In 2017, we created a program called “Guilty Pleasures.” Actually here in New Orleans “guilty” is not often used as an adjective for pleasure, but in the rest of America a guilty pleasure is liking something you’re not supposed to like or that’s not cool to like. That has really never been our philosophy on American Routes. We revel in the freedom to create an eclectic flow in these days of algorithmic radio. For “Guilty Pleasures Vol. 2,” we asked listeners to make suggestions, and then we built segues around them.
Nick Spitzer: An obvious request was Randy Newman–an American maestro of guilt–who Bonnie Raitt covered in 1973.
NS: Since drinking whiskey was the setup for the song “Guilty,” we switched to the Doors’ 1967 cover of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “Alabama Song.”
NS: That song from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny got us to the actress Lotte Lenya who played Jenny Diver in the original 1931 production of Becht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera. Lenya was also married to Kurt Weill, twice. “Mack the Knife” had the added advantage of Louis Armstrong dueting with her in 1956.
NS: Louis Armstrong dueting with Lotte Lenya on our second “Guilty Pleasures” program. Tune in and indulge guilt-free.
To hear the full program, tune in Saturdays at 5 and Sundays at 6 on WWNO, or listen at americanroutes.org.