Tributes for Jack DeJohnette, who died Sunday at 83, and Dave Ball, the other half of Soft Cell, who died last week at 66, began this week’s capital Radio.
There were birthday salutes to songwriter Dallas Frazier (without playing “Elvira”), but also to Floyd Cramer, Bonnie Lou, Kelly Osbourne and Teddy Roosevelt.
It was the reckless action of another president, though, that took up most of what would have been another year’s Halloween show. Instead, something scarier: authoritarian destruction of the People’s House in a matter of days to make way for some ostentatious, gaudy ballroom nobody asked for and nobody approved.
So a lot of songs about destruction, demolition and tearing down, including seven different songs titled “Wrecking Ball,” mostly used as a metaphor, but in the case of Springsteen’s song, specifically written for the place it was sung — Giants Stadium just before its 2009 demise.
Segued White House songs into some haunted house tunes on the way to the briefest Halloween salute on record. Closed with Lou Reed’s musing on the day, 12 years to the day after he died.
Here’s a link to the whole show; the setlist follows:
Capital Radio Oct. 27, 2025 1 – 4:20 p.m. www.cygnusradio.com
- “Capital Radio Two,” The Clash
- “Spanish Key,” Miles Davis
- “Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go,” Soft Cell
- “The Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp,” O.C. Smith
- “Alley Oop,” The Hollywood Argyles
- “Beneath Still Waters,” Emmylou Harris
- “On the Rebound,” Floyd Cramer
- “Daddy-O,” Bonnie Lou
- “Changes,” Ozzy Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne
- “Roosevelt the Cry,” Oscar Brand
- “You Could Have Been a Roosevelt,” Aimee Mann
- “Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Mossacin),” Tony Joe White
- “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear,” Elvis Presley
- “Teddy Boy,” The Beatles
- “Teddy Picker,” Arctic Monkeys
- “Ready Teddy,” Little Richard
- “Vertigo (Do the Demolition),” Duran Duran
- “Demolition,” The Kinks
- “Demolition,” Mick Harvey
- “Demolition Song,” Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard
- “Demolition Man,” The Police
- “Little White House,” Len Berry
- “Paint the White House Black,” George Clinton
- “Dropping Bombs on the White House,” Style Council
- “Wrecking Ball,” Neil Young
- “Wrecking Ball,” Griffin House
- “Wrecking Ball,” Gillian Welch
- “Wrecking Ball,” Dolly Parton with Miley Cyrus
- “Wrecking Ball [live],” Bruce Springsteen
- “My Wrecking Ball,” Ryan Adams
- “The Colonial Wing,” 10,000 Maniacs
- “The Ballroom Blitz,” Sweet
- “Destroyer,” The Kinks
- “Dead Set on Destruction,” Hüsker Dü
- “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down,” Ann Peebles
- “Bulldozers and Dirt,” Drive by Truckers
- “Disorder in the House,” Warren Zevon
- “Burning Down the House” Talking Heads
- “House Where Nobody Lives,” Tom Waits
- “Haunted House,” Leon Redbone
- “Haunted House,” Pixies
- “Haunted House,” Johnny Fuller
- “Haunted,” The Pogues
- “Do They Know It’s Halloween?” North American Halloween Prevention Initiative
- “Halloween Parade,” Lou Reed
Capital Radio returns Nov. 3 at 1 p.m. EDT on www.cygnusradio.com, where this and other recent shows are posted. The show can also be heard via the cygnusradio.com app, available free at iTunes or GooglePlay. Older shows are available at Substack.com/@rogercatlin.