Random Friday morning musical musings, 5-8-09

1. A couple of lyrics from the Atlantic Starr hit "Secret Lovers" go like this:
"If we're found out, it will mess up both our happy homes....I wish we didn't have to keep our love out of sight."
Really. Well, if your homes were so happy, why did you look outside those homes for that kind of fulfillment? And if you had the spinal and intestinal fortitude to leave, well maybe you wouldn't have to keep your love out of sight, hmmm? I do not understand. Shit or get off the pot already!
2. Another set of lyrics, this one from Keith Anderson's "Every Time I Hear Your Name," goes, "When the conversation turns to you, I get caught in a 'you were the only one for me'..." Well if that's the case, then maybe it's too soon for a new relationship, eh?
3. Hayes Carll sounds a hell of a lot like a younger version of Billy Joe Shaver. He has that well-worn, somewhat gravelly voice, it seems, at a much younger age than Shaver, with the accent and many of the same vocal mannerisms and inflections. I don't know if he's ever covered any of Shaver's songs, but I bet he could pull it off better than anyone.
4. How many of you remember the old song/recitation about the deck of cards? I remembered it once I heard it this morning (T. Texas Tyler, for all of you fans of the REALLY old country), and I didn't expect it to bring a lump to my throat...but it sure did.
5. Of all the odd things I've heard, I never thought I would ever add to that list a post-grunge/alt-rock remake of a Wham! record. Seether's cover of "Careless Whisper" actually turned out to be quite good, though -- if you're into that sort of music.
6. Led Zeppelin is ten kinds of awesome -- even taking into account that if I ever heard "Stairway to Heaven" again it would be too soon, another example of a pretty good song that seems to be wildly overplayed. But Robert Plant's solo records never did a thing for me. "Tall Cool One" is especially grind-your-teeth annoying.
7. I thought it was somewhat ironic to hear Johnny Bush's "Whiskey River" on Willie's Place (Sirius Ch. 64) this morning, considering the version I've heard so often is the live version recorded by the man who lent his name to that channel. My favorite is still that cut from Willie And Family Live, but Johnny Bush's recording of it is still great. I did not know he was the one who wrote it, until I found out that his real name was John Bush Shinn III ("J.B. Shinn III" was how it's credited on the record.) You learn something new every day, it seems.
8. Another example of how I am not nearly the music maven I try to come off as: I heard the title cut from Pantera's Cowboys from Hell album this morning...in its entirety...For. The. Very. First. Time. Damn, but that RAWKED. Now I know exactly why I always see them mentioned beside other thrash greats such as Metallica and Megadeth. It was such a low-down dirty shame what happened to Dimebag Darrell on that Ohio stage in December 2004. My gimpy arse is going shopping real soon.
9. Freddy Fender's "When The Next Teardrop Falls" would be an almost perfect anthem for the Nice Guy lampooned by so many people. "If he brings you happiness, then I wish you all the best, it's your happiness that matters most of all." Well yeah, that's true, but then it's off the rails...
"If he ever breaks your heart, if a teardrop ever starts, I'll be there before the next teardrop falls....I'll be there any time, you need me by your side." No, no, no. Dude, how long are you gonna be carrying the torch for this woman? If he makes her cry you'd do well to stay away, especially if you drop that torch like you should and find someone new. If you tell her something like that and he does make her cry, and you're with someone new, you're caught between breaking a promise to a "friend" and giving what your new girlfriend might think of as inappropriate emotional support -- and she'd be quite justified to be angry about it. Those things happen and if he makes her cry, well, them's the breaks, as they say. Maybe I sound like a Heartless Bastard, but that's just what I think.

That's all for today's Random Musical Musings, folks, but there'll be more to come! Stayyyy tuned!