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David Byrne on WNYC

Listen to David Byrne interviewed live on WNYC.

David Byrne's "Perscpectives" series at Carnegie Hall starts this Thursday, February 1.

Randy Newman: "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country"

Read the full lyrics below to Randy Newman's "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country", which appeared in an abridged version today in the New York Times.

The song is now available exclusively at iTunes.

Watch Randy perform the it live:

A Few Words in Defense of Our Country

I’d like to say a few words
In defense of our country
Whose people aren’t bad nor are they mean
Now the leaders we have
While they’re the worst that we’ve had
Are hardly the worst this poor world has seen

Let’s turn history’s pages, shall we?

Take the Caesars for example
Why within the first few of them
They were sleeping with their sister
Stashing little boys in swimming pools
And burning down the City
And one of ‘em, one of ‘em
Appointed his own horse Consul of the Empire
That’s like vice president or something
That’s not a very good example, is it?
But wait, here’s one, the Spanish Inquisition
They put people in a terrible position
I don’t even like to think about it
Well, sometimes I like to think about it

Just a few words in defense of our country
Whose time at the top
Could be coming to an end
Now we don’t want their love
And respect at this point is pretty much out of the question
But in times like these
We sure could use a friend

Hitler. Stalin.
Men who need no introduction
King Leopold of Belgium. That’s right.
Everyone thinks he’s so great
Well he owned The Congo
He tore it up too
He took the diamonds, he took the gold
He took the silver
Know what he left them with?
Malaria

A President once said,
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
Now it seems like we’re supposed to be afraid
It’s patriotic in fact and color coded
And what are we supposed to be afraid of?
Why, of being afraid
That’s what terror means, doesn’t it?
That’s what it used to mean

[To the first eight bars of “Columbia The Gem Of The Ocean”]

You know it pisses me off a little
That this Supreme Court is gonna outlive me
A couple of young Italian fellas and a brother on the Court now too
But I defy you, anywhere in the world
To find me two Italians as tightass as the two Italians we got
And as for the brother
Well, Pluto’s not a planet anymore either

The end of an empire is messy at best
And this empire is ending
Like all the rest
Like the Spanish Armada adrift on the sea
We’re adrift in the land of the brave
And the home of the free

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

New Wilco album Sky Blue Sky to be released May 15

Wilco are currently wrapping up work on a new studio album entitled Sky Blue Sky, which will be released on May 15. It is the first studio album since their 2004 Grammy Award-winning CD A ghost is born and the first newly written and recorded material to feature the now firmly established band line-up of Jeff Tweedy (guitars, vocals), John Stirratt (bass, vocals), Glenn Kotche (drums), Mike Jorgensen (keyboards), Nels Cline (guitars) and Pat Sansone (guitars, keyboards, vocals). Guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone joined the band after the completion of A ghost is born.

The new album was recorded at The Loft, the band’s Chicago studio. While the final album selections are not yet confirmed, some of the eighteen-plus tracks being considered for inclusion are “Shake It Off,” “Side with the Seeds,” “Glad It’s Over,” “Either Way” and “Walken.” Many of the new songs have been performed in recent Wilco concerts and by Jeff Tweedy on his current solo tour.  Sky Blue Sky is produced by Wilco.

Caetano Veloso Discusses "Ce"

Listen to Caetano Veloso's new album "Ce" and watch video interviews with Caetano and his band.

The Black Keys on Conan O'Brien

The Black Keys will perform live on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Thursday, January 11. Tune in around 12:30am EST

Neruda Songs on NPR

Listen to an interview with Peter Lieberson on NPR's Weekend Edition. He discusses Neruda Songs, his collaboration with his late wife Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.