Harry Shearer’s Le Show: Sonic Portal to News, Satire, Memory, History

"Touch My Junk"

Changes in the airline industry after 9/11— and problems with the Transportation Security Administration — prompted a segment that recurred on Le Show for almost fifteen years, "Tales of Airport Security." Shearer read reports from listeners over the Beatles' wordless song "Flying" from Magical Mystery Tour, occasionally mentioning his own experiences with airlines and the TSA.

After nearly a decade of sharing listener reports and occasionally giving advice — "Remember, a pat down is for now, but radiation is forever" — Shearer composed and recorded the satiric song and video "Touch My Junk." Comparing the first version of the song with its later iterations, including on an album and in a video, yields insights into Shearer's composition, revision, and production techniques as well as differences in the effects of his satire with and without video accompaniment.

video : https://harryshearer.com/media/#prettyPhoto[Videos]/22/

Harry Shearer at WWNO in New Orleans, February 17, 2019. Photo by Rosa Eberly.

"Mr. Goldman and Mr. Sachs"

More deft rhyming combines with Shearer's insistence on keeping certain obdurate facts in public memory in the very teachable satiric song about the causes of the global financial crisis that began in the United States in 2008, "Mr. Goldman and Mr. Sachs."

As Shearer explained in the setup for the sonic satire,

So the economy is looking, well, we don't know yet…. On the plus side of the ledger, Goldman Sachs reported earnings for the second quarter of this year, what? 2? 3? 4 billion dollars, paying giant bonuses to its employees already. Again? It's business as usual, and business as usual for Goldman Sachs is pretty good. Because, let's see, the last two or three treasury secretaries have all been alumni of Goldman Sachs…. A lot of migration from Goldman Sachs to the offices of the federal government that regulate businesses like Goldman Sachs. So, as I say, business as usual has been good.

Shearer continued to cover the consequences of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis for the next several years, adding on February 17, 2013,

This week the General Accounting or the Government Accountability Office — its new name, and congratulations on the new name, by the way — reported that the financial crisis that began in 2008 has a price tag — they've costed it out; that's what these guys do; that's why they get the little bucks. And the figure they've come up with is as much as — You sitting down? Then stand up — $22 trillion. $22 trillion. And still no chief executive of a financial institution which engaged in the — let's be kind — chicanery that cost this country $22 trillion, no chief executive or operating officer has been prosecuted, let alone put in the pokey. So if you steal $22 from a liquor store, they throw the book at you. But if you manage to cheat the country out of $22 trillion, they throw you a book deal.

Rather than focusing on the consequences of that crisis, "Mr. Goldman and Mr. Sachs" takes the long view of its causes. "When Mr. Goldman met Mr. Sachs, business ran on railroad tracks…."

First airing here.

"Mr. Goldman and Mr. Sachs" Revised version here.

"The Losing Side" / "The Losing Kind"

A perfect triple rhyme — "It took bravery to fight for slavery" — cements in song and thus in memory the original sin of the United States: importation and enslavement as chattel of African Americans, a consequent Civil War, and the subsequent promulgation of the "Lost Cause" ideology. Shearer's song "The Losing Kind" imagines an anthem to accompany the Confederate flag, which Shearer calls "the losers' flag." The memorable, bucolic melody fits the rural setting but contrasts with the topic, a characteristic complexity in Shearer’s satiric songs. "It takes bravery to forget about slavery. We don't watch; we rewind. We’re the losing kind."

The song was first broadcast as "The Losing Side" in April 2001, after Mississippi voters decided by referendum to retain the "Stars and Bars" in their state flag.¹⁴⁷ As Shearer explained on Le Show,

Mississippi held a referendum this week, and the citizens of Mississippi voted 56 percent to keep the Confederate battle flag as part of the Mississippi State flag. Now, a little while back when South Carolina was having this argument — and I think Georgia — I opined on this broadcast that it seemed the whole debate seemed peculiar because, basically, when you strip it right down, the Confederacy was a rebel nation that seceded from this one. And they were beaten in a war — in a civil war, war between the states, however you want to put it. And they lost. It's the losers' flag. And usually the losers don't get to put their flag in the state’s or province's flag of the country that won. It's just, it's just not done. Anyway, I made that point, and I think the citizens of Mississippi may have taken that point to heart. Because, in addition to the referendum keeping the Confederate battle flag in the state flag, they also adopted, I'm proud to say, a new state song.

Original broadcast of "The Losing Side"

A lyrically and musically revised version of the song has aired several times over at least two decades on Le Show, as Confederate monuments have perennially become objects of public contention. From the May 14, 2017, Le Show:

This week under cover of darkness the city of New Orleans began, and I believe completed, the work of taking down the statue of the former president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, the second of four confederate monuments targeted for such moves by New Orleans, after a slew of fights in the City Council and in court. The move happened under cover of darkness because there has been a continuing line of protests, death threats towards construction companies which were possibly going to be doing the work, and death threats against city officials, as well. Nonetheless, the Jeff Davis is down. Videotape of the demolition project showed a bunch of protesters — a correspondent I know personally said, yes, some of them were from out of state, Mississippi and Tennessee — some were from New Orleans. And many of them were carrying Confederate flags. As you know on this program that's known as the losers' flag. Hello and welcome to Le Show.

"The Losing Kind"

Shearer collected some of his satiric songs on seven albums, It Must Have Been Something I Said (1994), O. J. On Trial: The Early Years (1995), It’s The Stupidity, Stupid (1999), Songs Pointed & Pointless (2007), Dropping Anchors (2007), Can’t Take A Hint (2012), and The Many Moods of Donald Trump (2020).

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