It’s that time of the semester when students hand in their “bad song assignment” and I check whose bad song is the best bad song. Some make things that are unlistenable using dissonance or cloying lyrics which are understandable strategies but some knock it out of the ballpark using other types of thought. The classic was the woman who used answering machine messages from a hostile ex who wanted her to fear him. She now had a perfect use for the ugly sounds, as lyrics for electronic accompaniment. Very memorable. This year I’m surprised by a patriotic song, a la government sanctioned lyric, and a brilliant gospel piece about a blade of grass.