Ten Favorite Night and Day (Day) Songs: Jubilation Day (#9)

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It's so beautiful outside, with the sun shining on my old Kentucky home. I'm sitting inside looking at it, because it's about 16 degrees out there. Brrr! It's time for another pot of hot tea (peppermint bark this time around) and another song on my list of favorite songs with "day" in the title. #9: Jubilation Day - Steve Martin & the Stone Canyon Rangers WARNING: nothing to eat or drink while you listen to this. If you do, then have to clean your monitor, phone, or iPad off, don't blame me. I warned you. I saw Steve Martin live back in his standup days. He played at a college in DeLand, Florida (opening with "Ramblin' Guy," where he sang, "Rambled out to DeLand, it's next to de water") and I went. That was in his heyday as a comedian, when Let's Get Small was one of the few comedy albums to achieve "gold" (500,000 sold) status. The banjo was always part of Martin's act, and it's no prop. He can play that thing. In fact, if you'd like your chin to drag the ground for a few minutes, look up Martin playing "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" with Earl Scruggs on Letterman. Now that there aren't many roles for a 71-year-old (oy, does that make me feel old! [Yeah, I know, imagine how he feels ]), Martin's gone back to music. He gives an award to banjo players (the Steve Martin Award for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass), and he's actually won more Grammy awards for his music (three) than for his comedy (two). His album with Edie Brickell (Paul Simon's wife), Love Has Come for You, will probably be on the list of best albums of the decade at the close of 2019. But don't think that Steve Martin has lost his sense of humor. On the album Rare Bird Alert, where he was backed by the bluegrass band the Steep Canyon Rangers, Martin had his comedy on full display...just hiding behind some outstanding bluegrass music. (If you need another good laugh, listen to that album's "entire Atheist Hymnal" song, "Atheists Don't Have No Songs.") In this song, instead of lamenting that the relationship is breaking up, he's overjoyed to be free ("I'll be over you by lunchtime"). Enjoy a little humorous "jubilation," backed by some fine picking. Jubilation Day Written by Steve Martin Recorded by Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers From Rare Bird Alert, 2011 I'm walkin' away.....