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Songs of Betrayal

MGM

Beware the Ides of March!

Is any un-heeded warning more frightful? Poor Julius Caesar, he never saw it coming — and from so many in the Senate! Luckily, his assassination in 44 BCE has inspired this week's exploration of songs about betrayal.
Backstabbing. Sneakin' around. Tippin' through alleys. Two-timing. You get the idea. Betrayal is a veritable gold mine of great Louisiana music.

Credit American Numismatic Society

And we're joined along the way by Tulane History Professor Kenneth Harl, a student favorite. Harl makes a strong case for New Orleans resembling a city-state of Ancient Rome. He's got the low-down on Senate intrigue back in the day, our Roman roots, and the ways of the heart.

We also are playing a slew of somebody-done-somebody-wrong songs.  

So gird whatever needs girding, and join us in the safety of good story-telling and music. This is a show you can't afford to miss.

Here’s quite a bit of the music from this week’s show. Not all the cuts are available for us to stream here, but you get the idea.

 

Of course, this scene from the Mankiewicz picture put us in mind of this song from the O'Jays. Too bad they're not from Louisiana, otherwise they totally would have made the show.

Stay in touch with the program by "liking" it on Facebook. And you can follow us on Twitter, where we skulk around with the name @MusicInsideOut.

Gwen Thompkins is a New Orleans native, NPR veteran and host of WWNO's Music Inside Out, where she brings to bear the knowledge and experience she amassed as senior editor of Weekend Edition, an East Africa correspondent, the holder of Nieman and Watson Fellowships, and as a longtime student of music from around the world.

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