To help you drown your sorrows, there’s a mordant little item by Gregor Macdonald that’s reffed by Seeking Alpha here.
The headline, “Media Take on Banking Crisis Defensive and Overly Optimistic,” is a little deceiving, though the item makes a good point up at the top:ice try on the songs, but why compose titles (with no lyrics) for new ones? There are classics that don’t exactly make Macdonald’s point, but they’re perfect for the times and require little updating. From the “Big Rock Candy Mountain/Barstool Mountain Top 100 Drinking Songs.” (Click on the song titles to listen):
• “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me),” by Jerry Lee Lewis. All you have to do is change “Milwaukee” to “Wall Street.” The lyrics aren’t a great match to current times, even if you change “go” to “invest,” but who gives a shit. It’s a great song.
• “Bubbles in My Beer,” by Bob Wills. The title speaks for itself, and so does the passage “…while scenes from the past rise before me…” For a history lesson, see Jacob Freifeld’s “Speculative Bubbles: Financial Genius Before the Fall.”
And then pour yourself a belt. Or light up a blunt and try to sing “You’se a Viper,” a 1936 reefer tune by Stuff Smith and his Onyx Club Boys. (Click for the Manhattan Transfer cover.)
If you’re not slumped over your keyboard after all that drinkin’ and druggin’, feel free to send me [wharkavy at villagevoice.com] your own best ways to wash those blues away.