BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?

In 1930, wordsmith Yip Harburg wedded the woes of forgotten WWI vets to a Yiddish lullabye Al Gorney had learned from his grandmother. Bing Crosby’s subsequent recording became the best-selling anthem of the era, and an unofficial campaign song for FDR. (Harburg later joined Harold Arlen to create the music for The Wizard of Oz.) Singer-songwriter Michael Friedman, who divides his time between Germany and Canada, brings us his own, guitar-driven treatment of the tune.