Posted on by Dana Kane

Closing in on 42 : A Musical Interlude (TUS)

 

Music resonates with all of us – it soothes the Savage Beast, or something. Also, if you’re lucky, it has a good beat and you can dance to it! (American Bandstand reference. Anyone? Anyone…? Crickets.)

But I digress, which I understand happens far more frequently as one ages. Also losing eyeglasses, from what I’ve heard, so I’ve personally amassed a collection of reading glasses that would make Fred G. Sanford proud. (Crickets again.)

Seems like another sure sign of aging is making references to things from decades ago which many of your readers will NOT understand…move along young people, nothing to see here.

 

Back to music. Some things we love because they’re the soundtracks of our youth, and some we love because they remind us of a person or event in our lives. And sometimes it’s just a kickass song. Well, I’m from the sticks (the country, the woods, Down South, or, as we from there not-so-lovingly refer to it: BFE), so there’s a whole lotta fiddle in the soundtrack of my youth, and a whole bunch of old country ballads about love, loss, whiskey, trucks, trains, and swimmin’ holes. Lots of folks say that they hate country music for just these reasons, but my redneck heritage leads me to feel differently. There’s good newer stuff too, to be fair. So let’s take a short listen to some great songs you’ll probably hate if you’re not from the south. Listen anyway – it’s my birthday.

 

Mamma’s Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys – Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings

A quintessential country song..

 

 

I Will Always Love You – Dolly Parton

The original, the one-and-only, beautiful..

 
 

Jambalaya – Hank Williams

You cannot not love this song (unless, of course, you’re from anyplace else in the world, probably)…

 
 

Boondocks – Little Big Town

The country song which most reminds me of home..

 
 


But not all that music I grew up on was country, western, and cajun/creole; some of that music was rock and roll. My daddy was a bit of a wild child and grandma’s records weren’t the only ones playing on the home stereo. From that mixed bag of influence comes my favorite song of all time. From a girl born just a few miles from me, who also hated/loved her small-town upbringing. Boy, did she get a LONG way from southeast Texas!…

 

Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin

Is there really anything else to say here? This is music history. Just listen..


 
 

 Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen

If you have to ask why I love this song, you have not been paying attention..

 
 

You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

Oh hellyeah..

 
 
 
Then there’s this – possibly one of the most lyrically perfect songs ever (in my humble and not-to-be-challenged opinion).
 

Carnival  –  Natalie Merchant

If there is such a thing as a ‘second favorite’ song, this is mine…

 
 

And finally, in a bid to fairness, the song which – since the very first time I heard it – I find the most irksome on the entire planet.

 
 

Thanks for sticking around with me for another year – you all ROCK (and roll).

– Dana

P.S. For those so inclined, the birthday wishlist is HERE.

28 Replies to “Closing in on 42 : A Musical Interlude (TUS)”

  1. Happy Birthday to one of my favorite people EVER! I’m so glad I met you last year and have received some legendary spankings from you since then.

    I have to be honest, I am not a country music fan. But I definitely share your taste in rock music. Janis was indeed another legend-she could have been a spanko too given her notorious outlandish antics!

    P.S. Put your damned glasses some place you’ll REMEMBER…and the cats can’t get to and destroy! LOL!!!

    Much love and hugs from,

    Alexis

  2. A very happy birthday and many, many more.
    Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I’m originally a Yankee from NY but have live a large part of my life in South Florida. I saw Dolly in person at a state fair and she is awesome. I would write more but forgot what I was going to say.

    Big hugs

    Laurel

    1. Laurel,

      Thank you for the birthday wishes! Dolly’s definitely one of my favorites – the voice, the attitude…the giant hair. Gotta love hillbillies..

  3. Happy Birthday I grew up on Marty Robbins,Johnny Horton and Tex Ritter,,,,,,,! many many others.
    but its your Birthday and time to sing Sixteen Candles and wish you have all you wish for on this one Hugs

    1. Thanks, John!

      ‘Devil Woman’ by Marty Robbins was another of those great songs I grew up listening to. That’s when songs told stories..

  5. Happy Birthday, Dana!

    I liked your song selections a lot, but no Lynyrd Skynyrd? I’ll hold up my lighter and scream “Free Bird” if you will :)

    1. BT,

      Alas, I had to choose a handful, but make no mistake – I LOVE Lynyrd Skynyrd! Thanks for the birthday wishes.~

  8. Happy Birthday, my friend. Hope you had a wonderful day enjoying all your favorite things in life.
    Here is sending you a big hug.

    1. Isabella,

      A hug from you is worth all the happy birthdays in the world. I miss you, my friend. Love~

  9. Have a super Happy Birthday Dana! I was going to give you a Birthday gift of not being bratty for an entire year, but then I realized you would dive into a deep dark depression if I stopped being bratty. So I will do you a favor and keep being bratty.

    Let me know how it feels to be 42, in a few more years I will be the big 4…2 then we can swap stories about being in our 40s.

    P.S you got to love those Music Videos from the 80s. Remember when MTV actually played Music Videos? Those were they days, plus who doesn’t love big hair.

    1. VBB,

      Thanks sugar, I’ll consider that it’s the thought that counts, when it comes to your ‘birthday gift’. I love you, ya big brat!

      Yes, I remember the big hair. I had the biggest can of AquaNet you’ve ever seen!

  10. Happy Birthday, and many happy returns of the day. I’m a little late, but there was a website problem yesterday evening. Some of your musical favorites are unknown to me, but that won’t be the case for very long. I found your wish list quite interesting. What do you want a yardstick for? To beat us within 36 inches of our lives?

    1. Cautious,

      Very astute on the yardstick, dear. You get a Gold Star!

      I’m guessing you’re under 35, Cautious, which isn’t really your fault and those of us from previous decades will try not to hold it against you. Take a look at Tina and Ike Turner, The Isley Brothers, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and all the good old R&B, too..

    2. PS. Yep, the blog went down for a few hours due to some highly-technical-yet-completely-incomprehensible glitch (what IS a glitch, anyway?) but should be fine from here on out. Thanks for the birthday returns, doll!

    3. A Gold Star. It would look very nice in contrast to a red bottom!

      Thank you for the guess of 35. I do like Marty Robbins’ “My Woman, My Woman, My Wife,” in addition to the El Paso songs. And Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff, 18th Variation.

  11. Belated, but still with all the best wishes! Hope it was grand. Fun musical selection! You’re a little bit country, I’m a little bit British Invasion. xox

    1. Thanks, Erica! Maybe one day we can torture one another with our favorites..ha~

      oxxo

  12. Dear Dana Kane,
    Yay! I hope you have an out-of-this-world “my day!”
    As for geographic and cultural difference, we might make too much of them: I love these songs. I grew in the South, too, but it was South Central L.A. (so, not the sticks, but definitely a version of the wild west). My mother had tons of L.P.s and 45s, mostly Jazz, R&B, Soul, Gospel, and Funk, but my Dad loved country. It was an eclectic mix of music to grow up with I suppose, but I think it a blessing (one of the few “perks” of being bi-racial).
    After watching the clips you posted, I have a huge hankering to hear “Chest Fever” by The Band, anything from Bonnie and Delaney, Waylon’s (what a great name for a Top, no?) collaborations with Johnny Cash, Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, and more. I had better pace my I-Tunes shopping!
    My favorite kick-butt Janis story: Jim Morrison (an L.A. boy at heart) and Janis Joplin were on a tour bus together. Joplin had a bottle of JD in hand. Morrison, reaching for the bottle, supposedly said something to Joplin like: “Emptying a whiskey bottle is an IrishMAN’s job.” So she broke the bottle over his head, and said, “Well how about that! You learn something new everyday.” I don’t know if Morrison appreciated the irony of her comment, but I’m sure he learned a thing or two about messing with Texas.
    Cheers to you! Wishing you the happiest of happy,
    Stefan

    1. Stefan,

      Doesn’t matter which south you’re from, sugar, s’long as it’s south~~
      My early music influences were all over the place too, and I’m still in love with the Isley Brothers, Wilson Pickett, and the Age of Aquarius. Go figure.
      Nowadays I spend all my time listening to ‘old’ music, including the original hip-hop and rap artists.

      Janis was also once famously (or infamously?) as SETX legend goes, voted ‘Ugliest Man on Campus’ at her school. I can imagine that she was a little…ahem…aggressive.

  13. Happy Birthday, Dana! I am sorry that I could not do this on your very day, work schedule and such, but I could not forget my fellow Libra in The Scene on such an occasion. I hope that you have gotten the opportunity to spank forty-two bottoms forty-two and one times in celebration.

    1. Aww, thanks a bunch Loki! It’s been another great year, and I’m hoping for about 98 more.

Leave a Reply