Oldies Station

I've been listening to the oldies station again. Some of the songs bring back great memories and get my foot tapping, my head bobbing, and my pulse racing. Then there are other songs that are just plain annoying. Maybe they always were, but I'm really noticing it now all these years later. Case in point: "American Pie". Oh sure, no one can help singing along to the part we all know; "Bye bye Miss American Pie, drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry"...etc etc. But the rest of it....well first of all, the song is about as long as a TV miniseries. I swear DJ's only play it when they need to go to the bathroom. Or a doctor's appointment. Second, DOES ANYBODY UNDERSTAND IT??? There was a time, many years ago, when a bunch of us actually spent time discussing it and trying to figure out all the metaphors. (Someone thought "the day the music died" referred to the day Buddy Holly's plane crashed. OK. Now there's only about 340 more metaphors and heavily veiled allusions to go.) Of course, now that I'm mature, I naturally spend my time in more meaningful pursuits. Like Sudoku. In fact, I finished an entire Sudoku puzzle during the song "American Pie" just this morning.

Another truly annoying song is "MacArthur Park". More hard-to-understand lyrics and deep meaning. "Someone left the cake out in the rain, and I don't think that I can take it, cause it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that recipe again....Oh Noooooo!" The only part I get is "oh no".

Of course it's no small wonder that our generation cranked out songs with crazy-quilt lyrics and screaming feedback guitar solos. Everybody was higher than a kite. To a bunch of greasy haired musicians sitting around a smoke-filled basement smoking pot and staring at black light posters at four in the morning, ridiculous lyrics were brilliant, man! Dig it!

But then there are the really good songs, like "China Grove" by the Doobie Brothers. Of course I don't know what that song's about either, in fact never really listened to the lyrics, but I don't care. It's got a GREAT groove and it rocks your socks off. And "American Band". Killer. It's not that I consider myself a rocker, in fact I guess I'd say I'm not, but when certain songs come on the radio they just grab me. I can't keep my legs still. I'M YOUNG AGAIN! Okay, there it is. Certain songs just take you back to some pocket of time that must have been good, because you find yourself grinning and bopping. Nothing wrong with that. If there were only a radio station that would play just the songs you love. But of course that's impossible. But maybe they could just stop playing "American Pie." Thanks.