FRIDAY RANDOM TEN - EREV YOM KIPPUR EDITION

Today is not just any Friday - as the sun sets, the Day of Atonement begins. Many hours of synagogue time to be logged... and at least twenty-six hours without food or drink of any kind.

At this point in my life, the fasting, as difficult as it can sometimes be, is not the tough part. The tough part is facing the reality of my own fallibility and failings... the knowledge that, at the age of fifty-seven, I am still very much a Work in Progress. There are many sins for which I must atone, and I know which ones bedevil me the most.

The good thing? Misery loves company, and being a Sinful Human - falling short of the mark, as the Sages would put it - puts me in the middle of plenty of company.

Enough pissing and moaning. The holiday is not yet upon us, and there’s music on the box! So I will wish my Red Sea Pedestrian brethren (and sistren) an easy and meaningful fast, and a g’mar chatima tovah - to have the Book of Life sealed with a favorable decree for the coming year - while we give a listen:

1. Turn Around - They Might Be Giants
   
   
2. Step It Pon The Rastaman Scene - Ranking Joe
   
   
3. Your Latest Trick - Dire Straits
   
   All the late night bargains have been struck
   Between the satin beaus and their belles
   And prehistoric garbage trucks
   Have the city to themselves
   Echoes roars dinosaurs
   They’re all doing the monster mash
   And most of the taxis and the whores
   Are only taking calls for cash
   
   I don’t know how it happened
   It all took place so quick
   But all I can do is hand it to you
   And your latest trick
   
   My door was standing open
   Security was laid back and lax
   But it was only my heart got broken
   You must have had a passkey made out of wax
   You played robbery with insolence
   And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover’s Lane
   And you never did have the intelligence to use
   The twelve keys hanging off my chain
   
   I don’t know how it happened
   It all took place so quick
   But all I can do is hand it to you
   And your latest trick
   
   Now it’s past last call for alcohol
   Past recall has been here and gone
   The landlord finally paid us all
   The satin jazzmen have put away their horns
   And we’re standing outside of this wonderland
   Looking so bereaved and so bereft
   Like a Bowery bum when he finally understands
   The bottle’s empty and there’s nothing left
   
   I don’t know how it happened
   It was faster than the eye could flick
   But all I can do is hand it to you
   And your latest trick
   
   
4. Cat’s in the Kettle - Weird Al Yankovic
   
   
5. Help! - The Beatles
   
   
6. Horn - Phish
   
   
7. Kid A - Radiohead
   
   
8. It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City - Bruce Springsteen
   
   
9. The Spirit of Man - Jeff Wayne
   
   
10. Between The Bars - Madeleine Peyroux
    
    

It’s Friday. What are you listening to?