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TMM Editor Says The Song 'Take It Easy' Captures Spirit Of Show

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And finally today as this program winds down, our last broadcast is scheduled for August first. We thought it would be nice to hear some of the music that members of our staff like to listen to, as part of our series In Your Ear. Alicia Montgomery is our editorial guru on the program. Let's hear what's on her playlist.

ALICIA MONTGOMERY: Hi, I'm Alicia Montgomery the supervising editor of TELL ME MORE and here's what's playing in my ear.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE IT EASY")

FUGEES: (Singing) I got moxie, I'm so damn foxy. Industry try to block me like cops and paparazzi.

MONTGOMERY: I've been working on the show for seven years, almost since the very first days of it. And the song that really reminds me of the spirit of TELL ME MORE is the Fugees "Take It Easy."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE IT EASY")

FUGEES: (Singing) I see looking but you better take it easy. Tell your crew I said tell them take it easy. Here comes the rocket launcher, take it easy. Take it easy, too sleazy.

MONTGOMERY: What I really like about this song is there's like energy in every beat and there's not, sort of, a moment to rest. And there's the type of music that's all about harmony and finding the sweetness and the moments of gentle beauty and this is exactly the opposite. I mean, it just runs right at, you know, the heat and the power and the energy and I just love it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE IT EASY")

FUGEES: (Singing) You scared yet? Ah pack your dibby dibby dub box.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GO BACK HOME")

AUDRA MCDONALD: (Singing) Lying on the lawn and thinking staring at the stars, I wonder since I been away, I'm lonely when I'm going to go back home.

MONTGOMERY: Another song that's playing in my ear that I've just come to fall in love with is "Go Back Home" by Audra McDonald. We had the chance to interview her between her fifth and her sixth Tony and talk about her album.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GO BACK HOME")

MCDONALD: (Singing) I'm thinking when I'm going to go back home. For me, all my time goes slow. There's a (Unintelligible) one or two I don't know.

MONTGOMERY: You know sometimes you need a song that lifts your spirits and other times you need a song that meets your spirit wherever it is. And if you're in that sort of moment of indecision or confusion or you just have a longing to get back to a place of certainty, of comfort, I mean this song so speaks to that in the most beautiful way.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SHOW MUST GO ON")

QUEEN: (Singing) Empty spaces what are we living for? Abandoned places. I guess we know the score. On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?

MONTGOMERY: Another song that's playing in my ear is "The Show Must Go On" by Queen. The thing that I love about it is anybody who's sort of in broadcast or in anything that requires a performance, you have that moment where, you know, maybe you have had a rough day or maybe your mind is somewhere else and maybe you feel like you could've used another two hours of sleep, but this song is like an anthem for those moments where, you know, Freddie Mercury's voice just grabs you and lift you up and says, yeah, you've got to get out there, you've got to get on the stage and you've got to make it happen.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SHOW MUST GO ON")

QUEEN: (Singing) Show must go on. The show must go on. Yeah. Inside my heart is breaking, my make-up may be faking but my smile still stays on.

MARTIN: That was TELL ME MORE's Supervising Editor Alicia Montgomery, telling us what's playing in her ear. And that's our program for today. I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Let's talk more tomorrow. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.