We used to speak of “the Free World,” many of us. Some of us still do. There have always been people who snicker or scoff at the phrase, and the concept. I lead my Impromptus with this subject today.

I go on to two prominent musicians who are boycotting America; a recent Joe Rogan guest, who is making the rounds on the right; a math genius who is having an impact on science broadly; the late Slick Watts (remember his headband?); etc.

To try this column, go here. Now, let’s have a little mail.

Last week, I wrote of Germany, which is rearming. “Germany is back,” said Friedrich Merz. “Germany is making its great contribution to the defense of freedom and peace in Europe.”

A reader is reminded of a song by Tom Lehrer, “The MLF Lullaby.” Those initials stood for “Multilateral Force,” an American proposal in the middle of the previous century, never adopted. It had to do with deterrence and nukes in Europe. The British government was always against the proposal.

Anyway, here is Tom Lehrer, introducing, singing, and playing his song. The first stanza:

Sleep, baby, sleep, in peace may you slumber,
No danger lurks, your sleep to encumber.
We’ve got the missiles, peace to determine,
And one of the fingers on the button will be German.

Stanza No. 2:

Why shouldn’t they have nuclear warheads?
England says no, but they all are soreheads.
I say a bygone should be a bygone.
Let’s make peace the way we did in Stanleyville and Saigon.

The U.S. president can do many things, including whip up antagonism toward Canada. I wrote about this in Impromptus, here. A reader relates a story:

Hi, Jay,
I recently went to a minor-league hockey game in Wilkes-Barre and the Pens were taking on Belleville, from Ontario. As you probably know, anytime a Canadian team plays in the U.S., both national anthems are played or sung, with Canada’s first.
So, the girl singing “O Canada” is on the big screen and she looks like she’s probably autistic. Would they boo? Would they boo this girl, just because she’s singing the Canadian anthem?
She starts, and I can hear one person in the upper deck begin to boo. Almost immediately, five or six people around him yell at him to stop, which he does. They shut him down quickly, good for them.
When the girl finished, she got a nice round of applause.
Question: Would people have booed if the arena had played a recording instead of having a live singer? I’m not sure . . .

In a review of the Cleveland Orchestra, I wrote of Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3. A reader — the musician Scott Eddlemon — writes,

My wife and I went to Victoria, British Columbia, for our first post-Juilliard orchestra positions. Laszlo Gati was the music director, a wonderful Hungarian conductor (originally from Rumania).

Let me interject to say: I love that spelling (“Rumania”). I grew up with it. I remember when the New York Times went to “Romania.” I thought that was a lamentable concession to modernism.

Mr. Eddlemon continues,

Our first season, we were performing an outdoor concert in the beautiful Inner Harbour of Victoria, very close to where the Coho Ferry from Port Angeles, Washington, docked. When we played Leonore No. 3, the ferry was coming in. Just as we got to the exact moment of the off-stage trumpet fanfare, the ferry blew its horn perfectly, as if the captain was listening to the concert (he could not have been). The horn was so loud, it almost blew the musicians off their seats, and everybody — orchestra, conductor, and audience — ruptured into laughter.
Best Leonore ever!

A post of mine was titled “Ukraine, Russia, and Us.” A reader says,

I recently saw a quote that is attributed to Erasmus, and it perfectly encapsulates my view of our national leadership: “The less talent they have, the more pride, vanity, and arrogance they have. All these fools, however, find other fools who applaud them.”