A WONDERFUL DAY! What song do Doris Day, Xavier Cugat, Darlene Love, The Modernaires, Bing Crosby, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mercer, Harry Nilsson, Louis Armstrong, and Steve Miller have in common? Find out by checking the playlist for yesterday's very special WFMU broadcast by Monica (with very special guest Stephin Merritt who, I gather, has become somewhat controversial).

Give the show a listen--I have a feeling you'll be very surprised by how much you'll like it. At the very least, listen to the delightful Blossom Dearie singing "The Sweetest Sounds."

ADDENDUM Since posting the above I've done more research and learned more of the context for yesterday's WFMU broadcast, during which Stephin Merritt joined Monica to spin more than twenty versions of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah."

So here goes: As far as I can tell, Sasha Frere-Jones and Jessica Hopper have taken to smearing Merritt (alluding to him as a "cracker" and calling him racist) based on what John Cook of Slate has termed "flimsy grounds."

One of Merritt's perceived crimes is loving the song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," which is from the 1946 Disney movie Song of the South. The movie, which Disney has not released on home video in the United States, is widely regarded as technically accomplished but racist in its sunny depiction of slavery. (You can read about it here and here and here.) Frere-Jones also criticized Merritt for not recognizing enough blacks in this Time Out New York list.

So far I'd have to say that Frere-Jones and Hopper seem off-base if not loony. Based on the "evidence" aired so far, Merritt just doesn't seem to, um, merit their insinuations and name-calling.

I originally posted about the broadcast based on its own musical, um, merits. Now that I understand its context, I note that many of the versions of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" were performed by musicians of color.

But hey--maybe Frere-Jones and Hopper should take a crack at Stephen Sondheim's "Songs I Wish I'd Written (At Least in Part)" and see if he's even more worthy of being derided as a "cracker." What a step forward that would be for humanity! What a blow against racism! Or, better yet, maybe they should either apologize to Merritt or provide more evidence of his crimes against decency--and perhaps be more outspoken when it comes to such important issues as voter disenfranchisement in Washington, DC.

ADDENDUM In my continuing investigation of this fiasco, I have reconstructed the sequence of Jessica Hopper's remarks and discovered that

* she posted her mini-rant against Merritt on April 28

* noted on April 29 that Merritt had offered to correct the record

* posted a corrective letter from Drew Daniel and her own "clarification" on May 2, and

* apologized on May 5

After the publication of John Cook's Slate piece on May 9, she noted on May 11 that she was still receiving a lot of nasty emails even after her apology. It seems that neither Hopper's blog nor John Cook's article has been very clear about her retraction, so I'm happy to take note of it here.

All dates are approximate, as Hopper's blog in particular seems to have some technical quirks.

ADDENDUM And now for Sasha Frere-Jones, who considerately created a chronology of his Merritt-related posts on May 9 after the appearance of the Slate piece. From that we can see that he wrote "The new idea for Playlist at The New York Times is to find some rockist cracker and let him loose..." on May 16, 2004. Then, on May 17, 2004, he posted this:

Shockingly, it didn't take me all night to come to the conclusion that Stephen "Southern Strategy" Merritt is full of ish.

In the May 9, 2006 post, Frere-Jones wrote

After reading Cook's piece, I tried to remember what had led me to accuse Merritt of such a specific and nefarious ideological bent: "Southern strategy." That seems excessive, doesn't it?

On May 10, Frere-Jones first offered a set of related essay questions, then an apology:

An apology? Because I used an unkind term in a snarky post? "Sorry" will make you feel better? Sure. I am sorry I called Stephin Merritt a cracker. It's not nice, and it's distracting....

If Merritt's critical exclusions and preferences were totally unique to him, it might not have irked me. BUT BACK IN 2004, the indie retreat from the Big Bad World of pop/hip-hop/youth music, etc. was driving me, as it had for years, batshit. In 2006, after K Sanneh's rockism piece, all of these issues are fairly old news. I can't say I feel the same fire about these issues. Fire? Absolutely. But not melt-the-windows type fire.

But explain to me—no fooling around—why you wouldn't be a little bit nervous, upset even, to read a music critic who lives in New York City draw a map of the 20th century that seemed so intent on diminishing or excluding the work of African-American musicians? Is distress such an odd reaction? Mean words aside?

Here's a quick answer to that question: Looking over Merritt's list, I find it quirky and fun to read. Such lists are parlor games, after all...and this one just isn't that problematic as far as African-American music is concerned. It's got lots of variety (classical, folk music, rap, show tunes, French pop, Swedish pop, soundtrack) even though there are egregious omissions. One could certainly make a case for more African-American representation (did I miss Louis Armstrong? Charlie Parker?) as well as Bollywood music, Japanese music, nature recordings, comedy, poetry, Joi Lansing, etc., etc. There were more recordings in the 20th Century than in another other century up to that time! I dare anyone (but especially the Merritt haters) to meet the challenge of creating such a 100 list that would be above criticism.

And finally (for now, at least): On May 12, Frere-Jones wrote

I was sorry to read on Jessica's site that people have been addressing her as "bitch," and worse....

Phew! I hope that fairly sums up the Merritt/Frere-Jones/Hopper/Cook conflict and apology situation up to this point.

To think that, for me, it all started with hearing great covers of a cheerful song from an offensive, suppressed Disney movie. Life sure is full of unexpected twists and turns! [addendum posted May 14, 2006]