Carl Scott

The Songbook has been a heavily 60s affair so far, with occasional forays into the 70s and 80s. Why the neglect of the 90s and the aughties? Well, I hold that 60s rock set the basic patterns of the ongoing rock sound and attitude; and that while these patterns get some major adjustments in the late . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, I’m obviously not talking about a song here, but rather, about a high-school play that no-one not connected to the San Diego area Mt. Carmel High School during the 1980s has any reason to know about. (Nor am I talking about the musical that features hard rock songs.) I’ll say more . . . . Continue Reading »

From a book review highlighted by our friends at First Thoughts: “Marxists can account for the singular, closed character of modern society by invoking Marx’s theory of historical materialism. As we produce, so we are. Our families, our friendships, our associations, our imagination, . . . . Continue Reading »

So here’s the correct link for Dawn Eden’s discussion of the greatest Kinks song. I made this a separate post because her Christianity-rooted discussion of the song’s appeal to beauty is a good counterpoint to my post, which is also rooted in Christianity via Pascal.  I worry . . . . Continue Reading »

Man’s greatness comes from knowing he is wretched.   Pascal This entry will wrap up the Songbook’s oft-interrupted series of “loneliness and individualism songs,” all from 1965-1967, which by way of review, began with The Beach Boys’ “That’s Not Me,” . . . . Continue Reading »

Below, Peter links to his pro-pro-family tax policy Big Think piece.  What’s fair, he says, about tax incentives for child-raising can be summarized thusly:  some will contribute to the American future by having more children, others will do so by paying more taxes. And over at . . . . Continue Reading »

Apologies for the lack of Rock Songbook posts lately . . . I’ve been in vacation and family mode, now replaced with beginning of semester mode. So here’s a link to the other great conservative commentator on popular music, Scott Johnson of Powerline, talking today about Joan Baez . . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, Virginia was beautiful yesterday, a sunny day getting things up to perhaps 64 degrees, but man, today I’m feeling it’s got just nothing on California, which my wife and I had just returned from. ALL of our Christmas vacation there was filled with sunny days, and the last one got . . . . Continue Reading »

Here. He says conservatives like Dreher and Douthat are foolish to hail him as some kind of truth-teller to and about conservative elites, that the reality is he is an enabler of American personal irresponsibility and what’s more, a force for political evil. . . . . Continue Reading »

First of all, our gratitude to Douglas Ollivant for his service. Second, read the whole essay Peter links below. A fine piece—if anything, too brief, because no-one provides good reporting or analysis on Iraq these days. Third, the basic point Ollivant is making about regime-change, and what . . . . Continue Reading »