During the pandemic, like virtually every other human being on the planet, I became a show-binging machine. The extended and government-sponsored free time allowed me to knock off several series that only merited my mildest curiosity in the before times, and National Geographic's Genius anthology series was at the top of that list.
For those unfamiliar with the program, Genius highlights one intellectual or creative giant via a dramatic miniseries. For Pablo Picasso's turn at bat, National Geographic enlisted the talents of Antonio Banderas to embody the legendary painter. Even though I've been a lifelong art fan, I never spent much time looking into Pablo Picasso's work or backstory, so his season of Genius served as a solid introduction. Well, the series was technically my second introduction.
For years the catchy little tune embedded above was my sole connection to Picasso outside of high school art class. The song comes from the Modern Lovers' self-titled debut, and it's arguably my favorite track on the entire album. And while Antonio Banderas did a tremendous job as Picasso in the National Geographic series, I think I'm still partial to the version that Johnathan Richman conjures in the Modern Lovers classic.
