With Hurricane Irma battering Florida, Mark thought that for this week's Song of the Week he'd present a SteynOnline audio celebration of some of the best Florida songs - because on a dangerous night throughout the state the best advice is to stay inside and enjoy the music. This show more or less follows the path of Irma up through the state from the Florida Keys north to the panhandle and the banks of the Suwanee on the Georgia border. Along the way we'll hear songs about Key West, Fort Lauderdale, St Petersburg, Tampa, Apalachicola, Tallahassee and elsewhere performed by Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Fats Waller, the Andrews Sisters, the Beach Boys, the Village People and many more. And we'll reprise a special live performance from The Mark Steyn Show of the "Miami Beach Rhumba" - and, from the Steyn archives, legendary lyricist Irving Caesar takes us back to 1918 and tells us how he wrote "Swanee" with George Gershwin.
Click above to listen - and, especially if you're in Florida and you still have an Internet connection, we hope you enjoy it.
If you're a Mark Steyn Club member, in the Sunshine State or elsewhere, feel free to complain about any great anthems of Orlando or Pensacola we neglected to include. As we always say, membership in The Mark Steyn Club isn't for everybody, and it doesn't affect access to Song of the Week and our other regular content, but one thing it does give you is commenter's privileges, so have at it. You also get personally autographed copies of A Song for the Season and many other Steyn books at a special member's price. For more on The Mark Steyn Club, see here - and, if you enjoy Mark in non-visual form, join us tomorrow, Monday, for an audio edition of Clubland Q&A, with Mark taking your questions live around the planet at 4pm US Eastern, which is 9pm London, 10pm in Europe, 11pm in the Middle East, and Tuesday morning in Oz and the Pacific.
