Au Revoir, Ol' Buddy

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These were the Doobie Brother's songs chosen for my buddy's funeral.

The church was packed.

My pal cast a wide net in his life, and it showed today.

An Anecdotal Study On The Effects Of Gravity On The Right Foot While Driving And Listening To Certain Rock Songs

Y'all will probably kill me since I'm putting up twenty songs. Probably gonna be the "TL: DR" version of watching videos. Anyhoo, here is a list of songs that make my right foot derned heavy, and I've avoided the obvious ones like I Can't Drive 55 and so on.

But they all have the same effect on me - my right foot gets heavy. Probably a good thing for my license that I generally use cruise control.


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This one by Sammy Hagar is pretty well off the beaten path - it just isn't heard much on terrestrial radio anymore, and I sure haven't heard it on SiriusXM, either. It's every bit as hard drivin' as I Can't Drive 55.


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Can you say one hit wonder? I knew you could!


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Well, thanks for bearing with me this far. This is by no means a Top Twenty or a definitive list - it's just some of what I happen to have digitally. There are way more I'm forgetting, and if there are any that you feel I egregiously left out, be sure and let me know in the comments!

Goofin' Off

Been kinda busy these past few days - screwing around that is. Sis came up for a concert by Jury - a local rock cover band whose lead singer we've known since we were little kids. Mostly because we played together all the time. Sis wanted to hear her sing, and they were performing at Wright Park as part of the Dodge City Days festivities.

What was even more fun was watching the kids:

Of course one petered out temporarily while I caught this. Those two and a revolving cast were really really getting into it!

Oh, and Tosha can sing.

So, Sis left yesterday, and I'm in Albert Lea, MN tonight, on the way to Grand Rapids MN. Two nights there, then off to Niles, MI.

That is about as far forward as I have planned so far.

Betcha Ya Ain't Heard This One Lately

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At least I hadn't - good ol' satellite radio.

Just Heard This

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On a rerun of Letterman. John Fogerty with Dawes.

Now that right there is what I'm talkin' about.

Totally Tubular

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More proof that my musical tastes are rooted firmly in the seventies and eighties. Just plain love this song. The Tubes certainly did crank out some kewl stuff back in the day.


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Nuttin' wrong with Sweet, either.

That is all.

Only Shooting Stars Break The Mold

I do not have an iPod. I do, however, have a Sansa mini - I rarely use it and would have to look at the back to tell you the model. It works, though, and on long trips in the Chebby Z71 it's at work.

So, since the fire, that and my laptop are the repository of all my music. Luckily I digitized my CD collection last year - and found that a lot of my CDs had been rendered unplayable from too many miles in the various OTR trucks I've driven.

That's neither here nor there, this post is about stuff that y'all would probably not expect to find on the device. For instance:


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I've always thought ol' Dwight was pretty cool. My opinion of him went up when he costarred in Billy Bob Tbornton's Sling Blade portraying the abusive Doyle. He's not taken up the acting bug and stuck with music, which is our loss. He's a good actor.

Speaking of pretty cool, there's Clint Black:


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Good stuff.

Then, switching musical genres completely:


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Completely different, but entirely listenable AFAIC. Of course this was featured in the animated movie Shrek, which was a major hoot.

And besides that, there is wisdom in the line:

Only shooting stars break the mold

Dern tootin.'

Who Will?

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This is the theme music for an ad promoting adoption of children in Kansas. It's been tugging at the ol' heart strings - enough to finally look up who it was and just what was goin' on here!

At first I thought it might be someone like a Sarah Mclachlan of the abused children set or something, but it turns out to be JJ Heller, a Christian folk singer who says Damien Rice and Patty Griffin were influences to her style, and that All Music describes her sound has being comparable with Jewel, Alison Krauss, Sara Groves and Griffin.

The Kansas adoption commercial only uses the first little vignette in the song, so it was pretty neat to hear there was more. And this line struck me as powerful:

 And now that you'll listen, I'll tell you that I..."

Sheesh, that's it. Listen.

Not Just A NBA Intro

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I'm sure there are lots out there that do not realize the song Sirius is not just a popular intro song for introductions at a NBA game. Well, it originally was an intro for Eye in the Sky by the Alan Parsons Project.

Heard it on the big trip - took my SiriusXM radio with us. Had not heard it in years. Dang.

Kansas On My Mind

No, not the state - even though we're covered in snow. No, not the KU basketball team, even though I did see them win a squeaker last night over the OSU Cowboys in a double overtime. Nope, been thinking about the rock group.


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This is from their second album Masque. I'd say they had the rock ballad pretty well down by this point.

Early in the morning sunlight Soaring on the wings of dawn Here I'll live and die with my wings in the sky 

And I won't come down no more
 
Higher than a bird I'm flying Crimson skies of ice and fire 

Borne on wings of steel, I have so much to feel 

And I won't come down no more
 
Sail on, sail on I will rise each day to meet the dawn 

So high, so high I've climbed the mountains of the sky
 
Without my wings You know, I'd surely die 

I found my freedom flying high I've climbed the mountains of the sky

 Floating on a cloud of amber 

Searching for the rainbow's end Earth so far below me, I'm here alone 

Free, I can't come down no more

Y'all can keep yer rap. Don't need it none hyar.

Let's Get Kinky

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Bet it's been a while since y'all heard this one. Or even if you've ever heard it before! Duke Tumatoe and the late Sam Kinison - all on the fly on the Bob and Tom Show. If your feet ain't a tappin' along, there is something wrong with ya.

Just What You Need to Feel Better

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You are in need of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether.

Works for me!

If Journey of Faith Didn't Do It For You

Perhaps this flash mob will:


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The final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. My mother would have loved this - she played the bassoon in her high school and college orchestras, and as you can see, the whole thing starts out with one. This is apparently one of the hotter videos on YouTube at the moment, and y'all can certainly see why.

Is it an authentic flash mob? Apparently not:

Commenters on the video have rightly noted that it does not appear to be a flashmob in the purist sense of the word. Watching the video a few times over, it does seem that the audience was aware something might be happening that day -- although their surprise and delight does seem genuine, so presumably they were not told exactly what to expect. Also, it is unlikely that the audio track that accompanies the video was recorded at the same time as the video because the sound is so good and the players do not appear to be miked.

And then there is the inescapable fact that this flashmob was staged by a Spanish banking consortium called Banco Sabadell in honor of its 130th anniversary, so it is not exactly a coincidence that the orchestra chose to gather in front of the Banc de Sabadell.

Does it matter to you? Does not to me! Sometimes we find silver linings in the cloud of our brave new world, and this sort of thing is one of them. Imagine trying to explain a flash mob doing this, the explain the institution that brought this video clip to us, over the internet to, oh, my parents, much less my grandparents.

Special thanks to jed, who mentioned this in his comments to the post about Journey of Faith's flash mob performance.

Crank It Up!

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If you should pull up next to me on some interstate, while this song is on the radio, you will be utterly convinced I am suffering from some sort of spaz attack. Bobbing my head, tapping the steering wheel, and just movin' with the groovin.'

Moldy Oldy

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One good thing about SiriusXM's musical selection is that occasionally, just occasionally, one hears something one does not hear on terrestrial radio. And since what I prefer seems to be called "classic rock" these days, and there are fewer and fewer stations that play only that format (I'm looking at Bob, or Bill, or whatever with the "play it all and everyone is happy format"), it is kinda nice to listen to channel 25 and 26 (Classic Rewind and Classic Vinyl) for a change of pace. Normally, I'm tuned in to channel 90. NASCAR radio. Try to not be shocked.

This song is by Kim Mitchell, a Canadian musician who is now a radio personality in his home country. It came out in 1985 and was featured on an episode of Miami Vice (sooooo long ago!!!!). The death of one of his friends due to drunk driving is the inspiration behind the lyrics. It's not the lyrics that make it for me. Just a cool song.

You Should

Be watching Hell on Wheels on AMC if you aren't already. Great acting and writing. So far every episode has been an eye opener for sure - lots of unexpected plot twists.

Sis got me hooked last year during the first season. She had Dish, who is currently having a spat with AMC and currently does not carry that channel. Sis now has DirecTV. It does not do to get crosswise with my sister.

Last Sunday's episode finally put the main male and female leads in the ten toes up/down position, which we'd all seen coming for all of last season and this one, too. This song was featured for a montage of scenes that included that particular plot point, plus others. Never have been much for buying folk music, but this song is haunting and plaintive. Enjoy!


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Annabel Annabel where did you go?

I’ve looked high and I’ve looked low

Oh I’ve looked low and I’ve looked high

Tell me where does the spirit go when you die?

Oh where does the spirit go when you die?

I Smile

And rock on when this song is on my radio:


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Wikipedia has this to say:

Allmusic's Maginnis praises aspects of the song, including its "nice build ups, breakdowns and solos," but does not think that the string interludes work as well in "Gonna Raise Hell" as they did in the title track of the Dream Police album.^[3] Maginnis also criticizes the song's length, at over nine minutes.^[3] Carlos has explained the length by stating that the song was originally intended to be about five minutes long, but when the band decided to go for a disco interpretation , they improvised an additional five minutes during the recording.^[1] According to Carlos, the first take of the improvised music sounded good enough to the band to be left in.^[1]

Fellow Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine praises "Gonna Raise Hell" as an "epic rocker" that ranks "among Cheap Trick's finest."^[8] Rolling Stone Magazine critic Dave Marsh sees the song as a "variation on 'Helter Skelter'" by The Beatles, and believes that the layering of the vocals was inspired by The Beatles' Abbey Road.^[9] Mojo Magazine claimed that "Gonna Raise Hell" and "Need Your Love," another song from Dream Police, "proved the Trick could do heavy, freaky rock jams as well as any of their peers."^[10] Audio Magazine found the track amusing but complained that Cheap Trick was willing to go so far as to record a disco track in order to be successful.^[11] Author Mike Hayes claims that with this song, producer Tom Werman achieved "the definitive Cheap Trick sound," even though the song's style differs from typical Cheap Trick fare.^[1]

The song has been popular live at Cheap Trick concerts.^[1]

I dunno about all that, I'm just a consumer. My opinion is that this is one of rock's standards right up there with other hell raisin' tunes like Tush by ZZ Top as just one example. I just like to hear it.

I Keep Rollin' and I Can't StopIt's Driving Me Out of My Mind

This song has been running through my head all day, and I never even heard it anywhere to get it started. I think it's apropos - it starts out easy, then gets frenetic. Seems like my life at the moment.


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The easy listening part:

Playin' easy somewhere, shade across my mind
Thoughts that pass I cannot catch, I reach for you and find
That I have learned how not to get burned now
Wind in the tree blows, even the sea knows
That I have learned how, think I can see now
Lookin' through dreams is not what it seems

They handed me the bottle and said drink it 'til it's gone
But now that it's half empty I'm not sure I can go on
Thought I had learned how not to get burned now
Wind in the tree blows, even the sea knows
That I have learned how, think I can see now
Lookin' through dreams... 

Then they kick it into gear:

I keep rollin', I keep rollin'
I keep rollin' and I can't stop
Rollin' and I can't stop
It's drivin' me out of my mind
To the truck stop, to the plane hop
To the boat dock and I'm so close
Boat dock and I'm so close
Give me a little more time 

Spin me around, turn my head down
Take me down slow, don't let me go
Spin me around, turn my head down
Take me down slow, don't let me go
Gonna quit you, gonna quit you
Gonna quit you, pretty mama
Quit you, hey mama
You know that I ain't got time
Get behind me, get behind me
Get behind me, now bad times
Oh, bad times
There's nothin' in there you can hide
Spin me around, turn my head down
Take me down slow, don't let me go
Spin me around, turn my head down
Take me down slow, don't let... 

The worm has turned for sure! Heh.

I may not have the CD anymore, but I do have the songs ingrained in my head somewhere. Couldn't take that away by burning down the house.

Every Once In A While

I get my head outta the sixties, seventies and early eighties as far as music goes. And by music I mean classic rock. So I'm narrow minded. Sue me.


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Yep, kinda partial to this song. Kinda like this one, too:


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I guess Shinedown has been around a while. Couldn't tell by me, apparently. Oh well, I'm enjoying hearing their stuff when it rolls around on the ol' FM tuneage suppliers.

This Is the Last Song

Andrea Harris posits that men in general feel it is necessary to inform women of the meaning of Don McLean's American Pie. That may be, even though I feel no compulsion to educate women about what McLean was talking about. She then calls the song overrated. I couldn't agree more.

There are some songs that we just cannot stomach out there, and this is one of them for me. It isn't the melody - it's the subject matter. It seems rather arrogant to presume that music died when Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash. Hey, even the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens were killed in the same crash, and somehow the "music" has continued. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, half of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kurt Cobain and so many other musicians have died before their time, and ol Don didn't have a peep to say about them. I'd think Morrison or Hendrix would have some sort of claim of influence that might just be a tad bit more relevant than Buddy Holly. Just sayin.'

Next up on my list is Carly Simon's You're So Vain.

 You probably think this song is about you.

What? You mean it isn't? Just WTF are you talkin' 'bout here, Carly, if not this particular asshole? Just who do you think you are shittin' here? Credibility now = zero. This clown might be a total waste, but now we know you and the truth are separate entities.

Then we have Jackson Browne's Load Out/Stay. It was sweet the first hundred or two times. Yeah, he's thanking his crew, which is nice. Every time it plays on the radio - just about ten minutes of my life I'd like back.  Please. Enough. I got it. You're welcome Mr. Browne, from the crew. For the nine millionth time already. Move on - please!

This next one is kinda obscure, but my teeth ache when I hear it. Edward Bear's Last Song.

This is the last song I'll ever write for you.

Thank Gawd. Are we done yet? No? Gotta drag it out some more? Maybe she left because of your crappy songs - ever think of that? Apparently not, because she came back and told him why she left, and thus, another song. Whee. Just. Can't. Contain. My. Excitement.

Another one way down the scale of hatred is Meat Loaf's Paradise By the Dashboard Lights. Way back, when Moby Dick was just a minnow and this song was new - I couldn't stand it. Now? It's a kind of fun song from the old days, and I actually find myself singing along. I know all the words. I may just kill myself and get it over quick and painlessly yet.

And yet one more in the category of past hatred hotter than a thousand suns but time has mellowed it to a mild simmer: Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. I remember one of my serious musician friends whose musical tastes we all respected claimed this was the worst song from the whole album A Night At The Opera. But, once again, time has pulled the teeth from the serpent of enmity.

Scaramouche! Scaramouche! will you do the Fandango!?!

This was just the sort of song that suited Freddie Mercury's flamboyant style. He's dead now too, and I don't hear ol' Don singing about him, either, and frankly, Freddie was a far bigger star than Buddy Holly ever hoped to be.