I Need Music

 

Let me take you down...

Topics. Always topics.

Yet I often find myself just not wanting to write about certain topics. 

But I've also created a habit and an expectation that has become a slight obsession in that I sit down and write once a day (mostly at night). 

So that is my conundrum tonight.

Yeah, OK. Jim Kaat. No. No thanks. You should know I love Kaat and respect him as a player and broadcaster. I groaned when he said "40 acres" regarding how great a certain player is. But "40 acres" also has racist undertones if you try hard enough.

I'm content with Jim Kaat who has had an exemplary career and life. 

Jon Gruden? Oh hell no. I saw what he wrote in an email ten years ago that made the rounds today. Look, it's an awful thing to say. Reprehensible, in fact. 

I'm not about canceling people either. I'm about moving forward and doing better.

So, yeah, I read the news today, oh boy, and am fairly content to stay out of it. I get an hour on WGCH to opine on such idiocy if necessary.

But, back to music. It just always calms the savage beast. One of my biggest musical problems lately is I don't often know what it is I want to listen to. Oh, sure, there are my standard listens but my brain gets overwhelmed otherwise.

As I sit here pondering what will soothe me, my brain begins to hurt. Sort of like how I'm searching for a topic tonight.

I suppose now that I've brought up music for a moment please notice that I said very little about the new (clearly drug-influenced) edition of the 500 greatest songs as produced by the (always unbiased) Rolling Stone magazine.

I mean, just look at the top ten. Drugs are bad, kids!

Rank	Artist	Song	Year
1	Aretha Franklin	"Respect"	1967
2	Public Enemy	"Fight the Power"	1989
3	Sam Cooke	"A Change Is Gonna Come"	1964
4	Bob Dylan	"Like a Rolling Stone"	1965
5	Nirvana	"Smells Like Teen Spirit"	1991
6	Marvin Gaye	"What's Going On"	1971
7	The Beatles	"Strawberry Fields Forever"	1967
8	Missy Elliott	"Get Ur Freak On"	2001
9	Fleetwood Mac	"Dreams"	1977
10	Outkast	"Hey Ya!"	2003

How exactly does "Strawberry Fields Forever" get in there over "A Day in the Life" for instance?

Let's not even get into why "Hey Ya!," "Dreams," or...

No. Don't do it. 

MISSY FREAKIN' ELLIOTT? 

Wh...wh...what?!?!?

We all know such lists are flawed anyway (and we'll just try to skip over the lack of The Beach Boys in that top 10).

Missy Elliott.

Short answer: They tried too hard.

This is veering away from the soothe the savage beast approach that I should have opted for.

Maybe I should just save my music conversations for when my brain explodes with the Peter Jackson documentary on the Beatles in November.

Could have been worse, I guess.

Could have been Mellencamp.