"Puppet wrangler? There weren't any puppets in this movie!" – Crow T. Robot
As predicted, I didn’t go to that reading in Manhattan this evening. I had a surprisingly long afternoon, fighting with some poorly formatted and confusing Word documents, and I was just looking to come home at the end of it. I have to go back into it tomorrow, but at least we got the word that the office is closing early, at 3 PM, for the long 4th of July weekend.
Yesterday’s Tom Waits song led people to recommend Leonard Cohen, who, while not as raw or as raspy — at least not early in his career — is maybe the Canadian equivalent. Certainly, the man is a phenomenal songwriter, and I’ve long been a fan of his considerable talent.
As it happens, today is Canada Day, which seems like a perfect excuse to post this song from one of the country’s favorite sons. As with Waits, there’s a lot to choose from, but you really can’t go wrong with one of his biggest (and certainly earliest) hits, “Suzanne.”
I think I first heard the song — and I know I first really became aware of it — as an undergraduate at Penn State, listening to it in one of my Integrative Arts classes, Popular Music in America. So thanks, Professor Kelly!
So, if you’ve been breathlessly waiting for news of what I was listening to last month, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief:
By the way, my offer from last month still stands: one mix of 10-20 songs for this month’s songs, plus and my “Band Songs” mix.