OK, I do do MP3s, but I don't have either an IPod or a dedicated MP3 player. Instead, what I have is a Sony Walkman CD player that plays MP3 discs. Now, I can burn an MP3 disc that has between 135 and 150 tracks (depending upon average size). My problem is that it is goddamn hard to come up with 150 unique songs that I really like enough to burn. Or, rather, I can do it for one cd, but the second has overlap and the third has considerable overlap. Now, let me tell you that, first of all, I have a pretty big collection of vinyl records from the 60s, 70s and 80s, and then I have a reasonable collection of CDs from the 90s and the current century. So, I don't have a lot of compunction about downloading songs that I already own, and, when I come up with a song I really like that I don't already own, I make sure that the artist gets money from me somehow.
For example, I have recently "discovered" James McMurtry. Now, James is from a very creative lineage as his old man is Larry McMurtry of Lonesome Dove, and a lot of other titles, fame. The first three or four songs of his that I heard on Radio Paradise were pretty cool. I liked the references to San Antonio in "Safe Side" and the humor of "Choctaw Bingo", but when I came across "We Can't Make It Here Anymore", I was blown away. The song itself is good from beginning to end, but there are a couple of verses which are so goddamn good that they should be engraved upon our national consciousness. Try this, for example:
Some have maxed out all their credit cards Some are working two jobs and living in cars Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO See how far 5.15 an hour will go Take a part time job at one of your stores Bet you can't make it here anymore Or this: High school girl with a bourgeois dream Just like the pictures in the magazine She found on the floor of the laundromat A woman with kids can forget all that If she comes up pregnant what'll she do Forget the career, forget about school Can she live on faith? live on hope? High on Jesus or hooked on dope When it's way too late to just say no You can't make it here anymore
Those are two powerful verses that are an indictment of our societal values...or at least those values espoused and held dear by the neo-conservatives on the right of the political spectrum.
Like I told a few of my young co-workers tonight, I may be old in years, but in my head, I'm still twenty-fucking-five years old and I still have some of that fire that burned in our collective breasts back in the day. When verses like those quoted fail to evoke a response in me, that is the day I start looking for a way out of this life. (OK, I've had a couple Kettle One's on the rocks and this is like the 5th time I've cranked the song through on the headphones...doesn't change the truth of what I say...)
'Nuff said
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