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Songs that mention other songs

Rick Astley?

In popular music, there are approximately 10 zillion songs that mention other songs in popular music. One of my favorites is Sly and the Family Stone’s Thank You, which references several Sly songs:
Dance to the musicAll night longEvery day peopleSing A Simple Song
The Beatles appear frequently in this list. Glass Onion mentions several songs by the group. All You Need Is Love lifts a snippet of She Loves You; similarly, the Rutles’ Love Life echoes Hold My Hand. John Lennon famously mentions Sgt Pepper and Yesterday in his How Do You Sleep? Harry Nilsson’s You Can’t Do That references several Beatles songs.
Perhaps my favorite linkage is the one that starts with Neil Young’s Southern Man, which is name-checked in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama, which in turn is quoted in Play It All Night Long by Warren Zevon.
That Rockpile guy
However, one that I somehow managed to miss is Nick Lowe’s All Men Are Liars. I have the album Party Of One, on which it appears. But until Lowe’s birthday at the end of March, I managed to miss this particular reference:

Do you remember Rick Astley?He had a big fat hit that was ghastlyHe said I’m never gonna give you up or let you downWell, I’m here to tell ya that dick’s a clownThough he was just a boy when he made that vowI’d bet it all that he knows by now

Some other songs:

Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” (Del Shannon’s Runaway)

The Kinks’ Destroyer (The Kinks’ Lola and All Day and All of the Night

The Stills-Young Band’s Long May You Run (The Beach Boys’ Caroline, No)

Arthur Conley’s Sweet Soul Music (a bunch of soul classics by Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson & the Miracles)

What are your favorite songs that namecheck other songs?

Thankful month, part 1

friends from kindergarten

I decided to write a blog post for thankful month. Lazily, I picked November 2025. I’m not including the Thursday night choir rehearsals or Sunday morning church services, both of which would qualify. Then the exercise appeared to run too long. So this is part one. I realize it’s rather diaryish, but that’s how it wrote itself.

DATE: Monday, the 3rd. Back in April 2021, I had lunch with three of my oldest friends—I’m talking KINDERGARTEN at Daniel S. Dickinson in Binghamton, NY — Carol, Karen, and Bill, along with Karen’s old friend Michael, whom I’ve known for a good while. That first lunch in Latham, NY, after we had gotten our COVID shots, was replicated at a diner in Albany. It’s strange when you have friends for 67 years, I suppose. But some memories diverged, which is expected after so many years.

DATE: Tuesday, the 4th. I had already voted the previous week. Before early voting, I would get up extremely early and be the first or second person in line. I miss it a little, but not enough to return to the tradition.

At the FFAPL author talk, Peter Balint discussed his memoir, The Shoe in the Danube: The Immigrant Experience of a Holocaust Survivor. This was a fascinating book. His father, a Hungarian Jew, died in the Holocaust; he, his older sister, and his mother, a German Catholic, survived. There’s a lot about personal identity that I found relatable.

I got to see one of my housebound friends. After I dropped off some prescriptions, we had another lovely conversation.

The shopping cart

Then I went to my local Market 32 Price Chopper to buy some food and get a new shopping cart. My existing transport was beginning to wear out. I did not realize that the cart required assembly. So at the end of the counter, I’m struggling to put this thing together. The cart was made in China, as were the instructions.

The young man who had rung me out was trying to help me, but he also had customers. He asked if he could turn off his aisle light, and he helped me assemble it. Or so we thought. As I was rolling it out of the store, filled with groceries, the doohickey holding the back tires together sprang off. The young man came and helped me tighten those whatchamacallits, with some advice from the security guard, who had been busy protecting the produce.

DATE: Wednesday, the 5th. I participated in a community reading of a William Kennedy book for the third time. Two years ago, it was for the book Ironweed, and last year for Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game. This year, we are reading Legs, the fictional account about the very real gangster Jack “Legs” Diamond, who lived in Albany and was murdered in the 1930s.

This year, the event made the New York Times. Participating in this event makes me feel more Albanian; that’s pronounced ALL-bah-nee-an, not AL-bah-nee an. Michael Huber, the communications guy for the New York State Writers Institute, and a truly swell guy, wrote: “In a time of desperate need, this marathon reading of Legs raised $1,605 for the food pantry at Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church, which was Kennedy’s childhood parish.”

Zooming to France

Then I went home and talked with my dear friend Deborah, whom I met in NYC in the summer of 1977, on Zoom. My wife and I went to Deborah’s and Cyrille‘s wedding in western France in May 2023.

DATE: Friday, the 7th. I attended a lovely flute and piano concert by the Hardage Chirignan duo, featuring two women named Mel, for First Friday at First Presbyterian Church in Albany.

DATE: Sunday, the 9th: I attended a meeting to learn more about how to address ICE activities. Zoom call with sister Leslie. I was going to write about the Northeast blackout of 1965 on my blog, but I forgot; at least I touched on it in 2005.

DATE: Monday, the 10th. It was 50 years since the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Someone I know thought the event had taken place long before then. Kelly wrote about it.

My wife went out with her friends for dinner, so I went out and had a lovely conversation with a member of my church choir, which touched on some similarities and at least one revelation.

More on Thanksgiving.

Tobacco treaty wrestles with new nicotine products

Global Report on Trends in Tobacco Use

In honor of the Great American Smokeout, I am linking to a Lancet article from 1 November 2025: Tobacco treaty wrestles with new nicotine products.

“When the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) convenes from Nov 17–22, 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland, delegates from 182 countries and the EU will mark the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of WHO’s first global health treaty.

“The FCTC is credited with driving down tobacco use worldwide, and the COP is intended to oversee its implementation, but the emergence of new nicotine products has renewed disagreements over how best to end the epidemic of tobacco use.

The WHO Global Report on Trends in Tobacco Use 2000–2024 and Projections 2025–2030 shows that the proportion of adults using tobacco decreased from 33% in 2000 to 19.5% in 2024. Although the total number of 1.2 billion adult tobacco users is 120 million fewer than in 2010, this decrease is still short of the 30% reduction target set for 2025 …

“According to WHO, more than 100 million people now vape, including 86 million adults and at least 15 million adolescents aged 13–15 years, with children nine times more likely than adults to vape. ‘E-cigarettes are fuelling a new wave of nicotine addiction… They are marketed as harm reduction but, in reality, are hooking kids on nicotine earlier and risk undermining decades of progress.’

“Tobacco use has fallen to historic lows, yet one in five adults still consumes tobacco or nicotine products.”

Why is the Great American Smokeout important?

Although cigarette smoking rates have been declining for decades in the United States, cigarette smoking remains the most preventable cause of serious illness and death.

Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke cause more than 480,000 deaths in the US every year.
Smoking cigarettes increases the risk of at least 12 different cancers.
In the US, cigarette smoking causes about 3 of every 10 cancer deaths.

I’ve mentioned this before, but there is definitely a demographic component. When you see enough people at bus stops pick up cigarettes to smoke, you believe it. “Some groups of people smoke more heavily or at higher rates.” These populations face healthcare barriers and inequities in multiple areas.

My paternal grandmother, Agatha Helen (Walker) Green, died from cigarette smoking at the age of 62. Though he eventually quit after many years of smoking, I expect that smoking shortened my father’s life, as he died at 73.

Here is a commercial with Yogi Bear and Boo Boo urging folks not to smoke.

Baseball Hall of Fame for 2026

Carlos Beltrán, Andy Petitte, Ryan Braun

“The Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s 2026 Hall of Fame ballot features 27 candidates, including 15 returnees and 12 newcomers. Results of the election will be announced Jan. 20 live on MLB Network.”

Unlike in most years, I’m not seeing 10 people I would have voted for in the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2026. Based solely on the stats, I would have picked ARod (5th year on the ballot, 37.1% of the votes when 75% are needed) and Manny Ramirez (10th and final year, 34.3%). But both were egregiously using Performance-Enhancing Drugs after 2004. In Manny’s case, I’d let some future panel decide.

I’m also not picking SS/3B Omar Vizquel because of stuff.

I would vote for CF Carlos Beltrán (4th year, 70.3%) for sure, a solid player on several teams. His increasing number of votes suggests that the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal is not as much of a factor as before.

SP Andy Petitte (8th year, 27.9%) was PED-adjacent, which I’m sure has hurt his chances. But I supported him before.

RP Francisco Rodríguez (4th year, 10.2%) was known as K-Rod for his prolific strikeout rate. He might fare better on the ballot with weaker competition, although a domestic violence allegation may factor in. IDK.

Of all of the first-timers on the ballot, the only one that I would vote for LF/3B Ryan Braun, a six-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger.

I’m on the fence regarding SS Jimmy Rollins (5th year, 18%), even with four Gold Gloves—a possible yes.

CF Andruw Jones (9th year, 66.2%) was a near-lock early in his career, both as a hitter and a fielder (10 Gold Gloves), but his career trailed off substantially—a probable YES.

Contemporary Era

Earlier in November, the National Baseball Hall of Fame released the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot for 2026 induction. The list includes LF Barry Bonds (340), Roger Clemens (332), 1B Carlos Delgado (110), 2B/3B/1B Jeff Kent (123), 1B/OF Don Mattingly (134), OF/3B/C Dale Murphy (116), RF/3B/SS Gary Sheffield (158), and the late SP Fernando Valenzuela (63). The players need 12 of the 16 votes on December 7.

Three players show up on the BALCO investigation of steroids: Bonds, Clemens, and Sheffield. However, “in 2005, Major League Baseball (MLB) introduced a new policy regarding the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) wherein the league would not only suspend but also publicly name any player who tested positive for banned PEDs.” I believe that NONE of them were implicated after 2004, compared with A-Rod and Ramirez. I’d vote for all three of them.

Over 17 seasons, Jeff Kent posted a .290 batting average and .500 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .978 fielding percentage. Kent hit 351 HR as a second baseman, the most in MLB history in either league. Other than being surly with the press, I don’t know why he didn’t get elected by the writers.

I always liked Mattingly. He also had a decent run as the Dodgers manager, but a weak one with the Miami Marlins. Murphy was pretty consistent. Fernandomania was rampant in the early 1980s, but his career stats are so-so.

U.S. Bishops’ “Special Message” on Immigration

The priority of the Lord is for those who are most vulnerable: the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger (Zechariah 7:10).

I noticed that “as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gathered for their Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, the bishops issued a Special Message addressing their concern for the evolving situation impacting immigrants in the United States. It marked the first time in twelve years that the USCCB invoked this particularly urgent way of speaking as a body of bishops.”

I understand that this is a very big deal. “The last one issued in 2013 was in response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate.| Specifically, their position was that the Obama Administration mandate violated the First Amendment freedoms of religious organizations and others. While I disagreed, I would have to acknowledge that their position was consistent with their stated theology.

So is their immigration position, which passed 216 to 5 with three abstentions. This was covered in the New York Times.

The statement

In part:

“As pastors, we, the bishops of the United States, are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are

-disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement

– saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants

-concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.

-troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools.

– grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school, and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.

“Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation. We as Catholic bishops love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity. For this very reason, we feel compelled, in this environment, to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.”

It’s followed by Biblical citations supporting their view.

Moral counterweight

From Axios in October: A diverse coalition of moderate and progressive Christians has opted to jump off the pulpit and challenge the regime around immigration, civil rights, and poverty.

The big picture: Moderate faith leaders are escorting immigrants to court hearings, blasting “rapid response” text alerts on sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and leading vigils to try to prevent protest clashes.

They pray with ICE agents and National Guard troops to try to ease tension while also giving “know your rights” workshops to immigrants.

The intrigue: From the pulpit, they frame their actions as a moral stand outlined by Jesus in the Gospels to help “the stranger” and “the least of these,” as they call on their members to speak out.

“We don’t just pray for peace. We bring peace,” the Rev. Brendan Busse, pastor of Dolores Mission Catholic Church in Los Angeles, tells Axios.

Evangelicals

While many evangelicals are taking an opposing view, lots of them also support the immigrant. In June, “on World Refugee Day, scores of evangelical pastors and ministry leaders from across the State of California are speaking up on the contentious topic of immigration. After weeks of unrest over increased immigration enforcement in the state that is home to more immigrants than any other, evangelical leaders are affirming a ‘California Evangelical Statement on Refugees & Immigration.’

“As evangelical Christians in California, our perspective on immigration is grounded in the authority of Scripture. While immigration is a political issue, we see it first as a biblical one—deeply connected to the mission of the Church both locally and globally. We affirm the need to clearly express the biblical principles that guide our views, so that immigrants—many of whom are fellow members of the same Body of Christ and all of whom are our neighbors (Luke 10:27)—know we stand with them.”

News

11/7: USCIS announced that it is complying with the district court order in ASAP v. USCIS on 10/30/25 and has paused the issuance of Annual Asylum Fee (AAF) notices. Applicants may disregard previously issued AAF notices while the stay is in place. USCIS will not refund previously paid AAFs.

Racial Profiling Is ICE’s New Norm. Activists Are Mobilizing in Response.

Hamilton: “We get the job done.”

Immigration Man – Graham Nash

That Rockpile guy