Yet ANOTHER Top 100 (or so) Songs I Absolutely Must Have With Me on 1/48/50

#247) "If Heaven" by Andy Griggs - Penned by one of the best songwriters in country music - Gretchen Peters - "If Heaven" is a ballad that keeps digging until it reaches that aquifer of sorrow used for fueling something that is more than merely a "hurtin' song". There's a cinematic flair in much of Peters' music, but here the arrangement, coupled with Griggs' vocals (a perfect blend of pitch and drawl) energizes (anxious energy, that is...) the bittersweet melody and evocative lyrics, until the "cinematic flair" transforms into something unbearably heart-breaking and unbearably lovely, ultimately transcending, like all great ballads, the mere moment at hand.

"If heaven were an hour, it'd be twilight ..."

#248) "For the Good Times" by Ray Price - Penned by ANOTHER of the best songwriters in country music - Kris Kristofferson - country crooner Ray Price's version of "For the Good Times" lays bare one of nature's uniquely human skills - the manufacture, distribution and preservation of "good times". 

That we experience our lives within the framework of fraternity not only with each other, but with the passage of time, dividing it up into themes and eras as it grinds forward and down ceaselessly, is perhaps more than anything (other than laughter) what distinguishes us from the animals. 

Whether they're romantic in nature, as in this song, or involve just friends or family, the good times are all too fleeting, and start to lessen, lose potency, as life passes, which I think is reflected in "For the Good Times". There is an urgency here, as two people find themselves at the end of their relationship (it is, after all, a hurtin' song first and foremost...), but there's also a certain resignation to those things that are completely beyond our control.

(As it grinds forward and down ceaselessly...)

"Don't look so sad, I know it's over..."

Yet ANOTHER Top 100 (or so) Songs I Absolutely Must Have With Me on 1/48/50

#245) "The River" by Bruce Springsteen - The title track off one of his best albums, it might be said "The River" was the beginning of Springteen's artistic evolution from boy to man - post Born to Run/pre-Born in the USA. Its quiet, folk-oriented sound reveals in dark, gritty detail (worthy of The Boss) the life, lifestyle and livelihood of much of the real small town America, too often beholden to traditions that do it no good, and dependent on jobs provided by companies that offer no guarantee of sticking around...jobs that surely aren't sexy, or even healthy.

"The River" is not sexy. But it's real. It's truth.

Bruce's entire body of work should really come along on any cross-country road trip, as so much of it reflects this country through the decades, the good, bad, and ugly...

...the wild, the innocent, and the e-street shuffle.

"Then I got Mary pregnant, and man that was all she wrote / And for my 19th birthday, I got a union card and a wedding coat..."

#246) "Trashy Women" by Confederate Railroad - What can I say? Yes, the song is kind of a throwaway, for this list and for country music in general, but I think it's funny...and more or less true for most men, whether they admit it.  True for me, anyway...just a little.

Of course, it is an unnervingly short half-step from "trashy" (easily idealized in the safe, stable sanctimony of a song) to slatternly and rancorous. So all men are well-advised to review this predilection frequently. ;-)

"They said well pardon us Son, she ain't no kid, that's a cocktail waitress in a Dolly Parton wig / I said, I know it Dad, ain't she cool? That's the kind I dig..."

Yet ANOTHER Top 100 (or so) Songs I Absolutely Must Have With Me on 1/48/50

#243) "Downtown" by Petula Clark - Yes, it is true there are some communities around the country working hard to preserve/reinvigorate their downtown areas, aided by a recent (as in the last ten or fifteen years) trend away from the sterile mall scene - where Orange Julius, a Chinese buffet and Sbarro are the only dining options - in favor of a homier, artsier, more community-oriented shopping/dining experience.

Groovy. But by and large, most downtowns continue to struggle to compete with slickly packaged corporatism. For better or worse, American consumers seem to prefer, and thus gravitate toward, malls and strip malls, those clustered retail areas with "big box" everything, found in the open spaces of a town's outskirts, rather than the narrow streets of city center.

I admit, I'm that way. I like history, appreciate the aesthetic of days gone by, particularly when it comes to architecture, and fully acknowledge the importance of "local" and "community", but I'm sorry, when it's time to spend my hard-earned money on goods, services, or entertainment, I'd prefer not to do so in an old building or space.  There's just something about the optics of a 19th century slaughterhouse being renovated into retail space that fails to excite me.  It's a nice idea, I guess, and maybe it's good someone is thinking to do it (because at the same time, I don't think everything should simply be torn down either), but give me that sterile shopping mall any day. Same goes with restaurants in old buildings, or worse, in renovated homes. Not down with that at all. When I go out to eat, I want to feel as though I'm eating out, not invited over to someone's house.

I dislike B&B's for the same reason.

When I think of "downtown", whether in a town of 8,000 or city of half a million, I always think of what was, rather than what is, or what will be. And if it's not an area undergoing some kind of well-meaning revitalization, forget it. I never expect to (and rarely do I ever) find anything there but boarded up store fronts, maybe a used furniture store or political party headquarters, a bus station, an architecturally interesting old building perhaps...but nothing ever really going on.  Surely no "gentle bossa nova" calling to me, and the "music of the traffic in the city" only making me wish for an escape. And for that matter, mostly unsavory types lingering amidst the glow of the "pretty" neon signs.

That being said, I find Petula Clark's "Downtown" fascinating nevertheless. Not exactly jam-worthy, but worthy of inclusion in any thinking man's road trip mix, as an emissary from a different age, when "downtown" was still the epicenter of every community's constantly shifting proclivities and predilections.

Honestly, seeking out still-vibrant and viable downtowns might be a good side mission - so to speak - of 1/48/50.

"The lights are much brighter there, you can forget all your worries, forget all your cares..."

#244) "We've Gotta Get Out of this Place" by The Animals - The sentiment of this song is what drives all road trips, all escapes out of anywhere. Doesn't really matter if "this place" is a deserted main drag in a small town with a 70-car freight train running through twice a day, or an urban neighborhood with an L train running overhead every fifteen minutes, the impulse to leave in search of something better, the belief that something better lies in wait somewhere else, is powerful stuff, a driving force in life, and represented with compelling urgency by this song's raw 60s sound and singer Eric Burdon's equally raw vocals.

"We've gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do..."

Yet ANOTHER Top 100 (or so) Songs I Absolutely Must Have With Me on 1/48/50

#240) "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World - Last post, I said that for the sake of emotional health and sense of well-being, I try to avoid music that is too melancholy, too sentimental and downtrodden. I also never really buy into songs that go too heavy with the preaching and moralizing: whether it's trying to tell me how I should or should not be living, or that I should care more, or that caring less is okay, or that everything is going to be okay, or that I'm super special in every way, have every reason in the wide world to love myself to death...I need neither the advice nor the validation of strangers, even (or especially) celebrities.  Truth be told, I've always had, at best, a love/hate relationship with the concept of celebrity and the celebrities in our midst, and have always bristled whenever I thought I was being unwittingly conscripted by the media into the service of "celebrating" them, which in this day and age is more or less a fucking 24-hour onslaught.

And like a lot of people, music is very personal to me. When I hear a song and decide I like it, I hardly think of the artist or his/her message at all. The song pretty much becomes mine, almost as if I'm the one who wrote it. To that end, I don't want to be the one being spoken to, because (in my brain) I've become the one doing the speaking.

I think musical performers who are true "artists" (as OPPOSED to "celebrities", perhaps...) understand that this happens, expect it even...or may even (and I know this sounds fruity) consciously release their work to the public for just such interpretation and adoption.

Sometimes though, an objectifyingly preachy, "you're-okay-and-everything's-gonna-be-okay" type song gets it right. Mostly what makes 2001's "The Middle" listenable (and thus, its sermon/message palatable) is its clean, crisp sound; the whole thumping bass/driving beat thing is hard to ignore, hard not to like. But I admit, I also like the way it approaches its sermon: the words are hopeful, rather than sappy and self-serving, less a sermon, really, more like advice from a friend; that is, advice I have sought out, rather than the unwanted (and sickeningly potent) self-esteem booster shot modern artists seem to like to poke into the arms of their fans with every other single they release.

I know it's always been there, but inarguably there's been a noticeable uptick in the amount of gratis emotional therapy being dispensed on Top 40 radio in the last ten or fifteen years. Millennials are being assured and reassured again at an unprecedented rate that they are special, worthy, sparkles on the water, a firework in the sky, a roaring sea, a burning fire, perfect in every way (or good enough), by artists, who - let's be honest - really give no more of a shit about them than artists cared about their fans in the time of Generation X, or the Baby Boomers, or World War II, or the Roarin' 20s...or the Roman empire, for that matter.

But yes, at the end of the day I know that I should just shut up and consider myself fortunate that I'm one of those who doesn't need that.

And I'm not totally jaded. Again, sometimes a song gets it right. I really believe the world would be a much happier place if everyone kept the healthy, spirited lyrics to "The Middle" in mind each morning when they got out of bed to face a new day.

Mostly, though, I just like the way it sounds.

"Hey, don't write yourself off yet / It's only in your head you feel left out, or looked down on..." 

#241) "Do You Realize??" by The Flaming Lips - Another song looking to teach a lesson, yes...(well, sort of)...but one that takes a philosophical approach to subject matter that flows much deeper than merely self-worth. The results are a potent gospel that everyone - everyone - should listen to, and heed.

In fact, once again, the lyrics are too important to gray out:

 "Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?? / And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know you realize that life goes fast, it's hard to make the good things last / You realize the sun doesn't go down, it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning 'round..."


#242) "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" by James Brown - What makes this song great is also the musicality, the spraying horns and electric guitar flapping in the breeze, sharing the stage with Brown's inimitable singing style - "funk" in its infancy.

"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is one of those songs I don't realize I like unless I'm actually listening to it. Then I'm grooving, baby...I can't help myself.  Papa's got a brand new bag each new time.

There's a message in this song too, come to think of it....which it totally gets right.

"He ain't no drag, he's got a brand new bag..."