Ask John Schaefer Anything: Political Songs, Go-To Karaoke Jams, And More

By most anyone’s standards, John Schaefer knows a lot about music. Yet despite his two radio shows and various other music-related projects, we get the feeling he's withholding some of that knowledge. So now's your chance to ask Soundcheck's famously brainy host anything as long as it has something to do with music. Today, we hear questions from a slew of listeners, including songwriter, frequent Soundcheck guest and fill-in Erin McKeown.

But first, we got a pair of questions from friend of the show, Michael Azerrad, the editor of music site The Talkhouse and author of Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana and Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From The American Indie Underground, 1981-1991.

Michael Azerrad writes: "Although we live in highly politicized times, there doesn't seem to be much prominent political music. Do you agree? If so, why do you suppose that is? Or maybe you disagree and some of the messages are more subtle, or not conveyed the way they used to be."

John Schaefer: I'm gonna zero in on one word in your question, and that is "prominent." Because I don't think political music has ever gone away, but I think… you've hit the nail on the head there with the word prominent. There's no "Blowing In The Wind" the way there was in the '60s, when political music seemed to dominate a lot of the public discourse and the pop charts as well.

But I think if you take political to mean social issues, I think you can still look at things like the Macklemore song "Same Love," [which is] standing up for gay rights. And I suppose you could even look to a Lady Gaga song like "Born This Way" as a kind of social issue-oriented song. And then there's all the stuff that's happening on YouTube, you know with Lauryn Hill and J. Cole and their songs either being written for or being repurposed for the protests in Ferguson, Missouri. But the thing is, we're not hearing those songs on the radio; it's very much an online thing.

You know, it's an interesting question. I agree with you: I don't think there seems to be as much political music out there on the charts as there was in the '60s and '70s. And as for why that might be, I think the answer is probably more political than musical. I think it just has to do with the kind of level of our political discourse these days. The extremes at either end of the political spectrum have gotten louder and louder and I think that has scared a lot of people who might otherwise make statements into doing them sub rosa -- doing them online, not in their songs, that sort of thing.

Azerrad also asks: "What are three pre-20th century classical music compositions that totally rock?"

JS: Pre-20th century? That makes it a lot tougher. I can't say Rite Of Spring, I can't say anything by Carl Orff. So the first thing that comes to mind would be the finale of the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 -- which, when it gets going is a tank. (And especially the Switched-On version by Wendy Carlos.)

Let me go to... Franz Schubert, one of his most famous songs called "Erlkönig." This is goth rock written in Vienna in the 1820's. The poem is by Goethe and it tells the story of a man riding through the woods at night and he's got his son on his lap and he's holding him close. And the son sees the evil Earl King lurking in the forest and calling the kid's soul to him. It's not a happy story but the kind of galloping rocking rhythm of the piano is pretty cool.

So I get one more. I'm gonna go with something pretty obscure: a mid-19th century Swedish composer named Franz Berwald, whose Sinfonie singulière (or Singular Symphony) has this moment in it that to me [recalls the Brothers Johnson song] "Strawberry Letter 23" -- [where] guitar does this kind of repeating rhythmic thing. It goes up and then it goes down. I just think that's a really neat passage and pretty rockin'.

Next up, some listener questions. Daniel, from Royal Oak, Michigan asks: "Can you name the longest performance of one piece of music?"

JS: I think if you look up in music texts, you'd probably see there's a performance of Erik Satie's Vexations done by like a tag team of pianists that goes for days. But I think I would have to say La Monte Young, the founder of the musical movement that came to be known as minimalism, whose Dream House has been in kind of continuous performance for years. I've lost track of how many years he's had this thing going. It's a series of electronic drones and from time to time he and his band would come in, and they would sing or play. For as long as electricity is running, the piece continues. Not a chart-topper [but] a very underrated and important composer.

Alex from Greenwich, Connecticut has this Peanuts-referencing question: "John, a wise character once said 'Happiness is a sad song.' For which song is this true for you?"

JS: A sad song that makes me happy? I actually like a lot of sad songs. I guess I'll go with the band Augustines, back when they were called We Are Augustines. The song called "Book Of James" is singer Billy McCarthy actually singing about standing in the backyard of a house where he and his late brother grew up. It's just a heart-wrenching song and it is -- at the end especially -- so life-affirming, and I use that word cautiously. It just really is a great song... kind of a spirt-lifter as well as a real downer.

John's not exactly what you'd call a fan of musical theatre, but musician Erin McKeown called in with this question: "Which Broadway or off-Broadway musical has the best opening number?"

JS: Oh that is so mean of her! I will go, out of necessity with Book Of Mormon -- whatever [the opening song] is. I enjoyed that show from note one to the final note and everything in between. So that's good enough for me.

Tommy from New Orleans, has this stumper: "Who is buried in Andrés Segovia's grave?"

JS: Uhhh, I'd have to guess Ulysses S. Grant.

Bryan posted this on our site: "What is John Schaefer's karaoke song?"

JS: Ooh, huh… I'm not a karaoke person, but my go-to song would be "House Of The Rising Sun." It's in my range.

Do you have a music-related question you want answered? Leave it in the comments, drop us an email at soundcheck@wnyc.org, leave us a voicemail at 866-939-1612 or tweet @Soundcheck.