A musical interlude

hello to some new faces, and goodbye to a legend or two

But I'm sad to say I'm on my way
Won't be back for many a day
My heart is down
My head is turning around
I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town

“Jamaica Farewell,” by Harry Belafonte

I was working on a little post about some music I’ve been enjoying, and then I learned that Harry Belafonte has died. He was more than a musician, of course. But that is how I first learned of him, and how he became an actor, activist, and icon.

A lot of people in my generation were introduced to his music via Tim Burton’s movie Beetlejuice, written by gay Gothic horror icon Michael McDowell, that quirky blockbuster starring Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones, and unforgettable Glenn Shadix as Otho. Set pieces using “Jump in the Line” and “The Banana Boat Song” made them cool again.¹

I found Harry Belafonte’s music a little earlier than 1988, when I took home this album from the Nutley Public Library.

I’m not sure if what made me check out this album was a desire to hear “Day-O” or that I was beguiled by his smile, but I took out a bunch more of them and was big into calypso music for a while, to the point of suggesting that my cousin Paul have the band play “Will His Love Be Like His Rum?” which is a wedding toast song. He politely demurred.

Belafonte also starred in groundbreaking movies like Odds Against Tomorrow, where he robs a bank with a dirty cop and a racist crook, one of the bleakest crime films of its time. He also worked with Martin Luther King, Jr and many others to fight for civil rights in the United States, when activists were being murdered with impunity. I recently shared how Sammy Davis, Jr was attacked for a biracial relationship at the same time. Sometimes the ‘50s seems like a long time ago, but it isn’t. An Oklahoma sheriff resigned recently for discussing hiring hit men to kill a Black journalist. This country has never confronted its genocidal background, and white nationalist groups are trying to ban books that teach the history of slavery, the Civil Rights movement, and the Native American genocide from schools and public libraries. Scholastic wanted to remove “racism” from the blurb of a book set in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, for crying out loud.

Harry Belafonte was a multi-talented human being who used his fame and money to help a lot of people. And more of us need to jump in the line and be more like him.

Music is a powerful force. Maybe that’s why a Waukesha Wisconsin school banned the Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus song “Rainbowland” from a presentation. The contentious lyrics?

“Wouldn't it be nice to live in paradise, where we're free to be exactly who we are,” Cyrus and Parton sing. “Living in a Rainbowland, where you and I go hand in hand. Oh, I'd be lying if I said this was fine, all the hurt and the hate going on here.” (Next, the Barney song “I love you, You love me, We're a happy family” will be banned from pre-K not because the melody is like nails into your skull, but because it offends Nazis.)

Here are some songs I’ve been listening to lately that haven’t been banned yet:

“Expert in a Dying Field” by The Beths is the song stuck in my head these days. An indie band from New Zealand with smart vocals and growling fuzz guitar, these women can rock.

Panda Bear is another new favorite. I’ve shared his big single before, but the whole album, and his whole discography, is rather amazing. I love the Beach Boys vibe to Reset, but Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper might be my favorite…

Wet Leg, a band from the Isle of Wight, won Best New Artist at the Grammys and deserve it. They are a blast, lots of fun, and very funny. Go to school and get the big D…

The Avalanches with Leon Bridges: “Interstellar Love” is a fun track that makes great use of a classic sample.

I’m a little late to Fitz and the Tantrums, but I like them a lot. This is their first album; their newer stuff like “More Than Just a Dream” and “Hand Clap” are more popular, but this is still a good listen, and it’s free on Bandcamp. It’s got “Moneygrabber,” which is awesome:

I’ve been a fan of the Drive-By Truckers since I heard this album. They are a busy group with a big back catalog, but this one really captured how I felt about living in the U.S. when it came out in 2019. “When they banned Imagine” really hits hard these days…

Then I fell into a Frank Zappa rabbit hole.

I used to own all his albums, on vinyl or CD, up until the posthumous flood that his family has been releasing. I sold a bunch because I don’t listen to them anymore, and people pay a lot for them. I went to see Dweezil play his dad’s music, “Zappa Plays Zappa” and loved it; I was sad to hear that family disagreements have kept him from doing that anymore. (He says he gets to do all the work, but they want all the money from the shows… not cool).

Frank Zappa was a “complicated man,” which means he could be a genius and an asshole. I think “Joe’s Garage,” a concept album set in an authoritarian America, is his masterpiece, but not his “best album.” It’s one of them. My favorites are Over-Nite Sensation, Sheik Yerbouti, Tinseltown Rebellion, Apostrophe’, Them or Us, Broadway the Hard Way, and his two seminal albums with The Mothers of Invention, We’re Only in it for the Money and Freak Out!. That’s a lot. He was often homophobic, misogynist, and patronizing; I think he was better when he was younger and touring a lot, and when he got older and stayed home he lost his edge. Happens to a lot of old white men. I’m trying to avoid it, myself.

Foxygen is funky. I listened to them because of their name. Ditto with Fleet Foxes, who are dreamy shoegaze and a little too much of a downer for me to listen to as often.

Japanese Breakfast is headed by Michelle Zauner, a Philly musician and author who also wrote Crying in H Mart. She is Korean-American and front-liner Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs—another favorite band of mine—helped encourage her to follow her rock-and-roll dreams. I haven’t seen them live yet because as a Philly native, she draws big crowds here.

Incognito is a British acid-jazz band and they are also an enjoyable listen for me. I dig Medeski, Martin, and Wood, who are more chill in comparison, but like Khruangbin, Incognito has good energy and is never boring.

That should be enough to keep your ears full. What bands are you into these days?

1. ‘70s kids knew “Day-O” from the Stan Freberg cartoon that played on Sesame Street, but that’s not Belafonte singing.