Deadly Business

Song 292: This week on the playlist you can hear Smuggler’s Blues by Glenn Frey, written by Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin. I wanted to post a Glenn Frey track on the playlist today as a sort of small tribute to him because of his recent death, which I only learned about over the last 2 weeks, though he died about 6 weeks ago, on January 16th. I had mixed feelings about much of the Eagles work — some of their songs I really liked, and others I didn’t care to ever hear again once they had finished their initial radio run. After the Eagles broke up in 1980, I had no particular expectations for the individual members, so when this cut came along a few years later, it totally took me by surprise, and it quickly became a favorite. I felt it encapsulated a very real concern of the time, and did so to the accompaniment of some very impressive slide guitar riffs. Unfortunately, this song has lost none of its relevance over the last 3 decades, and until we end the authoritarian War on Drugs, the unnecessary violence and mass incarcerations will continue, with the U.S. taxpayers footing a bill that now exceeds $1.5 trillion.