Happy Birthday Dave Douglas!
Musical sentiments from his Yale Law classmates.
September 16, 2026
Chip Loewenson
My modest contribution: my favorite song, Ripple, by the Grateful Dead, performed by a sequence of musicians from around the world under the banner “Playing for Change.” It includes cameos by, among many others, Jimmy Buffett (at the Montauk Lighthouse), David Crosby, GD drummer Bill Kreutzman, and the Chicago Children’s Choir. Enjoy, DMD III. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHo1fNnXFVU&list=RDMHo1fNnXFVU&start_radio=1
Manley Roberts
I hope you don't mind. I tried a different tack. I got a couple of groups of friends to sing greetings, and I played a few songs. The songs mostly remind me of my and Dave's (and John, Betsy and Jennifer's) common heritage in the South. (Shout out to Ben and Mary Gay for marrying into the family, and the rest of you are officially adopted as family members as well.) The songs with friends are completely unrehearsed, as is the song that Jennifer joined in from behind the camera/phone. But they were all done with Dave in our hearts. Kudos to anyone who recognizes the slight lyric change (only one name) in Carolina in My Mind. So here is a sloppy, schlocky, amateurish but sincere musical toast to our dear friends Dave and Kathy. With affection, Manley
https://youtu.be/5jR5G3yAxko?is=DCGlI-m1rgJaOvZU Beatles Birthday
https://youtube.com/shorts/gzeBU1EDApc?is=XnzqeqtUlqIYKiiI Arioso
https://youtu.be/Ym7GdHQr8SA?is=nak5z7lKaKK53H9Q Georgia on my mind
https://youtu.be/zSFt5rW32Ek?is=EjXBKOfYOMUripkv Gone to Carolina
https://youtube.com/shorts/AbW-aaOxhWI?is=Gh6_NB06DOr2Kd9E I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
https://youtu.be/sk9FATI3usI?is=EaynMLH-VhsW-U0t Choir Birthday
https://youtu.be/M8iz4P9l5fA?is=lqw9YUAlQpmDZ2EX Guys sing
Mark Levin
Eclectic to be sure, but intentionally so, since that’s what makes it interesting.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WYVzEAKzvfs
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M4p3832SsIU&si=VhjtsY0ARhO4kIyD
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nnv9Z7PjufmUnZwUrALZ10rLhYD2jEBQw
BTW, the Grateful Dead tune lyrics have connections to both Virginia and Nova Scotia, places I associate with Dave. The Nova Scotia association is obscure and I’ll leave it to you all to figure out. (Chip will get it in a moment, since he's got the sources).
Shostakovich Cello 2 is just mind boggling for me. My listening is mostly Amazon Music and I usually listen to YoYo Ma or Rostropovich (US premier) or Alisa Weilerstein’s, but this one by Sol Gabetta popped up on Youtube. Haven’t listened, but I will.
And the Japanese 1974 psychedelic rock album — thematic of the 1853 arrival of Commodore Perry and the Black Ships (album title “Kuro Fune” is Black Ship in English) to Japan, a sort of Dark Side of the Moon take. And who else but me could introduce you to that?
Mike Jacobs
Man, once again I wonder why I was admitted…
Here’s my contribution: https://youtu.be/G1dlWmrRstc?feature=shared (“Leslie” upstages Paul Simon on Sesame Street).
I also like this one: https://youtu.be/fZ9WiuJPnNA?feature=shared (Feist adjusting 1-2-3-4 for kids).
And because I think this is one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded: https://youtu.be/xPGREQvK-dQ?is=YD5r2r9J-5k0WUiH (Oh Wonder, All We Do)
Ben Zuraw
Great idea. This combination should confuse Dave a little bit. Ben
Hall & Oates, Sara Smile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Xccal5bYE
AC/DC, Jailbreak (1976 version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAiXeTDGHpo
Rico Rosales
Happy Birthday Dave! First I’m bringing a little Latino vibe to this party.
First, La Bamba, East L.A.’s unofficial national anthem.
https://youtu.be/HwjkTH5xCTw?is=UHp7k-qofXfmgU6u
Next, a famous Latin American tune, Cucurrucucu Paloma (popularized in the movie Moonlight).
https://youtu.be/7tbnZnxQacQ?is=LTjOwEMCovWjIRiC
Here is a more spiritual tune (Every Praise) they likely are not singing in your Episcopal parish very much. I like it cuz it is fun to watch too!
https://youtu.be/UuuZMg6NVeA?is=gcgroRnOrX_Lim8j
Slowing it down with The Prayer, performed by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion.
https://youtu.be/qt_OkgSOrkU?is=aGI8ARbIV-rM5Cf-
Last but not least, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, which Manley introduced me to while we were in law school.
https://youtu.be/66yBEKryL2U?is=-ARJkUYzHYMuv27n
I’ll stop there, but can’t believe I didn’t include a Motown cut!
Rob James
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, If I Should Fall Behind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmUG1ffgKFw
The Milk Carton Kids, Snake Eyes. The Sarcastic Duo are jamming in the studio in front of T Bone Burnett, Chris Thiele (Punch Brothers), Marcus Mumford, and the Coen Brothers before a concert celebrating the film Inside Llewyn Davis. It is wonderful to see great musicians reducing other artists to blubbering tears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hQZyeMLMag
Jacob Collier, Little Blue. He’s usually over the top (too much talent on display!) but catches lightning in a bottle in this church, with an amateur chorus divided into three parts he conducts like an instrument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQvzX0Z3HE4
Eva Cassidy, Fields of Gold. Sting groaned when someone urged him to listen to yet another obscure cover of his song. He was gobsmacked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UVjjcOUJLE
Ben, note that Mark Levin first went highfaltuin with a goldurn gen-you-ine Shostakovich cello concerto. So I can go classically second with the trio from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. This isn’t the best performance (it’s from a PBS fundraiser!!) but it has English subtitles. The singers are (1) an older world-wise woman, (2) a woman playing her younger male lover, and (3) an innocent maiden. Some opera singers have sung all three roles as their voices changed over a lifetime—I like that natural progression. The older woman is letting her lover go. https://www.pbs.org/video/der-rosenkavalier-hab-mirs-gelobt-pe89u0/
Happy birthday, Dave, and I look forward to the rest of our collective playlist!
Meridee Moore
Forgive me. I modified the assignment and I hereby present my (currently) favorite music videos, not my favorite songs. My favorite songs would be even harder. I do appreciate the art of the music video. The song has to be good, too.
These are the videos I return to if I want a pick me up. I hope all these links work! So sorry about the ads.
If I had to pick one, it would be this. A local radio station video of Rhiannon Giddons playing a old spiritual. We had the musicians play this same medley at my husband’s memorial and everyone was on their feet. ‘https://www.google.com/search?q=rhianon+giddons+youube+up+above+my+head&sca_esv=35fff4cd942b75df&ei=1NigarzqG-nn0PEPwt_50A4&biw=1920&bih=911&oq=rhianon+giddons+youube+up+abo&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiHXJoaWFub24gZ2lkZG9ucyB5b3V1YmUgdXAgYWJvKgIIADIHECEYChigATIHECEYChigATIFECEYqwIyBRAhGJ8FMgUQIRifBUjUNlDVB1i8JHACeAGQAQCYAbMBoAHiCqoBAzAuOLgBAcgBAPgBAZgCCqACkQvCAgoQABhHGNYEGLADwgIOEAAY5AIY1gQYsAPYAQHCAhcQLhjcBhi4BhjaBhjYAhjIAxiwA9gBAcICBxAAGIAEGA3CAgYQABgWGB7CAggQABgWGB4YCpgDAOIDBRIBMSBAiAYBkAYPugYGCAEQARgJkgcDMi44oAeGQLIHAzAuOLgHhAvCBwcwLjYuMy4xyAcdgAgB&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:11ebc14e,vid:XrvR9Z0qsYw,st:0
This one, by CONTRAST, is a hilariously wonderful celebration of mixed race country https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7qovpFAGrQ
This one is the only selection of mine that is listed in the 100 top videos of all time. Andre 3000 is just wonderful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgvGjAhvIw
An oldy by goody, I especially love the last few seconds when the band member behind Eric Burdon can’t help but smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-43lLKaqBQ
This is a video I helped a friend with – he wanted to make a protest video last year and he hooked up with an AI video artist https://www.google.com/search?q=ronkat+spearman+believer&oq=ronkat+spearman+believer&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigAdIBCDk3NzVqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:595b5c60,vid:CYd8RB5gO-U,st:0
This is a video that is rated R, so parental discretion advised. Sudan Archives is a violinist from Ohio. I love the message – women shouldn’t hurt other women. “stay out of my flight path” “this is my land not to sell” The scrolling lyrics are so far off, it dates the video. Sorry about that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kRlBLPSgY8
Had to do it: Michael Jackson’s Beat It. I saw Michael the Movie with my grandson last month and learned (remembered?) that Michael Jackson attempted to quell the gang violence in LA by inviting the Cripps and the Bloods to help him make this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRdxUFDoQe0
And Finally…tah dah! The video that will keep your grandkids begging you to play it again, Grandpa, play it again! Pharrell, apparently, can’t stand to hear it again, but for most of us, it lights us up. https://www.google.com/search?q=the+happy+song&oq=the+happy+song&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYjwIyBwgAEAAYjwIyDwgBEC4YQxixAxiABBiKBTIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIMCAUQABhDGIAEGIoFMgcIBhAAGIAEMgcIBxAAGIAEMgcICBAAGIAEMgcICRAuGIAE0gEINTU2NmowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c36d0306,vid:ZbZSe6N_BXs,st:0
I hope you find something here you like!
Happy birthday DAVE!!!
John Watson
First up, Samuel Barber’s elegiac Adagio for Strings, the theme music at the end of “Platoon,” played at Jackie Kennedy’s insistence on radio programming nationwide after her husband’s assassiantion. Often called the saddest piece of music ever written (no need for comment about what that says about me).
On to Thomas Tallis’s “If ye love me,” one of Tallis’s polyphonic English Anthems that he wrote as Queen Elizabeth’s favorite composer. He remained an ardent Roman Catholic (and wrote privately music to be sung in Latin). However, he stayed at court and was permitted to write for the Anglican (I.e. Protestant) church because Elizabeth so favored his music. Short but sweet.
Finally, a circa 1968 version of the Stones’ Jumping Jack Flash, with a wonky video as a bonus attraction. Must have been one of Brian Jones’s last gigs with the Stones; he left the band shortly thereafter to be replaced by “young, tender and frail” Mick Taylor (per Mick Jagger’s description).
Happy birthday, Dave!