Our live music specials have been stymied by Covid, and you wouldn't believe the restrictions placed on studio recording right now. But, in part mitigation, Mark introduced a midweek audio edition of our Song of the Week on The Mark Steyn Show, occasionally featuring special appearances from the singers and songwriters, courtesy of the Steyn archive (since live in-person interviews are now also forbidden). Mark's put a trio of favorites together in this anthology of recent Steyn Show songs.
First, Paul Simon talks to Mark about whether Truman Capote knows better than the author if his hit song's about a homosexual encounter. Next, Steyn celebrates Hoagy Carmichael and the nearest thing to an American standard about Hong Kong. Finally, with the apocalypse upon us and the Eurovision Song Contest canceled for the first time in history, Mark looks back to its heyday, and talks to Irish songstress (and sometime Euro-MP) Dana about the Emerald Isle's first ever winning song (that Sinéad can't quite bring herself to admit she really likes).
We hope this half-hour-plus of music and lyrics is a pleasant break from the civilizational assault all around this Sunday. To listen, simply click above.
Mark will return later this evening for the another episode of his latest Tale for Our Time, The Prisoner of Windsor.
For versifying of a different kind, don't forget our Sunday Poems Summer Special.
Steyn's Song of the Week is made possible by members of The Mark Steyn Club. Mark launched the Steyn Club over three years ago, and we're immensely heartened by all the longtime SteynOnline regulars - from Fargo to Fiji, Madrid to Malaysia, West Virginia to Witless Bay - who've signed up to be a part of it. Membership in The Mark Steyn Club also comes with non-poetic benefits, including:
~Our latest audio adventure in Tales for Our Time, and its three dozen thrilling predecessors;
~Other audio series on pertinent topics, such as last year's nightly installments of Climate Change: The Facts;
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with Mark;
~Transcript and audio versions of Mark's Mailbox, The Mark Steyn Show, and other video content;
~Advance booking for Mark's live appearances around the world, assuming such things are ever again permitted;
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~The opportunity to join Steyn and his guests on our annual Mark Steyn Cruise, likewise assuming we are ever again permitted to sail;
~and the chance to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here. And for our special Gift Membership see here. Oh, and by the way, that Steyn cruise always includes a live performance of our Song of the Week.
One other benefit to Club Membership is our Comment Club privileges. So, whether you regret the song is ended or feel the malady lingers on, then feel free to comment away below. Please do stay on topic on all our comment threads, because that's the way to keep them focused and readable. With that caution, have at it (in verse, if you wish).
If you enjoy these excerpts from the archives with Dana and Paul Simon, there's much more over in our easy-access Netflix-style tile-format music department. You'll find live performances by everyone from Herman's Hermits to Liza Minnelli; Mark's interviews with Chuck Berry, Leonard Bernstein and Bananarama (just to riffle through the Bs); and audio documentaries on P G Wodehouse's songs, John Barry's Bond themes, Simon after Garfunkel, and much more. We'll be adding to the archive in the months ahead, but, even as it is, we hope you'll find the SteynOnline music home page a welcome respite from the woes of the world.
