Naked American Songbook host Julian Fleisher has a painfully clear memory of his mother nagging him about her friend Shirley Glass' son. The young Glass had recently found success as a public radio host. To Julian's mother, it was simple: "Why don't you get a radio show like Shirley's son Ira?" A couple decades down the line, it's old home week here on The Naked American Songbook.

That's right, public radio superstar host Ira Glass is a fellow Baltimorean, and Julian finally convinced him to switch places and share songs. However, Ira decided to stay in place, and invited Julian into the swank This American Life studios. After admiring the show's trophy collection and catching up on Baltimore-specific Jewish geography, Ira got deep into the songs he loves, and how they made him who he is today. 

It's The Naked American Songbook, in 3 parts!
Act I: Growing up Glass.
Act II: Ira Gets His Wings.
Act III: Getting Under Ira’s Skin. Stay with us.

Ira Glass and Julian Fleisher kvell about songs(Julian Fleisher)

When we got multiple Peabody Award-winning Ira Glass naked in his studio, he was prepared and eager to discuss the most incidental of musics from Fiddler on the Roof, his favorite Cole Porter arrangement, and other musicals from his childhood, which shaped the way he tells stories on This American Life. We also learned what surprised Ira about his sexuality.

Ira then shared some soothing but lyrically-problematic music he'd picked during stints at AfroPop and down at National Headquarters, and then told us what Bruce Springsteen and Frank Sinatra and even little Donald Trump have in common

Sadly, this is our last full episode of the summer season. You can still check out the Naked American Archives in the podcast feed for extras and other bits you might have missed. But for now, we're ripping a page right out of Sinatra's songbook. As Julian promised in the episode, here's a clip of Sinatra's "farewell concert" from June 13th, 1971.

Ol' Blue Eyes closed the set with Angel Eyes, leaving the crowd with that eerie final refrain: "Excuse me while I disappear..."

But please, please, don't YOU disappear! Share this episode with your friends and make sure to subscribe on Stitcher or Apple Podcasts or wherever else you like to listen. And while you're there, leave us a rating and a comment, it really helps the Naked American Songbook cause. Then you can join the Naked American conversation on Twitter,Instagram and Facebook.