a blog. He likes stuff like this. Jerry has an incautious side. Always has.
California Ãœber Alles – Dead Kennedys , since you’re talking about Jerry Brown here…
By the way, Woody, the song is called “Taxman”. Don’t know if you have seen it, but there’s a pretty funny cartoon that goes with the song, it’s available on YouTube.
Thanks for the song correction, Kevin. That’s a good cartoon, and it definitely had to have been created by the same people who did the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and Fractured Fairy Tales.
I have a soundtrack too. It’s just Pretty Woman on repeat.
The animation does looks similar.