In 1988, Paul Simon made an appearance on the popular kids show Sesame Street. It was very possible that, as a kid, I was watching when Simon and a small troupe of child performers sang “Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard”.

Lasting just shy of two minutes, Simon’s version of his incredibly popular song is performed only as a brief rendition but if you watch it I’m sure you’ll understand why I love it so much to include it in my Live Tracks series.

Truly, this performance is surreal.

First of all, Simon’s playing a tune that while fun and campy, has a bit of a dark if not mysterious undertone to it. The true meaning of its lyrics, while never revealed by Paul Simon himself, have been speculated to refer to rape or sodomy. Yet, here he is playing it on a children’s TV show. It sure sounds good.

Then there’s the little girl sitting next to Simon. Now this has gotta be the coolest little girl. In what seems like a totally unrehearsed performance she sings, claps and dances along with Paul and really puts on a show. I mean these two could cut a single together, no doubt.

I love everything about this video. Paul Simon and a small group of kids singing, playing and dancing on a nearly deserted Sesame Street set. The pure, unadulterated joy and expression of children having fun. And a really good tune.

Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard

This favourite track is brought to you by the highly eclectic, highly danceable Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

I don’t think I need to say anything more, either you love them or you hate them. I love them, and this is one of my favourite tracks.

The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth

This Guest Track is courtesy of A. Mantle, a sojourner, a scholar and a string band enthusiast. If you’d like to contribute to the Guest Track series, send an e-mail to guesttrack@thecorch.com.

One doesn’t always think to search for truth in a small wooden shack amidst the company of two shaggy white men and a black panting dog. Yet The Avett Brothers’ acoustic take on their song 10,000 Words proves that this isn’t a hopeless pursuit.

I first started listening to The Avett Brothers during my initial fascination with string bands last year. As an eMusic article explained to me, “A string band isn’t exactly cut-and-dried… generally speaking, it [refers to] groups whose foundations are in the old-time music of the ’20s and ’30s, before the early heyday of commercial country music and the subsequent rise of rock & roll.” In my experience, this usually means at least three things: acoustic instrumentation, vocal harmonization, and lots of twang.

And so we have the musical backdrop for the timeless wisdom of 10,000 Words:

Ain’t it like most people? I’m no different. We love to talk about things we don’t know about.

How often I feel the need to pontificate about how others choose to live their lives and to act as if I had a privileged perspective that they were not privy to. When I act this way, I know I play the fool and talk on things I don’t know about.

The Epistle of James, written nearly 2,000 years ago also dealt with similar concerns when the author reminded his recipients that they should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry (James 1:19b). Because The Avett Brothers remind me that in the age of Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus, musicians might still have something intelligent to say, 10,000 Words is one of my favourite tracks.

10,000 Words

Rarely do I agree with the kind of people who comment on YouTube videos but in this case user slipismm has put it quite poignantly,

“[To] those 83 people that missed the like button… may God have mercy on your soul.”

He was referring, of course, to Regina Spektor’s music video for the song Us. And his sentiment is spot on.

There are so many things that make this song a favourite track that I don’t know where to begin. It’s infectious, to start. It’s frenzied pace, coupled with Spektor’s absolutely acrobatic vocals results in a down right stunning sound. She sings, “it’s contagious” and she’s right—and do you think she knows it?

I get the feeling that Spektor’s pop sensibilities are so finely attuned that she can manage to do nothing more than bang a bunch of keys and make it sound like a beautiful work of art. But that’s the beauty of a song like Us, I think. It’s really uncomplicated, perhaps even unmusical at times, but it sounds great and it works so well. It’s lyrics, a kind of end-of-the-world love theme, fit perfectly with the collapsing and expanding sound of the piano and her voice. I love it and anyone that doesn’t, I’m certain, must be already dead on the inside.

Us

I don’t know a lot about The Jayhawks but I do know a few things. First of all, they seem to have just arrived, to the present, from the past. Seriously. Their music, their sound and their appearance is that of a band somewhere in the early 70′s, don’t you think? Their vocal styling, the way they’re recorded and captured lived, and even their harmonies are reminiscent of something much farther back in musical history. But this track is from 2006. It’s hard to believe.

The other thing I know about The Jayhawks is that this song is killer. On top of all the aged beauty of The Jayhawks style it’s simply a really good song. It’s simple and yet interesting. It lulls and soars and seems to be exactly the right length. Those harmonies do sound so good and the guitars, especially in this live version, are so crisp and clean and give the entire song a twangy kind of feel that I really dig.

Finally, I know that this song is perfect for a rainy, stormy day like today.

Save it for a Rainy Day

I got into Sufjan Stevens on the cusp of the release of Michigan, his breakout album which would insure his rise to the top of the indie rock charts. Here was a guy doing something really new and interesting and, at the time, nobody had really heard of him. But, as it turns out, my future wife knew about him too, having seen him open for her Aunt and Uncle in a particularly unimpressive performance that must’ve surely been among his first as a solo artist—she even had a copy of his CD, I was impressed.

Of all the artists that write great songs Sufjan writes the best; it’s hard to choose my favourite track and if backed into a corner this probably wouldn’t be it. But I love this video too much not to choose it to share with you. So enjoy.

For the Widows of Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti

In case you thought it was over, it’s not, and it only gets better. Earlier in the week I blogged about Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser. A comedian of sorts who has been going around to local American mornings shows claiming to be a Yo-Yo champion. His tricks are outrageous. He’s awkward beyond belief. And he’s hilarious because he’s got everyone fooled.

Strasser, of course, is not a Yo-Yo champion. You can tell right away, just by looking at him. Everything about him says that he’s putting you on. Well, he’s still going at it.

WGN9, one of the news networks that he duped, was pretty steamed by the trick and did an expose on him. They’ve been issuing takedown notices to YouTube, so I can’t actually link to any of their videos but there is  a clip of his original appearance on their network still available.

WGN9′s expose—of their own guest!—revealed that Strasser was a fake. Well, duh. But they didn’t stop there, they wanted blood so they invited Strasser back into the studio. This time, Strasser appears in a wheelchair with both of his arms in slings wearing a shiny black eye and a neckbrace. When asked about his accident he explains that “some of our Yo-Yos are the size of chocolate chip cookies” and then falls asleep.

With Strasser in the studio this time is Eric Stringer, an individual who Strasser himself called the “Garth Brooks of Yo-Yo” in a previous appearance—Strasser also claimed that Stringer was dead and, on live TV, paused for a moment of silence. Apparently WGN9 didn’t do their research very well because there’s no mention of Stringer’s apparent resurrection. Stringer, who I think is wearing a wig, plays the mature older father figure, despite appearing to be the same age as Strasser, quite well. While the station suspects the Strasser is a fake they seem to have no clue that they’re being had by Stringer as well; sure he can do some tricks but guys, they’re pulling your leg!

Now the brilliant part here is that not only did Strasser dupe this network, but he doesn’t it again because the anchors are taking this serious. They ask serious questions about Zim Zam, about Stringer, and about Strasser’s past as a  Yo-Yo champion. They’re still pushing for actual answers and it just goes to show that they’re still bring strung along. Not only by Strasser but by his buddy Eric Stringer, who is clearly in on the joke as well. And no one at WGN9 is the wiser.

Stringer claims to be the new “spokesperson” for Zim Zam and their Green campaign; a company and a campaign which don’t even exist. He claims he was brought in to “salvage” things and the hosts are just eating it up!

This is comedy gold. The network is obviously playing right into the hands of this clever duo and are about as dumb as a doorknob to the bleeding obvious!

You can watch the interview in its entirety on WGN9′s website which, admittedly, is very lacking in quality but the video isn’t available elsewhere.

Update (10:48pm): I am beginning to love this campy little hometown network. The video clip that played for me immediately following the Kenny clip was talking about a university giving out free iPad “tabloid” computers to all their freshman so that they could “learn even better.” I’m not making this stuff up!