Programming note: Join Mark at SteynOnline tomorrow, Sunday, for the launch of a very different kind of audio entertainment.
~On this week's episode of Mark Steyn on the Town, Mark prepares to bid farewell to summer with a Dane singing in German, closes out his remembrances of Alan and Marilyn Bergman with the number they wrote on the day they met, and plays the unlikeliest Sinatra song ever.
To listen to the programme, simply click here and log-in.
~Thank you for your kind comments about last week's edition. Wayne Cunnington waited till Sunday morning, but it was worth it:
Another sunny Sunday morning and my day is off to a great start after a listen to episode 70 of Mark Steyn's "On the Town", a perfectly beautiful listen at any time that suits
— Wayne Cunnington (@waynetlc) August 31, 2025
Robert Fox, a First Week Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, is also a Sunday-morning man:
Visiting my aunt in NYC over the Labor Day weekend and strolling along Broadway, Amsterdam Ave and through Central Park while listening to the replay Sunday morning. Terrific show with tributes and stories about Broadway shows and their architects. On The Town when on the town sounds sweet!
Marvin Zimmler reports that, between Oklahoma! and Eddie Cantor, it's the new youth sensation:
My kids love the show Mark. Thank you.
Mark's fellow Granite Stater, John Barrett, has a suggestion for his next book:
Hi Mark,
An especially wonderful show this week. As I listen to your stories I can't help but think, you must, MUST (excuse the caps) write your autobiography. What a life you've led - and we'd love to hear about it. How about just the first 30 years? (But also with an afterword to explain how you ended up in New Hampshire!)
Tom Gelsinon, a First Day Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, was stunned by last week's Café Imperial:
Oscar Peterson sang 'Sometimes When We Touch'? Wow, never would have believed it without hearing it. I do agree that you could defeat an enemy army by blasting that song at it incessantly. And you could probably wipe it out completely by executing a follow-up attack shooting another piece of 70s badness at it — I'm referring to 'Torn Between Two Lovers', but 'Escape' (The Piña Colada Song) might work just as well.
For Linda, a Kansas Steyn Clubber, it was the final show in our series of Sinatra Summer Stock:
Today's show was fantastic, Mark. Oklahoma! happens to be my favorite musical. I loved all the songs Sinatra sang from that show; his versions make them completely his. I was unfamiliar with the story about 'Boys and Girls like You and Me' and found that to be the most interesting thing I learned this week. (Every week is loaded with new information.) We'd be better off in this ol' world if we all understood that we all love madly in the same way, that ours is not especially unique or special in the scheme of things. Anyway, thanks for this podcast' you did it again!
Alison also enjoyed our relocation of Frank to Oklahoma - as well as our brace of blockbusters from the 1970s:
I just sent this show to the geriatric ward in St Thomas's Hospital overlooking our Parliament, to a lady who is 100 with a broken arm and another aged 95 (my mother) who will thrill to hear their old heart throbs (Bing and Frank) and the Oklahoma numbers. Her favourite song is 'My Foolish Heart'. As for Oscar Peterson wobbly but moving rendition of 'Sometimes when we touch' the background story rather destroys the lyriics!
10CC's 'I'm not in love' was the only song that I ever thought was a true classic, in my youth. For me, it sums up a generation which was going 'to the dogs' for its emotional casualness and a period when British society went historically wrong. I was suffering from the confusion of 'the line between love and fascination' (a superb line which sums up 10CC's lyric too). Even since, I've tracked the person's career and all has come clear over the years so I am relieved that it was just 'a silly phase' one or both of us were going through. However, I've loved the song ever since (pure genius).
One more from Nick, who made the mistake of not switching off at the 5pm pips:
I'm really enjoying Mark Steyn at the moment. I've never listened to him before but left Alexa playing after Cindy finished. I love all the facts he gives us!
~On the Town is Steyn's weekly music show on Serenade Radio every Saturday at 5pm British Summer Time - that's 6pm in western and central Europe or 12 noon North American Eastern. You can listen from almost anywhere in the world by clicking the button at top right here. We also post On the Town at SteynOnline every weekend as a bonus for Mark Steyn Club members. You can find all our previous shows here.
We do enjoy your comments on our weekend programming. Steyn Clubbers are welcome to leave them below. For more on The Mark Steyn Club, now in its ninth year, see here - and don't forget our special Gift Membership.
Mark Steyn on the Town can be heard on Serenade Radio at its regular times:
Saturday 5pm London time/12 noon New York
Sunday 5am London time/9pm Los Angeles
