Nellie The Elephant...

by Sean Chercover

Sara's post of last Monday (and the comments people left) got me thinking. Yes, times are tough and we're inundated with bad news, but you don't need to be Pollyanna to see some good in it.

We have an incoming President who picked a Nobel Prize-winning physicist to head the Department of Energy. Wow (or, as the kids would say, "Duh"). Could be that the federal government's War On Science is almost over.

Some see the arrest of our governor as Bad News. It is only bad news if you labor under the delusion that most politicians are honest. I don't. I see it as Great News. To me, the story doesn't read, "Our governor is corrupt." Looking through my prism, that isn't news at all. To me, the story reads, "They caught the bastard!" So it makes me happy.

But the main things that make me happy during hard times are family, friends, and art. Novels of course. And music. Movies. Etc.

Combining two of those things (music and family), I now present you with the top-6 songs, as ranked by The Mouse.

#6 Thomas Dolby - SHE BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE (The Mouse loves to thrust a finger in the air and yell, "Science!" Who doesn't?)


#5 Aretha Franklin - CHAIN OF FOOLS (No video, but you can listen, and you should.)


#4 Warren Zevon - WEREWOLVES OF LONDON ("Better stay away from him. He'll rip your lungs out, Jim." Screw Barney, this is great music for kids.)


#3 Gnarls Barkley - CRAZY ("Ha-ha-ha. Bless your soul.")


#2 Peter Tosh - KETCHY SHUBY (again, no video, but listen anyway.)


And currently #1 on The Mouse's playlist:
The Toy Dolls - NELLIE THE ELEPHANT (The Mouse is a punk at heart.)


The Mouse and Agent 99 and I play these (and other) songs every day, and dance around the living room like idiots and sing our fool heads off. Bad things are happening out there in the world, but life is good in my living room.

"Ah-ooo, werewolves of London..."

Happy holidays.