A Heart Upon the Wall

The Roman historian Tacitus once said the “unfair thing about war is that victory is claimed by all, failure one alone.” Nearly 2,000 years later, John F. Kennedy put a modern spin on the idea when he described the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. “Victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan,” he reportedly said. This little history lesson is brought to you—in a roundabout way--by my dentist, who inadvertently sent me off on a musical expedition while he was preparing to put a crown of my tooth. Last week was the second round on this biting tale and kicked off with me back in the dental chair, mouth pried open, suction tube going full blast and listening to the Sirius Sixties station while Dr. Joel worked his magic on my mangled molar. Name That Tune Once again, I heard some great tunes from my childhood, including “Mony, Mony” by Tommy James, “Kicks” by Paul Revere and the Raiders, and “You Got What It Takes,” a hit for Marv Johnson in 1959, but I think Sir