Serenading the Review: July 26 2009

This weekend, let’s sing it instead:

Sunday Papers
by Joe Jackson

Mother doesn’t go out any more
She just sits at home and rolls her spastic eyes
But every weekend through the door
Come words of wisdom from the world outside

If you want to know about the bishop and the actress
If you want to know how to be a star
If you want to know about the stains on the mattress
You can read it in the Sunday papers

Mother’s wheelchair stays out in the hall
Why should she go out when the TV’s on?
Whatever moves beyond these walls
Shell know the facts when Sunday comes along

If you want to know about the man gone bonkers
If you want to know how to play guitar
If you want to know about all the other suckers
You can read it in the Sunday papers

Sunday papers
(don’t ask no questions!)
Sunday papers
(don’t tell no lies!)
Sunday papers
(don’t raise objections!)
Sunday papers
(ain’t got no eyes)

Brother’s heading that way now I guess
He just read something made his face turn blue
Well I got nothing against the press
They wouldn’t print it if it wasn’t true

If you want to know about the gay politician
If you want to know how to drive your car
If you want to know about the new sex position
You can read it in the Sunday papers

Sunday papers
(don’t ask no questions!)
Sunday papers
(don’t tell no lies!)
Sunday papers
(don’t raise objections!)
Sunday papers
(ain’t got no eyes)

Sunday papers
(Read all about it)
Sunday papers
(Read all about it)
Sunday papers
(Read all about it)
Sunday papers
(Read all about it)
Sunday papers
(Read all about it)



Really, we just felt like taking a summertime break. We’ll be back with a regular review of the New York Times Book Review next weekend.

4 Responses

  1. Oh hell yeah, I still have my
    Oh hell yeah, I still have my subscription. It comes rural free delivery. Read ALL ABOUT IT!

    Chattanooga Times-Free Press… Our founder also used to own the NY Times! His last name was Ochs.

    Some say “ox” and some say “oaks”. No matter how you say it, he was a cool old dude. I wonder if Phil Ochs was related to him. Keep those printed stories coming, we depend on it folks. The internet and TV just aren’t the same. You can’t hold the news in your hands, nor read PARADE or the funny papers at your leisure while half-listening to something else. As a great scholar once said: “The media is the message”. So on with the show…

  2. I used to like Joe Jackson,
    I used to like Joe Jackson, until I revisited his music videos just now.

    What was I thinking? He’s a terrible performer, lol!

  3. Steve, I think he was always
    Steve, I think he was always a bit of an Elvis Costello follow-on. I saw him in concert a few years after “Sunday Papers”, when he was in his Cole Porter phase. Decent show, but not great. He could write lyrics though (see above).

  4. Joe Jackson’s a jazzer now,
    Joe Jackson’s a jazzer now, right? And classical? He wrote a pretty good autobiography

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