My theory about good and bad music

Cars are a lot like songs. First, they have to be made. Some songs, some cars are ill conceived, not made well, and then sold to the public. If it's a car, it breaks down after about 40,000 miles and is a damn "lemon". If it's a song, it sounds like shit! We all heard a shitty song, right? You know like "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees.

Then there's better songs, but not by a whole lot. These are songs that sound good, catch fire, but then fall apart after hearing it for the nth time. Think about a popular song that goes to #1 or close to #1. Then you hear it, and hear it and hear it, and hear it in commercials. OMG!!! I think I hear my cockatiel whistling the melody!! Can't think of a song like that now (I stay away from those kind of stations), but "You Light up My LIfe" by Debby Boone comes to mind (anyone around in 1977??)

Another song is "Out of Tears" from VOODOO LOUNGE back in the mid-90s. After playing it on the radio stations, MTV, they played it in soap operas maybe a commercial and OMG, I am so over that song by then!! The point is the first time you heard it, you thought is was ok, the 3rd time you heard it, you don't mind it. But like cars, that song just keeps piling up more and more mileage. Then it hits about 100,000 miles. You've heard the song so much, you immediately change radio stations if you hear the 1st 4 notes! Yes, it's so bad that you don't even have to hear the singer sing the tune. You know the song so well, and we all know "familiarity breeds contempt.". It ran and drove well for awhile, the song sounded good, but after hearing it so much and reaching 100,000 miles, the muffler dropped off, it's timing belt snapped, the engine has no power in it, and the transmission is shot. If you hear that fuckin' song again, you'll start swearing (sorry, I already got that covered). The bottom line is that the song isn't good enough to hear so many times. Like an average car, it's days are numbered after it reaches 100,000 miles.

Then, there's the great cars. Songs/cars that were well designed, put together masterfully, and sold to an adoring public. Some songs are so awesome that they could be 30 years old and still sound as though it was released yesterday.

I loved hearing The White Stripes "Fell in Love with a Girl" back in 2002; I love hearing it now, 9 years later, and will love hearing it 10 years from now. You can say the same about other songs from other bands. Two examples are Led Zeppelin's "Trampled Under Foot" and "Misty Mountain Hop" (but not so "Stairway to Heaven" it's been played oh so much! It's like a car with that 600,000 miles on it. By that time nearly any car would break down!)

There are songs that don't get much airplay on a popular album. They are a vintage car with only a few thousand miles on them. Boston has 2 songs like that. One is "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" from the first album and "Party" from the 2nd album. I like them more than "Long Time' or maybe even "More than a Feeling". Now, More than a Feeling IS A GOOD SONG. But when classic rock stations across the nation play this song 3-5 times a week.........well, it has about 600,000 miles on it...... and you know what happens to cars w/ 600,000 miles on them.

So that is why I am lukewarm about a song like "Stairway to Heaven" but absolutely worship a song like "In My Time of Dying". "In My Time of Dying" is a song that not many people heard, but it sounds every bit as good as "Stairway to Heaven". No, the radio stations don't play "In My Time of Dying", but that just means it's a great car with only 15,000 miles on it!! Yes, those are the songs I love THE MOST!!

Christmas inspiration

Feeling the Christmas spirit, Owen wrote Pam the following in a Christmas card: 

MY CHRISTMAS FEELINGS TO YOU

    You give the gift of love in such an overwhelmingly sweet way, that I am unsure where to start.  You give me confidence, and when I am with you my worries vanish.  You pull me miles away from the hardship life dishes out. & if I am confronted with hardship, we confront it together, and I have more confidence.  

    We were all meant to love, that’s what heaven is about.  You bring a slice of heaven to me.  You erase insecurities with your awesome, *altruistic"  personality, but most of all with your love. Because of a lot of failure in high school and college, then in the summer and early fall of 2004 (when we discussed it, you said I was “trying too hard”).

    & then, there’s you, Sweetheart!  I feel like I’m loved, that my life is going in the right direction.  It’s such a horrible feeling when you witness things getting worse and worse.  Yet, there I am with you.   Life is  going well, I’m doing the right things, my life will get better   I can’t tell or emphasize enough the feeling of confidence, happiness, security that I feel - all because of you.  Where I felt like life was a cruel hardship in 2002 and 2003, now I treasure it.   I drive more carefully; I wake up happier.  I go to sleep knowing  you  love me!!

    I can describe some of the relief I feel - I’m not going to be unloved.  My benevolence will be used to make you happier.  I won’t go through life misunderstood and overlooked and unloved.  You’re in my life, and I  feel like tearing up with joy that you and I are one!!   I want to be in your arms for a very long time.

    You have resolve, you are very strong, this isn’t short term, this is long term!  I will love you always.  I LOVE YOU, love a beautiful worthy, superhero-like strong woman (you have a super human ability not to need much sleep), I love you............ you, who are a woman just as determined as I am  to make sure this loving relationship go for a long time.  
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Merriam - Webster Dictionary regards altruism as: 
unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others.
You are and always have been altruistic to your kids; I feel you are the same  way toward me.
 

OH MY GOD! THE IRONY!