Common People

With a great surprise appearance by Joe Jackson, "Common People" was the first song on the brilliant Ben Folds-produced spoken word album "Has Been" that William Shatner did a few years ago.

The album is unlike any I can remember hearing, absolutely compelling from beginning to end, with shifts in tonality and humor that can have you chuckling then grab you by the throat in the next moment. The song about finding his wife dead in the pool, "What Have You Done," is astonishing in its honesty and delivered as well as anything Olivier or Welles ever served up on stage or screen.