Turntable Talk – “Shock Rock”

Welcome to another edition of Turntable Talk hosted by Dave over at A Sound Day. Check out his site here: https://soundday.wordpress.com/

His topics have ranged from very easy to thought provoking. This time around, I find it truly thought provoking.

Here are the instructions that Dave sent to each of the participants describing what this edition was to be about:

This time around I’m calling it ‘Shock rock’… but wait, it’s not about Marilyn Manson and Megadeath…unless you want it to be. The subject basically will be pick a record that you love that would surprise people… something that runs afar from your regular favorite listening. Maybe you like hard rock but love something by the Carpenters. Or are a huge ’60s fan who can’t get enough Bruno Mars. Or maybe it’s a little Tchaikovsky to wind down after a night full of Stones or Springsteen. Let us know what it is that makes that ‘oddball’ selection so appealing to you.

What Could Possibly “Surprise” You?

I have almost 5000 songs on my iPod. I have a CD collection that fills at least three storage totes, and 4 carrying cases. My external hard drive is loaded up with almost half a terabyte of songs. What ONE song would surprise you? This was my dilemma.

I had three songs immediately jump out at me when I first read Dave’s e-mail. The more I thought on them, I just wasn’t sure which one to pick. As I am writing this, I still question the one that I chose. I will stick with it because it isn’t something I would normally post, and it is more of a personal song. So how in the world did I narrow it down?

Grab my iPod and there is just about every genre of music on there. There is pop music from every decade from the 1930’s to the 2010’s. There is country music – classic and modern. There is a fair amount of R&B, Soul and Motown. I’m not ashamed to admit there are some disco favorites, too. You will also find Big Band and Swing music, Jazz, standards, and plenty of Classical music. There is Christian music and plenty of oldies. There are some favorite Christmas songs on the play list and songs that I played when I was in high school band that I downloaded from YouTube and other sources.

Going through the iPod, there were songs that I thought were “oddball” that I could write about. For example, I have almost every Weird Al Polka Medley on there. I also have music from the Shrek soundtrack, music from The Muppets, and music from the cartoon Phineas and Ferb. There are also plenty of songs that are on there that my kids used to listen to when we would be in the car from some of their favorite kid shows. Oddball, indeed.

All that being said, anyone who knows me or has read my blog before knows that I have a wide range of musical tastes. It would be easy to feature any one of the “oddball” songs mentioned in the above paragraph. Instead, there was one song that stood out for me. It is a song that I never skip when it comes on the iPod (there are only a few of those). It is also a song that I have debated posting on my blog as part of a “music Monday” or some music feature. I kept holding back, probably because it is such a personal song for me. Will you find it “shocking?” I doubt it.

Untitled Hymn – Chris Rice

Readers of my blog know that I am a Christian. While I don’t care for much of the “modern” Christian music, I do like many songs. I cannot recall when I first heard Chris Rice’s “Untitled Hymn,” but it hit me immediately. It was a song that I shared with one of the guys at church, who worked it up and sang it on more than one occasion.

To those who are not of the Christian faith, there will be no connection whatsoever to the song. To me, however, it hits me deep every time I hear it. I am reminded of who I was before and who I am now. It also reminds me that when my life is over – it isn’t over. I am aware that not everyone believes what I do, and that is ok. I’m ok if you just scroll on by this blog.

The song begins with a lone piano and then the vocal. The lyrics of this song speak of the journey of a Christian. From sinner to saved. Singing praise. New life in Christ and life’s struggles and looking to Him in those struggles. Feeling the love and joy that comes in this new life. Finally, the “end” of life on earth for the Christian and the beginning of the afterlife.

The vocal and the piano blend so perfectly. The inflection of the vocal through the dynamics of the song conveys the lyrics exactly how they need to be conveyed. Rice rerecorded the song for “A Collection of Hymns” with a more up-tempo piano and more instrumentation (strings, guitar, etc…) and vocal harmony. Personally, I prefer the original recording over the newer version. I feel it is more powerful.

Here is the original and the lyrics:

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
Oh, raise your head for Love is passing by

Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live

Now your burden’s lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain

So, sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live

And like a newborn baby
Don’t be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk sometimes we fall

So, fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live

Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain

Then cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live

Oh and when the love splills over
And music fills the night
And when you can’t contain your joy inside

Then dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live

With your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory’s side

And fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live

Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live

In Closing

Does it shock you that I picked this song? I guess it is a bit different than the songs I have posted in the past. Isn’t that what I was supposed to do? At any rate, Dave asked us to explain what makes this song so “appealing.” All I can say is that it appeals to me because I relate to it. Outside of the last verse, I have lived it. It is a song that strikes a chord (pun intended) every time I hear it. Depending on what is going on in my life, I either smile and sing along or cry and sing along. To me, that makes it one powerful song.

Thanks for allowing me to participate, Dave. I look forward to the next edition.

A New Car! (Sort of …)

I drive about 70 miles to work each day. Round trip that means I drive about 140 miles 4 times a week. In a year, I will put about 29,000 miles on my car. I got good gas mileage on the car I was driving, however, I was about to turn 170,000 and it was time to trade it in.

Sam and I had been talking for some time about getting a newer vehicle. She was looking at vans. We wanted something that we could take on trips, as well as fit both boys, the baby and us! She had a good idea of what she was looking for. With winter just around the corner, we weren’t sure just how many miles we had left on mine, so the search was on.

Last Saturday we found a 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan that fit perfectly within our budget. It took us about 2 hours and we drove off the lot with it. The question then became “Who’s gonna drive it?”

Sam drives a few less miles a day than I do, so she decided to drive the van, and I inherited her car. Prior to getting the van, if we went anywhere, we always took Sam’s car. I usually drove, so I was quite familiar with it. However, now that this car was becoming my ride, I had to adjust a few things.

I always had to put the seat back when I drove. So now the seat is where it needs to be. The mirrors are now adjusted for me. My Autism Awareness and Detroit Tigers magnets are now on the back of this car. I connected my phone to the bluetooth, which is awesome because I can talk hands free now. Finally, I programmed all my radio stations on the radio.

On my old car, I could connect my iPod and it would play the songs on shuffle. Now, the radio guy in me always thinks it is cool when songs that have something in common play back to back. It’s even cooler when different versions of the same song play back to back. And us radio guys think it is extra amazing when an old radio station jingle plays into a song we used to play at that station!

Anyway, I’m driving home this morning and check to see that the iPod will play. The song that plays is True Love by Glen Frey. That is followed by True Love (different song) by Pat Benatar. I’m loving the coincidence when True Love Ways by Buddy Holly follows that! Now that’s really cool, right?! Buddy is followed by True Love Ways by Martina McBride. Now I am a bit freaked out. This is just WAY too weird. Martina is followed by Truly by the Lionel Richie, which is followed by Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden. It is only after that song begins, that I realize the iPod is playing all the songs in alphabetical order! What a dope!!! Needless to say, I found the “Shuffle” button on the touch screen and can now listen un-alphabetically!

Quick Ella Story

Not too long ago, I stumbled on a video by Daniel Labelle. He is on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. His videos are silly, and hilarious. The one I first saw was “If People Did Everything Agressively.” It was so ridiculous that I had to send it to my best friend, Jeff. He found an “extended” video with even more silliness and sent it to me.

Anyway, this morning, he sends me a new video from this guy – “If People Did Everything in a Rush.” So, I am sitting on the floor and Ella is next to me. I start laughing at the stupidity of this video and she crawls over to me and starts watching it too. The video is looped, so it starts back at the beginning once it is over and keeps playing. The more it played, the more she laughed. These were truly the biggest belly laughs I have heard from her! What did she find so funny? See for yourself…

Daniel Labelle

She cracked up at the garbage can, the lawn mower, the vacuum, and him running toward the camera with the weed whacker! I must have watched this 40 times today just to hear her laugh. Fast forward a couple of hours. Ella woke up from her nap and Sam is out on the living room floor changing her diaper. She gets the diaper off and Ella starts rolling away. I walk out and tell Sam, “You’ve gotta see this! She was laughing so hard at this earlier!” So Ella sits on Sam’s lap and I play the video. She starts to belly laugh, just like earlier. The video loops again and she laughs even more. Then, with no warning at all and in the middle of a belly laugh, she peed all over Sam!

Our little pumpkin sure gives us so much to be happy about! She also provides many laughs and many memories which I am sure we will look back on fondly in the years ahead!

That’s all for now …

Apple Anger!

apple

I have had my iPod Classic for about 17 years. The original computer I used to synch it with iTunes is long dead. I haven’t added any music to it in some time because I had synched it to too many computers (now all dead) over the years. Recently, I had my first issue …

I need my music. Music is SO important to me. I listen to it at night while at work (often drowning out the conversations or non-stop babble of coworkers). I listen to it when I take a walk. I listen to it in my car (while connected with USB). I have over 5000 songs on it, many of which I cannot find anywhere anymore. I do NOT want to give it up.

Within the last few weeks, the one ear stopped working. I thought it was just the headphones I was using, but upon trying other headphones, I discovered it was something in the iPod itself. I contacted Apple Support tonight and was basically told that my iPod Classic (as well as an old Nano my son had) was “obsolete”. I could try cleaning it with the bristles of a tooth brush or blow air into it to see if there was debris in it (which I did), but that didn’t work. The only option she gave me was “try to go to an Apple store and they ‘may’ be able to fix it”.

The closest Apple store is an hour from me, and quite frankly, I don’t want to pay a ton of money just to have it looked at. Besides, there are plenty of articles online about how when people had taken it in to be fixed, they were told it was beyond repair. Right now if I connect it to my car USB, it plays in both speakers. So, technically, it still works. I don’t want them to “break it further”!

I certainly don’t have the money to buy a new one, which is the iPod Touch (which, as you know, had a huge touch screen and is easily breakable even with a case, screen protector, and such). Hell, the refurbished ones (with the space I have on my classic) is something like $200! So, do I get one only to have it become “obsolete”, too?!

Apple – you disappoint me. First, you made it so after a few computers, I couldn’t add music to my device. Then, you update iTunes to the point where it won’t even connect to the device. Then you basically don’t support your previous devices. I cannot begin to voice my disappointment loud enough! It angers me! I know that I cannot be the only Apple customer who feels this way. You didn’t even offer me a trade in toward a new device. Sad.

I really don’t want a cheap MP3 player, but I guess that’s what I may end up doing. I also will now need to make that list of songs on the iPod currently and begin to create a folder somewhere on my laptop or external drive to store them so that when I get another device I can put those songs on it. I also will need to see about finding a way to get the ones that are unavailable for me to get, or things that I personally recorded for it, into some sort of file to transfer it over.

In the meantime, at least I can still listen to it in the car, and still use it on the dock while I DJ. Hang in there old and obsolete friend….

GettyImages-76524886-57d24aae5f9b5829f454b6f1

Tune Tuesday – The Distance Between You and Me

I follow quite a few blogs that focus on classic movies, classic TV, and great music. One of the bloggers I follow posted a bit about Dwight Yoakam and his great song “Ain’t That Lonely Yet.” You can see that blog at the following link:

Dwight Yoakam – Ain’t That Lonely Yet

When I am driving in to work, or at work listening to my iPod or Pandora, I will jot down songs that I think I might want to post for Tune Tuesday. The day he posted his Dwight song, I had been listening to my iPod and heard one of my favorites, which is today’s tune.

distance 2

In 1990, Dwight Yoakam released his fourth album “If There Was a Way”. It produced 5 top 40 singles – “Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose” (#11), “You’re the One” (#5), “Nothing’s Changed Here” (#15), “It Only Hurts When I Cry” (#7), and “The Heart That You Own” (#18). He also released a duet with Patty Loveless called “Send a Message to My Heart” which reached #47. The album also includes some great cuts that never played on the radio: The uptempo “Since I Started Drinking Again”, the bluesy title track, a cover of Wilbert Harrison’s “Let’s Work Together” and the opening song – “The Distance Between You and Me”

Distance

The song opens with a lone guitar lick, and then goes into a classic country riff. A teacher I had in high school used to say country songs always had an “un-chicka un-chicka un-chicka” beat to them….LOL. When you listen to it, you will know what I mean.

Dwight wrote this song. I’m not sure what his inspiration was, but I LOVE the illustrations he paints for us with the lyrics. He is in a dead relationship. They two are co-existing. They are two people who could not be farther apart. How far? The lyrics explain.

The Distance Between You and Me

Take a rock tie a rope
Throw it down in the sea
Let it fall to the bottom
Nobody knows how deep
Stare real hard through the water
And you might just perceive
The distance between you and me
The distance between you and me

Take a map of the world
And measure with your hand
All of the miles
Across all of the land
Write it down add it up
And you might understand
About the distance between you and me
The distance between you and me

I lie awake and hear you breathing
Only inches from me in this bed
Not much space but it’s all that we needed
To live alone now that our love is dead

Climb the Earth’s tallest mountain
To where it reaches the sky
Take a gun fire a bullet
Straight up out of sight
Where it stops in the heaven
Well that ain’t half as high
As the distance between you and me
The distance between you and me

I love the haunting final chord at the end of this song! I saw Dwight in concert a few times and he really is great on stage. I actually had the chance to meet him once and it was … weird. Everyone with Meet and Greet passes all went into his tour bus. We all sat down and he exited what must have been his bedroom on there. He walked around to each of us. Shook our hand. Looked directly into our eyes and asked our name. He then repeated our name and said, “Hi,(your name). I’m Dwight.” The whole time I was thinking, “Dude! You have been making records for years…..you have a ton of hits…..we all have tickets to your show….we know who YOU are!!” He was very gracious and signed autographs and took pictures, but it was one of the most awkward meet and greets I have ever been though.

dwight-yoakam-7599263441-ab

Tune Tuesday – How Long

HOW LONG1

If you are like me, you have songs that when you hear them on your MP3 player, or your iPod, as soon as they end, you play them again. I have quite a few of them. I would wager a guess that these songs will end up here in future Tune Tuesday blogs. Today’s song is definitely one that I play at least twice.

I was working in country radio when this song hit my desk. I knew that the Eagles, whose last studio album had been 28 years earlier, had recorded a new album. I was surprised that this song was shipped to our station as a song that could possibly make the playlist. While the Eagles certainly had a “southern” sound, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I popped it into the CD player and began to listen to it. I remember liking the opening guitar lick. I remember thinking that the vocals were strong and then the chorus hit. Those amazing Eagles harmonies were there and sounded amazing! Solid Eagles. I fell in love with it and when I talked to my program director, he thought the same thing. It stood out amongst the other songs, and we were ok with that.

What’s neat about the song is that The Eagles had been performing it at concerts in the early 70’s. The song was written by JD Souther, and he wanted to record it for his own album, so the Eagles never recorded it. Souther and the Eagles were good friends, and JD co-wrote some of their hits (New Kid In Town, Heartache Tonight, and The Best of My Love). He released his version of the song on his 1972 Album, John David Souther.

Fast forward to 2007. Glenn Frey said that his kids were watching a clip of the Eagles on a special called Pop Gala (in Holland) from 1974. As his kids laughed at how long his hair was, the band was playing How Long. Glenn’s wife told him that the band should record the song stating that it was “classic Eagles.” He agreed that it would fit right in with what they were recording for their album Long Road Out of Eden.

In 2008, the song won a Grammy Award for “Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal”. It was the group’s first Grammy since 1979. 1979 was also when they had recorded their last studio album.

Play it twice! I know I will ….

How Long – The Eagles

Like a blue bird with his heart removed, lonely as a train
I’ve run just as far as I can run
If I never see the good old days shinin’ in the sun
I’ll be doin’ fine and then some

How long, how long
Woman will you weep
How long, how long
Rock yourself to sleep

Well I been doin’ time in lonesome prison, where the sun don’t shine
Just outside, the freedom river runs
Out there in that shiny night, with blood hounds on your mind
Don’t you know it’s the same sad situation?

How long, how long

Woman will you weep

How long, how long

Rock yourself to sleep

Everybody feels alright you know, I heard some poor fool say (somebody ooh)
Everyone is out there on the loose
Well I wish I lived in the land of fools, no one knew my name
But what you get is not quite what you choose

Tell me, how long, how long
Woman will you weep
How long, how long
Rock yourself to sleep

How long, how long
Muddy River runs so deep
How long, how long
Good night baby, rock yourself to sleep
Sleep tight baby, rock yourself to sleep
B-b-b, bye bye baby, rock yourself to sleep