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Coffee Break

Coffee Break: Witty songs for Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher stars in Wishful Drinking, a one-woman show (and title of her best-selling memoir) in New York in 2009.
Carrie Fisher stars in Wishful Drinking, a one-woman show (and title of her best-selling memoir) in New York in 2009.Bruce Gilbert/AP, via NPR

by Anna Reed

December 28, 2016

Yesterday morning Carrie Fisher died at age 60 after suffering a heart attack last week. Best known for portraying Princess Leia in 'Star Wars', Fisher is a film icon, writer and performer with a career that spans 40 years.

Besides the characters she played, Fisher was known for being quick-witted and clever. A writer of several memoirs and novels, she had an interesting perspective on using humor to heal from difficult life events. "Let's say something happens and from a certain slant maybe it's tragic, even a little bit shocking," she said. "Then time passes, and you go to the funny slant, and now that very same thing can no longer do you any harm."

So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs with witty or clever lyrics do you want to hear?

Submit your own idea for a Coffee Break and browse past Coffee Breaks in our archive.

Songs played

One's on the Way - Loretta Lynn
Avant Gardener - Courtney Barnett
Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan
Andrew in Drag - The Magnetic Fields
Lola - The Kinks
Bored in the USA - Father John Misty
Big 10 Inch Record - Bull Moose Jackson