If you could sum up life in four words, which would you choose? Hint: start with Birth and end with Death. What two words might you sandwich between? Ham and Cheese? Shite and Shinola? Jesus and Bingo?

At this very moment I'm hosting episode 3 of Birth, School, Work, Death on Valley Free Radio, 103.3FM in Northampton, MA, and streaming at valleyfreeradio.org. The show delves into songs of social commentary and satire. This past hour we've checked out King Missile, Greg Brown, Boogie Down Productions; coming up, Frank Zappa, Leadbelly, Todd Snider, and Natalie Merchant. Listen. You'll like it.

At this point, Birth, School, work and Death fills in for Patchwork Majority on sporadic Mondays. Eventually a more regular schedule will settle, along with the spittle-flecked dust of my opinions, snarks, and cynical barbs, as expressed in the ditties, laments, tirades, and parodies of Birth, School, Work, Death.

Here's what was played on show 2, two weeks ago.

"I Shall Be Free," Bob Dylan
"I shall Be Free no.10," Bob Dylan
"Elephant Talk," King Crimson
"Cheesecake Truck," King Missile
"Making Pies," Patty Griffin
"Waiting for the Great Leap Forward," Billy Bragg
"White House Blues," Earl Taylor
"James K Polk," They Might Be Giants
"911 is a Joke," Public Enemy
"Roll with the Punches," Randy Newman
"Sam Stone (live)," John Prine
"Shadow of a Man," Oysterhead
"Red Football," Sinead o Connor
"People with Bad Luck," Greg Brown
"Subcity," Tracy Chapman
"400 years," Bob Marley & the Wailers
"The Racist," BDP
"Everybody's Crying Mercy," Elvis Costello
"Nobody," Johnny Cash
"The Empire Strikes First," Bad Religion
"Painting by Numbers," James McMurtry
"Long Way Around," Dixie Chicks
"Village Green Preservation Society," Kinks
"Bourgeois Blues," Leadbelly
"Millbrook," Rufus Wainwright
"Ladder of Success," Ted Hawkins
"Talking Seattle," Todd Snider
"Sucker Row," Mark Knopfler
"Sound of Muzak," Porcupine Tree
"The Wicked and the Evil," Crash Test Dummies