Its been four freaking years since I last posted one of these ... so in the words of the racist investment dude in the old Fidelity ads: “Why not”?
The top ten played songs on my iPod this week!
(Boy if this isn’t the ultimate “I have no damned interesting thing to write about, so let’s fling this against the wall and see if it sticks” post.)
Before we get started though, a quick word up front. Since I got one email this week (wait, people read this crap? (john davidson voice) That’s Incredible!!!) asking me “where is the “American Idol” recaps”, let me once again state that yes, I am completely addicted to “Idol” ... but I won’t watch a second of the show until they hit Top 24 night. I have no interest in watching a bunch of no-talent halfwits makes asses of themselves for fifteen seconds of fame in the audition rounds. So you won’t be seeing an “Idol” recap for at least a few weeks.
Here we go:
10. “Do I” by Luke Bryan. This song is really growing on me. And I think that’s a good thing. It’s got a sweet sound, its got a good tone, and man, the lyrics really hit home. Strongly recommend spending the $1.29 on iTunes for your own copy of it. (As always, this site strongly supports legal file sharing and downloading. Although this site also notes that it never has charged for content, and never will. Nor will it ever start posting “click here” pop-up ads designed to net me $0.02 per click in my bank account. I think I can live without the $0.24 that might generate over the course of a year.)
9. “I and Love and You” by the Avett Brothers. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: you will never meet or read any person in your life with a more diverse musical taste than me. This one’s a couple years old, but it still sounds great on my 1,058,634th listen. Truth be told, this stripped down, “emo style” music is probably what I prefer most of all ... and this song is phenomenal.
8. “Tyler” by the Toadies. Don’t care that this song is fifteen years old, don’t care that it’s on arguably the most overrated cd of all time in hindsight (so, go figure, it’s one of my ten favorite cd’s ever – “Possum Kingdom”, “Tyler”, “When I’m Away”, and at least a couple other hits I’m forgetting). I absolutely dig this song. The ending never gets old – “I can’t believe I’m really here / And she’s lying in that bed / I can almost feel her touch / And her anxious breath”. Who says the grunge era never churned out a love song!
7. “Out of My Head” by Theory of a Deadman. Probably my second favorite song of the last four years. (My favorite, and the whole reason I did this post, still to appear later in the countdown). This song I literally cannot get out of my head, and I literally cannot stop rewinding whenever my shuffle lands on it.
2011 was a weird year for me, in that it was seven years after the worst year of my life. I blame this on my mom – bear with me here. My mom is big into studying the Jewish faith and culture right now. And apparently they teach this thing about how every seven years, your life cycles through. (I’d be lying if I said I totally grasped it, I tend to half-listen while on the phone with her at times, especially whenever religious themes get brought up.) Essentially, the idea is that what was horrendous seven years ago, you’re forgiven for seven years later, and given a fresh start and a more optimistic outlook. (No clue if the inverse is true. Given my luck, you probably do NOT want to be associated with me in 2018.)
Anyways, seven years ago, in the span of six weeks, I buried a good buddy of mine, I buried a guy that was like a second father, and I buried my last grandparent. (Good times! Not.) And that was arguably the HIGH point of the last six, seven months of that year. 2011? I only attended one funeral all year, and that was for someone who essentially died in 2010. Instead the opposite was true. Multiple weddings. Tons of fun road trips all summer long. A new job, a promotion, new responsibilities – where I worked seven years ago, I was in a position I hated, for a boss I despised. Now? I tolerate the job, and I cycled through not one, not two, but THREE bosses last year! Who says stability is overrated!
My typical long-winded point being, this song gets to me, just because I’m a reflective kind of guy. And when I look back at where I was seven years ago, versus where I’m at today? To quote the Vice President from his acceptance speech four years ago, “I’m a success. I’m one helluva surprising success!”
6. “Fake ID” by Big and Rich (with Gretchen Wilson). I saw exactly one movie in the theaters in 2011. Absolutely that movie was the “Footloose” remake, and one of my favorite scenes was in the country dive bar when Ren and Ariel and Dusty take over the floor as this song plays. (Probably because of Ren’s epic comeback to Willard when he notes “I can’t dance”. Said comeback? “It’s country line dancing! It’s a white guy’s wet dream!” That’s comedy.)
Plus ... (cover your eyes, mom and dad, if you’re reading ...) this kinda flashes me back to one of my brother’s most inspired ideas ever. I went to college in Texas, although I am from Kansas originally (now living on the Missouri side). And after about two or three weeks of constant “is this legit?!?!” questions of my Kansas ID after I turned 21 down there, I’d had enough, so I went and got a Texas state ID to ensure unlimited, unquestioned access to alcohol.
And it turned out to be the gift that kept giving ... because the corner of it wound up getting frayed, so my brother decided to co-op it for his college years (while underage), and managed to get a cropped photo of him on there where my photo used to be. Genius. Which I am definitely not the one in the family.
5. “Faded” by Soul Decision. (stevo ducking rotten tomatoes being hurled his way ...) Yes, its a crappy boy band from the early 2000s. Yes, its an epically awful song that having on your iPod is an indefensible crime. Having said that ... how can you top the chorus?
“I’m kind of faded but I feel alright /
Thinkin’ ‘bout making my move tonight /
I can’t pretend that you’re only my friend /
When you’re holding my body tight /
‘Cause I like the way you’re making him move /
And I like the way you’re making me wait /
And at the end of the night /
When I make up your mind /
You’ll be coming on home with me”
Now THAT’S what I call a love song!
(And admit it: if you clicked on the Youtube! link and listened? You kinda liked the song! "Think what we could do clothed!" NEVER fails to crack me up! To say nothing of the white guy rapping before you hit the final chorus. "Hi. Yo. I'm faded!" Jesus, how did the late, great "TRL" never retire this music video?!?!)
4. “Fooled Around and Fell In Love” by Elvin Bishop. A late 1970s classic that is criminitely underrated. I’ve always said this is DJ’s personal theme song. If the song fits, embrace it.
(And don't worry if you click the link and ask the obvious -- it's his only US hit as well.)
3. “The More I Drink” by Blake Shelton. Well hell, if the previous song is DJ’s personal anthem, then this one pretty much has to be mine, doesn’t it? Tell me the chorus to this song doesn’t describe me at a tailgate to the N at the end of my first name:
“Cause the more I drink?
The more I drink!
And I’m the world’s greatest lover
And a dancing machine!
I get loud! I get proud!
And it gets worse.
Well, if I have one?
I’ll have thirteen!
And there ain’t no in between.
Cause the more I drink?
Ooh, the more I drink!”
If he’d tossed in a throw-away line about “somehow losing my t-shirt”, in the bastardized words of Dan Fouts, “hey, that’s me!” At a tailgate. With the booze. (Oh hell yes, I just managed to get a “Clue” reference into this post! Greatest. Board. Game. Ever. And one HELLUVA criminitely underrated movie.)
2. “Toes” by Zac Brown Band. If 2011 was the best year of my life (and it’s in a very small list of potential nominees), then walking up and down the beach in Fort Lauderdale to and from my folks hotel in early November, in 80 degree weather, as this song played on said iPod, HAS to rank amongst the ten best moments of the year, if not of the decade. My God. I cannot believe I’m about to admit this ... but Dusty is a genius. The kid is a mother f*cking genius. And here’s why.
Schedule a week-long getaway every early fall or early spring to a warm, tropical climate? CHECK! CHECK!!! OH HELL TO THE MO FO YES CHECK!!!!!
(My way of saying ... Chiefs play at Tampa this fall. Let’s hope the NFL schedules that one in early December, not mid September. Because I NEED my beach week!
But this week’s “winner”? The song with more plays than any other? Is a song that apparently was released thirteen months ago ... and I never knew it. And that song is ...
1. “My Kind of Crazy” by Brantley Gilbert.
In the last five years, only one song has ever hit me like this song did when I finally heard it earlier this week on XM 59, The Highway. (And go figure – I’ve had this song downloaded for FOUR MONTHS ... and haven’t listened to it once until this week.)
That song was “Come On Get Higher” by Matt Nathanson. This one? I like even better than that one.
If you spend $1.29 on ANYTHING in the next week? This is well worth the investment.
"Yeah and she's my kind of crazy /
Little games she plays? Lord will never get old /
She's too cute to get on my last nerve /
The way she throws her little fits /
Pokin' out her lip and bitin' mine when we kiss /
There ain't a fight that she can't win /
That's my baby ... and she's my kind of crazy."
Here's top hoping 2012 is when Stevo finally finds "his kind of crazy" ... although sweet Jesus, how f*cked up has THAT chick got to be, to be MY kind of "crazy"? Damn I want to find out ...
No comments:
Post a Comment