"Living in These Hard Times"

Great lyricists. I think I knew one. My best friend when I was in my early 20s was a writer and musician named Tucker Katonah. He committed suicide at age 25 in 1990, but 31 years later I still think of lines he wrote back then. Tonight I'm listening to the BBC Radio 3 program Music Planet and it features stunning music by an oud player named Joseph Tawadros. It reminds me of words from Tucker's song "Living in These Hard Times," which had a killer chorus: "LIVING IN THESE HARD TIMES / LIVING IN THESE HARD TIMES / LEARNING HOW TO PLAY THE GUITAR..." But each time, he would switch out the musical instrument with a different one. One of the choruses, he sang, "LEARNING TO PLAY THE OUD..." We recorded some of our songs on a $20 Fisher Price, black and white, kids video camera in an abandoned apartment in Portland, Maine (below) before he got really sick. It was me and Tucker and sometimes our friend Seth. The band was called Boring Films Discorporated.