mcouture

I always have little themes in the show, which are intentional. What surprises me is how often themes come up unintentionally. As an example of the latter, several tunes today around the theme of fools: "Fools Rush In," "Fools Fall in Love," and "Please Love a Fool." Now, how did that happen?

The Drifters:

Just play them two bars of Stardust
Just hang out one paper moon.

They're making plans for the future
when they should be back in school.

Fools fall in love.

Of the intentional themes, a couple from Elvis, given that the King died just about 35 years ago to the day: August 16, 1977.

I played John Sebastian's "Welcome Back," which was the theme song from a TV show called "Welcome Back, Kotter," a title you will remember if you're d'un certain age. (By the way, I read that the actor who played Horschack just died.) I played "Welcome Back" for an obvious reason: all the students are returning to campus, as if they were a tribe of aliens colonizing a barren planet ... which brings me to a recently published novel. I quote from the World Wide Web:

"In the new farcical sci-fi book Year Zero, aliens, having discovered how wonderful Earth music is, learn that they owe the all the money in the universe to the United States because of its harsh copyright penalties."

The song that the aliens find so good as to almost melt their brains out of pure pleasure is "Welcome Back."

I had a little Hawaiian theme going, with some old Hawaiian jazz and some slack-key guitar.

I trotted out some old schtick:

- WAFFLES!
- EGGS BENEDICT!
- WAFFLES!
- EGGS BENEDICT!
- WAFFLES!
- EGGS BENEDICT!

All this to introduce a tune by Benny Goodman called .... "Breakfast Feud" (canned laughter).

I got my doo-wop on with the Drifters and the Meadowlarks.

Due to Alzheimer's, Glen Campbell is calling it quits, as you know. So I played him doing "By the Time I Get to Phoenix." I followed that with my favorite Glen Campbell song, which is actually a John Hartford cover, "Gentle on my Mind." I've always, since childhood, liked the line about the sleeping bag rolled up behind your couch.

Tomás took to the mike to announce a tune by his brother's group, La Coctelera. Hopefully Vicente and his pals were listening in Spain.

Catamount Community Radio, Sunday mornings 10-12 (ET) on WWCU-FM.


1. Miles Davis – Summertime
2. Stan Getz & Oscar Peterson – Pennies from Heaven
3. Matt Wilson – Tenderly
4. Benny Green – The Sheik of Araby
5. Nick Lowe – Lately I’ve Let Things Slide
6. Teddy Wilson – Fools Rush In
7. Kenny Burrell – Girl Talk
8. The Drifters – Fools Fall in Love
9. Nick Lowe – I Read a Lot
10. John Sebastian – Welcome Back
11. Quincy Jones – Sanford & Son Theme
12. Elvis Presley – Don’t
13. Mouse on Mars – Mykrologics
14. Frank Sinatra – Summer Wind
15. Ozzie Kotani – Ku’u Kika Kahiko (My Old Guitar)
16. Erroll Garner – Play, Piano, Play
17. JC Davis – Monkey
18. Count Basie – One O’Clock Jump
19. The Meadowlarks – Please Love a Fool
20. Sam Koki with Andy Iona & his Islanders – Minnehaha
21. Hydroponic Sound System – Lagos, Michigan (’72)
22. La Coctelera – Flameado Funky
23. Steven Bernstein – Manishtana
24. Teddy Wilson – Coquette
25. Benny Goodman w/ Charlie Christian – Breakfast Feud
26. Coleman Hawkins - My Ideal
27. Elvis Presley – Trying to Get to You
28. Brian Eno –Over Fire Island
29. Glen Campbell – By the Time I Get to Phoenix
30. Jamie Hartford – Gentle on my Mind
31. Mustafa Ozkent Ochestra –Dolana
32. Tower of Power – On the Serious Side
33. Prefuse 73 – Desk, Pencils, Bottles
34. Sketch Show – Theme from a Summer Place


Teddy Wilson