Really nice work, Al. A perfect antidote to the Billie Holiday-inspired apathy . . . This is the kind of stuff that makes me proud to be a part of Blogcritics.

Very real and very personal Al, one of your best. BTW, I think the JB song, which I heard on the RADIO (NPR, blues show) the other night is about drawing the line RIGHT HERE, which has the appeal of concrete finality in a very gray world, which coincidentally may be behind MD's (don't want to speak for her) original post.

Al, your fine posting here brings Eminem to mind. I won't buy his stuff because I do not want to put money into his pocket. But I absolutely listened to his music before judging it. I believe him to be a talented artist, whatever his beliefs, whatever his politics. I don't agree with his professed anti-woman and anti-gay views, naturally, but it would be dishonest for me not to say, for example, that his "Lose Yourself" leaves me breathless each time I hear it. Credit should go where it is due.

Thank you Eric and Tom for your kind words.

Thank you as well, Natalie. I particularly like it when I'm able to please you.

"Kill You" probably rates as my top Eminem pick. I certainly don't literally endorse the behaviors being fantasized. Then again, neither does Eminem.

I do, however, perfectly well identify with those feelings of frustration and rage which he articulates there so well.

I find that if I've been listening to Eminem much, it's a good sign that I probably need to go find some children to play with. An hour or two of active playtime will usually counteract a lot of negative emotional buildup.

I agree Al, very nice article. I think where people might get tangled up is that our culture is (for the most part) so literal and concerte. There seems to be little to no room in it for artistic license.

Prodigy does a song called "Smack My Bitch Up". Of course people were instantly up in arms about it defaming women, while if you see the video it's true meaning of a self-abusing drug addict (woman) who is slowly killing herself.

People need to take it easy and realize that sometimes true artists say things that they would never do either for shock value or just to get a point across.

If gangsta rappers actually killed as many people as they sing about then there would be no southern california left.

Or for humor's sake. Take the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl"? I'm a pacifist and Gandhian -- and that song is a riot! No one believes any of the Chicks would actually perpetrate violence on anyone else. Wow, I would be ashamed of Natalie Maines if she pulled something like that.

Ooh, another one (the name of the '80s band that performed this sadly escapes me at present; it's been a rough day): "I'm Glad that Elvis Is Dead." No decent person is glad that Presley is dead (and I think I saw him at the Fresh Fields in the organic peanut butter section last week, anyway), but man, is that song a howl.

I'll accept "Goodbye Earl" if you absolve me of guilt for listening to Guns N Roses "I Used to Love Her But I Had to Kill Her."

While we're at it, can I get absolution for liking "One in a Million"?

Oh, Al, I am a huge fan of Guns 'N Roses. Can't stand "One in a Million," personally, but I make no judgment against anyone who does.

Al, you obviously overlooked much of what I said in "Loving the artist, hating the song," in order to pen this tirade. I definitely made it clear that I was interested in how we make decisions about what to keep and what to reject when it comes to music, not a bonfire of the CDs.

Part of the reason I will reject "Ain't Nobody's Business" is that Holiday's life and music often intersected. I am not at all sure she didn't support the sentiments being expressed in the song. On the other hand, I doubt Ry Cooder is an advocate of misogyny, so I won't delete "The Very Thing That Make's You Poor."

As a writer, I am more than a little in touch with the practice of speaking in character, so, as I said in my essay, I take that into account when listening to music. For example, Randy Newman does in character lyrics that are like short stories written in the first-person.

Nor am I a stranger to blue humor as you seem to believe. I've heard everything from Richard Pryor at his lowest down, to Moms Mabley and LaWanda Paige when she wasn't being Aunt Esther.

You underestimate the Diva.

I have no doubt of the Diva's intelligence or good intentions. :)

MD, you are on-target about the intersection between Billie Holiday's life and her art. (I live in Baltimore, a big Billie Holiday town; Lady Day is revered here.) Personally, I find it valuable to hear what, for example, the victims of abuse have to say. And one who was an artist of her caliber? Listening to "Ain't Nobody's Business" helps me know a little bit more of her life, her attitude, her strengths and weaknesses, which helps me understand and appreciate her artistry more.

Please don't take my comments as criticism; I just believe I do myself a disservice when I close my mind to anything. YMMV.

No, I think I understood the Diva perfectly- though the whole post wasn't specifically a response to you. You were kind of a taking off point.

Here's the difference: You won't listen to this recording of Ms Holiday because I am not at all sure she didn't support the sentiments being expressed in the song. Whereas, that wouldn't even cause me hesitation. Indeed, if I thought that this absolutely represented her personal beliefs, that would only re-inforce my interest in hearing it. Indeed, you've got me curious enough now that I'm absolutely going to have to go look it up.

Even if you decide that the narrator of the song and even the singer are dysfunctional, does that make their statement worthless? I think not. Those emotions of shame and defiance and whatever else might be going on there are a substantial part of the human condition, even above and beyond obvious immediate issues of wife beating.

No, Al, it was the Contras who were murdering Communists.

Good. Communists need murdered. Rats must be exterminated.

Jeez! Al! Al! Al!

Don't mind Al; he's just being purposely provocative.

Natalie is correct. I AM being purposely provocative. It is also correct that rats need to be exterminated. Also, any crimes committed by the Contras do NOT excuse the Clash for enthusiastically supporting a murderous communist dictatorship.