Last week, one of my friends sent me a message asking why I was not posting to my blog. I've been too busy at work and too tired at home to think about anything for months now. I've been relaxing with rock star biographies and pop culture podcasts that allow me to believe that watching hours of TV on Netflix is actually an intellectual exercise. My weekends have been filled with multiple seasons of In Treatment, Lie to Me, 30 Rock, and a couple British mystery/cop shows I can't even remember the names of.
Last night, after a weekend spent in fuzzy sweatpants with at least 7 hours of TV, I decided I had to wash my hair, put some makeup on and leave the house in search of human contact. Or at least in search of beer and pizza at my favorite local beer and pizza spot -- Piece. On the way home, filled to the brim with Camel Toe (a beer that has apparently never won an award but I know for a fact has caused at least 3 people who are not lightweights to leave the bar feeling mildly crazy)I decided to stop at the used book store around the corner. I was hoping they also stocked new books because the last time I went into Borders I could not find a copy of Keith Richard's Life: I think I got there a day or two too early. No luck on my Rolling Stones fix but I did go through a pile and came across this gem.
On its own, this is nothing special, although I have been wanting to read it. What really sold me was the inscription. I love used books with inscriptions and love to think about what happened between the gift giving and the recipient giving it away. My favorite up until last night was in my Collected Works of John Cheever: Dear Mom, Happy Birthday, Love Ace.
My new favorite:
The inscription is date 10/27/2004 but it looks like Connie required more than just walking the line or maybe Rich? (Ron?) started to swerve. Or maybe they are still going strong and Connie just didn't like the book.
A woman I work with is always talking about "earworms." Songs like Found a Peanut, the theme from Pinky and the Brain and anything by Juice Newton. I get them too, I know I posted about one not so long ago (but won't go find it in fear it will be stuck in my head all night.)
... but it's too late. I just got a Michigan commercial that goes "Let's go Krogering... Krogering.... Krogering..." running around in there.
Anyway, for me even worse than earworms are bullsh!t lyrics. Things that make me insane because I want to argue with the person who wrote them.
I just spent a few hours at a neighborhood bar writing a story and Johnny Cash "I Walk the Line" came on. I stopped writing and had to listen and remember what the lyrics actually were. What does he mean "Because you're mine, I walk the line.?" Walk the line in terms of drinking and gambling? Most Johnny Cash songs are about that bad boy stuff ... sometimes he even kills a man just to watch him die. But this one seems to just be about monogamy. I can handle that: he's not putting the responsibility for his good living on the good woman who gives him good loving. Monogamy might be hard to maintain for a lot of people over the course of a lifetime, but it's far from crazy in our culture to promise to be true. It's perfectly reasonable for Johnny to walk the monogamy line because he has a partner. Whew,I'll be able to sleep tonight.
This did remind me of my top irritating lyrics though. I can't tell you how many hours I've fumed about these.
Joe Jackson Breaking Us in Two: You don't do the things that I do You want to do things I can't do
Okay, so she doesn't do things he does, implying ability but unwillingness. And yet she wants to do things he can't do. As if he's trying and is just incapable of meeting her impossible demands. What is it she wants him to do? Complicated couples yoga postures? Improvisational dirty talk in Chinese? All the while, she's refusing to take a nice romantic walk around the block while holding hands.
Grrrrr.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town He knows if you've been bad or good So be good for goodness sake!
The whole point of this song is to be good at all times so you get presents from Santa. It has nothing to do with being good for the sake of goodness!
Aghhhh!
Dolly Parton Jolene: Please don't take him just because you can
We know nothing about Jolene other than Dolly says she is beautiful, thinks Jolene could have her choice of men, and that Dolly's man has the hots for Jolene and mumbles about her in his sleep. We don't know that Jolene is even interested in the man or if, like Dolly, could never love again if she can't have this particular man. What, a beautiful woman automatically has less deep feelings for a guy? A beautiful woman wants to take a man "just" because she can. In my life, I've been a dumpee not the beautiful takee every time so it's not like I'm the beautiful vixen with an axe to grind. Even so, for some reason that line makes me crazy every time I hear it.
It also gets my goat that even though the song is written from the perspective of one woman begging another to leave her man alone, in all the live performances I seen of it, Dolly introduces it as if it is a girl-fighting, put-that-hussy-in-her- place song. Completely counter to the lyrics and what makes that song so compelling to me.
I do love Dolly Parton though (song writing more than singing, I tend to like her songs performed by other artists) and Jolene is one of my favorites. I like the Mindy Smith version with Dolly Parton doing backup vocals and harmonies. Her solo version on Just Because I'm A Woman is not quite as good. I also love the White Stripes cover.
