As you may know, Chicago has a new mayor, ending the 20-year reign of Daley The Younger. Daley’s time in office has left quite a mark on the city. He planted lots of trees, made Chicago much more bicycle-friendly, and of course gave us Millennium Park and The Bean.

His power was largely unchecked and he was able to make his whims reality. For instance he took a junket to Europe and was enchanted by all the wrought-iron fencing he saw in Amsterdam. So he came home and decreed that Chicago should look like that. Every public park in the city was surrounded with “ornamental iron” fencing. Every building permit for a parking lot or a new building required that the property owner purchase said ornamental iron from a politically-connected fencing company. I would have preferred that he fell in love with some other aspect of Amsterdam because I just don’t see the charm in having a gas station surrounded by iron fencing.

The thing is, this type of fencing is incredibly high-maintenance. It requires nearly constant scraping, priming, and painting to prevent it from rusting. On my way to work I drive through less-affluent parts of the city where the property owners don’t have the money, time, or inclination to maintain their required fencing. And so it’s all begun to rust away. And there’s nothing like block after block of rust to make a city look down on its luck. Somehow it just doesn’t look like the ‘Dam.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I’ve been thinking about rust lately.

Taylor Mitchell “Diamonds And Rust” (Joan Baez)
I had been listening to the Judas Priest version of this song for years before I discovered that they didn’t write it. As much as I love what Priest did with the song, it’s a little too well-known for Cover freak. So instead I picked this version that’s slinkier than Joan Baez and not as aggressive as the closeted gay man dressed in leather and spikes.

I’ve always liked this song because it’s bitter and angry but still acknowledges the good memories from a failed relationship, the “diamonds” of the title.

Rust “Ordinary World” (Duran Duran)
Duran Duran’s music is lush and stylish but the lyrics can be surprisingly dark. Rust mines the darkness and threat in this song.

Rusted Root “Evil Ways” (Santana)
When you think of patchouli-stinking hippie jam bands, Rusted Root has to be near the top of the list. And they do a buoyant polyrhythmic Grateful-Dead-parking-lot drum circle job on this tune. Not quite to my taste but it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.

Johnny Cash “Rusty Cage” (Soundgarden)
This of course comes from the wonderful American Recordings series that Johnny Cash did with Rick Rubin. Those recordings are consistently excellent and gave Johnny well-deserved recognition and a wider audience late in his life. But you’ve got to wonder what he thought about the lyrics of some of the songs Rubin brought to him. I don’t think Johnny ever wrote a song about burning dinosaur bones and riding packs of dogs.

The song doesn’t mention whether the rusty cage in question is made of ornamental iron, but if it was built in Chicago you can bet it is.

Rusty Wright “Summertime” (comp. George Gershwin)
It’s hard to believe that it’s Memorial Day and summer stretches before us, what with all the chilly weather and tornadoes and floods happening. But that is indeed the case and to get you in the mood for barbecue season here’s a bluesy take on the jazz standard.