John McCain and Barack Obama have at least one other thing in common besides Senate membership: Frank Sinatra. The Chairman of the Board was the only intersection between the candidates’ top 10 song lists, as featured in the latest Blender magazine.
Obama’s top 10: 1. “Ready or Not,” Fugees; 2. “What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye; 3. “I’m On Fire,” Bruce Springsteen; 4. “Gimme Shelter,” Rolling Stones; 5. “Sinnerman,” Nina Simone; 6. “Touch the Sky,” Kanye West; 7. “You’d Be So Easy to Love,” Frank Sinatra; 8. “Think,” Aretha Franklin; 9. “City of Blinding Lights,” U2; 10. “Yes We Can,” will.i.am.
McCain’s top 10: 1. “Dancing Queen,” ABBA; 2. “Blue Bayou,” Roy Orbison; 3. “Take a Chance On Me,” ABBA; 4. “If We Make It Through December,” Merle Haggard; 5. “As Time Goes By,” Dooley Wilson; 6. “Good Vibrations,” Beach Boys; 7. “What a Wonderful World,” Louis Armstrong; 8. “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” Frank Sinatra; 9. “Sweet Caroline,” Neil Diamond; 10. “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” the Platters.
21 Comments
Here’s the elegant thing about Frank Sinatra.
Have you ever tried to sing along with him. Like in the car and he’s on the stereo and you’ve heard the song a jillion times and you know the words and the tune and you’re alone in the car and you just sing along…?
You never get Sinatra’s phrasing right.
He found a comma or a semi-colon in the lyrics that weren’t there. He emphasizes a word or a note you never thought of. He makes whatever song he’s singing his song. His interpretation of the reason it’s a song…
No one can sing along with Sinatra and get it the way the Chairman of the Board did it.
It’s a remarkable phenomenon to realize.
Try it.
Sing along with Sinatra.
You’ll never get it right.
I promise you.
I actually like McSame’s music list better than Obama’s. Always loved Abba.
I wonder if they had their staffers come up with the lists…and I can’t believe it was important enough to make a thread on.
That’s ok we’ll have fun with it.
Springsteen sucks.
THAT I agree with.
Wow. This is important. Riiiiight.
And do ANY of you really think that this is what either of them actually listen to, or what their staffs and consultants thought was politically most advantageous to put on the list?
P-lease.
Besides, neither, when it comes down to it, has really good taste.
No Zeppelin.
MH –
Your posting re: Frank Sinatra. Well said. And something we agree on. He was indeed a unique an remarkable talent, and one I appreciate more and more as I get older.
See – it’s not all nastiness! Just don’t give up listening to Sinatra on my account.
The Direction of the Press
“Because instant and credible information has to be given, it becomes necessary to resort to guesswork, rumors and suppositions to fill in the voids, and none of them will ever be rectified, they will stay on in the readers’ memory. How many hasty, immature, superficial and misleading judgments are expressed every day, confusing readers, without any verification. The press can both simulate public opinion and miseducate it. Thus we may see terrorists heroized, or secret matters, pertaining to one’s nation’s defense, publicly revealed, or we may witness shameless intrusion on the privacy of well-known people under the slogan: “everyone is entitled to know everything.” But this is a false slogan, characteristic of a false era: people also have the right not to know, and it is a much more valuable one. The right not to have their divine souls stuffed with gossip, nonsense, vain talk. A person who works and leads a meaningful life does not need this excessive burdening flow of information.
Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. In-depth analysis of a problem is anathema to the press. It stops at sensational formulas.
Such as it is, however, the press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. One would then like to ask: by what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? In the communist East a journalist is frankly appointed as a state official. But who has granted Western journalists their power, for how long a time and with what prerogatives?”
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/solzhenitsyn/harvard1978.html
“Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. In-depth analysis of a problem is anathema to the press. It stops at sensational formulas.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Thursday, June 8, 1978
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/solzhenitsyn/harvard1978.html
“In-depth analysis of a problem is anathema to the press. It stops at sensational formulas.”
Solzhenitsyn
“It stops at sensational formulas.”
“It stops”
“It”
I wonder if they use the same brand of soap?
Wouldn’t you think one of them uses a soap that is waaaaay better? Cleans more thoroughly, leaves a more pleasant scent, prevents the growth of odor-causing bacteria? Or something equally important? Wanna fight about it? ;-)
Same toothpaste?
Boxers or Briefs?
Do they set up the TP with the sheet coming out from over the top, or under the bottom?
Do they both use the Wichita Eagle instead of buying TP?
Ok.
There MAY be some promise here.
Take a chance on me?
Hell that should have been McCain’s theme!
Read it,
“Take A Chance On Me”
If you change your mind, I’m the first in line
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you’ve got no place to go, if you’re feeling down
If you’re all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain’t no lie
If you put me to the test, if you let me try
Take a chance on me
(That’s all I ask of you honey)
Take a chance on me
We can go dancing, we can go walking, as long as we’re together
Listen to some music, maybe just talking, get to know you better
‘Cos you know I’ve got
So much that I wanna do, when I dream I’m alone with you
It’s magic
You want me to leave it there, afraid of a love affair
But I think you know
That I can’t let go
If you change your mind, I’m the first in line
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you’ve got no place to go, if you’re feeling down
If you’re all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain’t no lie
If you put me to the test, if you let me try
Take a chance on me
(Come on, give me a break will you?)
Take a chance on me
Oh you can take your time baby, I’m in no hurry, know I’m gonna get you
You don’t wanna hurt me, baby don’t worry, I ain’t gonna let you
Let me tell you now
My love is strong enough to last when things are rough
It’s magic
You say that I waste my time but I can’t get you off my mind
No I can’t let go
‘Cos I love you so
If you change your mind, I’m the first in line
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you’ve got no place to go, if you’re feeling down
If you’re all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best, baby can’t you see
Gotta put me to the test, take a chance on me
(Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance on me)
Ba ba ba ba baa, ba ba ba ba baa (Bomb Iran!)
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best, baby can’t you see
Gotta put me to the test, take a chance on me
(Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance on me)
Ba ba ba ba baa, ba ba ba ba baa ba-ba
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
Oh there’s potential for putting McCain’s personal flavor on this. I may have to look into that.
In the meantime?
I have this mental image of John there alone on the island stammering the lyrics to “Dancing Queen”!
“If We Make it Through December” seems damned appropriate too.
Except for John it might should be “If I stay awake through dinner.”