More MP3 Player Randomness....

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Sappy Alert -

Use caution proceeding. High pressure in the atmosphere has created conditions that have produced high emotions and gushiness. Readers are urged to proceed only with extreme caution.

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Today was one of those days when I was just happy to be alive, to live where I do, to have my life. Beautiful days with temperatures in the upper 70's in November can do that to me.

Gus and I went for a walk in the park, and I didn't ever want to stop. Poor sweet little Gus - I had to give him a pain pill for his back after we got home. He has taken copious naps all afternoon. We walked for about an hour and twenty minutes, and only the siren call of football kicking off summoned me home.

Days like this make me wish I were still skydiving, seeing the world from about 14,000 feet and then drifting slowly toward it. I wish I could bottle this weather and save it for those February and March days when I grumble, "God didn't put me in the South for it to be 11 degrees."

Here are some more songs as they played randomly on my MP3 player today. This time, either due to my OCD tendencies or my writer's desire to be as accurate as possible, I typed each song into my Crackberry notepad. I had a lot of time on my hands, okay?

"Save It For Me" by The Four Seasons

"Where's the Orchestra?" by Billy Joel

• I wrote about this song earlier in my blog history, because I think it's so cool that toward the end of that song, there is a reprise of the melody line from "Allentown," a song from the same album. Stop making fun of me.
  

"An American Dream" by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

"Goodnight Saigon" by Billy Joel

• The first time I heard this song, it was live in the old Omni in Atlanta, a venue that no longer exists. I was pregnant with Sweet Girl. The song is, obviously, about Vietnam, and at the beginning there is the sound of helicopters. I thought helicopters were landing ON TOP of the Omni; the whole building shook. I loved it.

"Tell Her About It" by Billy Joel

[Even on random, the likelihood of two Billy Joel songs playing back-to-back is relatively high.]

"Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty

"Guilty of the Crime" by the Eagles (from their latest 2-CD set, which is nothing short of AWESOME)

"Thank You for Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold

"Waiting in the Weeds" by the Eagles

• This song has nothing to do with marijuana. I think.

"You Are Not Alone" by the Eagles

"Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp

"Money, Money, Money" from the Momma Mia soundtrack

"Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" by Billy Joel

"Spooky" by Atlanta Rhythm Section

• When I was in college, Katydid got me free tickets to see ARS when they came to UGA for a Halloween concert. I asked Figment to go with me, one of our few real dates. I thought it was so cool that during the song "Spooky," the lyrics say, "So I proposed on Halloween." I was such a dork, because back then I was so hoping that someday . . . someday . . . someday . . . Figment would propose to me. Not.

"Get Over It" by the Eagles

• I've often wanted to share these lyrics with my students. The song is all about the world not owing you anything. But it has the word "bitching" in it, and of course that word is taboo in our county. Oh, the students can say it all they want, but teachers might get fired for it.

"Take a Chance on Me" from the soundtrack of Momma Mia

"You're Only Human (Second Wind)" by Billy Joel

• I love the story about this song. It's all about learning from your mistakes and forgiving yourself, and Billy Joel made an obvious error in the song. He trips over the lyrics and then laughs about it. Reportedly he intended to re-record it, but his then-wife, Christie Brinkley, said he should leave it as it was. Something along the lines of violating the integrity of the song itself if he fixed the error. Not in those words, of course, but she convinced him, and it stayed in the song.

"New Kid in Town" by the Eagles

If you are now wishing I would NOT take any more long walks in the park with my MP3 player, I apologize.

Randomness from my MP3 Player.....

Yesterday Gus and I took a walk in the park for about an hour. When it's just the two of us, I take my MP3 player, because Gus isn't much of a conversationalist. I like to walk while I listen to music, because sometimes I add in the challenge of walking to the beat of whatever song is on. Some are more challenging than others.

It can be hazardous, however. One of the first times I took my MP3 player, I rested in the comfort that Gus barks at everyone, man or beast, especially beast. I was tooling along through the woods near the back of the park, just me and my dog. A Pomeranian. Who can bark his fool head off, but isn't really much protection.

I was strolling along at a nice clip, burning calories and reveling in the glory of the day. You know how the lyrics of songs come through so much more clearly on ear buds? I was listening to a song, and toward the end of it, I thought to myself, "Wow, I've never heard those words in there before."

The words turned out to be "Excuse me." As in, "Get out of my way, you and your damn dog are blocking the whole path and I've been trailing along behind you for 15 minutes trying to get around." These words were spoken almost directly into my ear, and I jumped violently. Probably wet my pants. Gus looked up, moved aside for the man to pass, and never uttered a sound.

I have what I consider to be an eclectic collection of music on my MP3 player, and because it is set on random or shuffle or whatever they call it, you never know what you're going to get. Here are some of the songs that played during my walk yesterday:

"A Horse With No Name" by America
"James Dean" by the Eagles
"Brandy" by Looking Glass
"Run for the Roses" by Dan Fogelberg
"When You're Good to Mama" by Queen Latifah from Chicago
"Do It or Die" by Atlanta Rhythm Section
"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel
"Lay All Your Love on Me" from Mamma Mia
"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" by Billy Joel
Something by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but I can't remember what.

It seems that just as I get back to the car, there's always something good playing that I don't want to stop in the middle.

But not good enough that I want to walk for another hour.

Hubby's Sensitive Ears....

And no, I don't mean in an erotic way.

He really likes music....at least he likes the music he likes. He's a genius when it comes to old, old, OLD country music. He can hear just a couple of bars of a song and tell me the name of the artist and the song immediately.

But if he doesn't like it, he won't tolerate it. He's a button-pusher in the car. He particularly doesn't like the female "country" singers of today because they, in his opinion, do nothing but scream. There are times I have to agree with him.

Unless he's at a live sporting event, he refuses to listen to the national anthem. (The only exception is when Billy Joel sings the national anthem at the Super Bowl, when I put my foot down. Did you know that Billy Joel is the only person ever to have sung the national anthem at TWO Super Bowls? Just thought I'd throw that in there.)

He's not un-American or anything. He just hates it when the singer drags it out for fifteen or twenty minutes and adds in notes that don't belong there. I have to agree with him on that one.

The other exception is if the national anthem is being played by a solitary trumpet or is being sung by a young child. Or perhaps a group of children. He's a sucker for children. He doesn't want any more children; he just adores them. And they adore him.

Tonight I was getting dinner ready just before the Pittsburgh-Baltimore game kicked off, and I heard the stadium announcer ask the audience to please rise for Martina McBride to honor America blah blah blah blah.

I heard Hubby from the living room, "No, no, no, no, no, no, not on my television, not in this lifetime" and I had to laugh. Not only was it the national anthem, but it was being performed by one of his least favorite "screamers." When I begged him to turn it back on after a sufficient length of time, he bet me two dollars she was still dragging it out. (They were in a commercial break and he owes me two dollars now.)

The picture below is one of my favorites. We were at the racetrack in Charlotte (if I do go to Hell, my punishment is going to be watching NASCAR endlessly), and Hubby couldn't stand the noise. He put his fingers in his ears. The race hadn't started yet; the American Idol folks were singing. He would never sit down during the national anthem, nor would he keep his cap on. He may hate some singing, but he's not completely uncouth.

I wish you could see all of his legs. Those are the sexiest man legs I've ever known.

My LP Collection......

I don't know why I hold onto all of my old LPs. (Those really big CDs, as the children of one of my bestest friends calls them.) Most of them date to the 70s; there might be a few from the 80s. I gave away the stereo that played LPs, so I'm even further confused as to why I still have these "records." (Remember when we called them that?)

Here is a list of the albums in the table next to my recliner, arranged (of course) alphabetically.

Except for the ones at the beginning, which are soundtracks from:

• The Main Event
• The Rose
• Ain't Misbehavin'
• Saturday Night Fever
• Rocky (before there were 12 of them)
• American Gigolo
• Annie
• Porgy and Bess
• One on One (does anybody even REMEMBER that movie?)
  

I'm not going to list individual LPs, just the artist(s), with the number of LPs by the same person or group in parentheses.

• Abba (can't do that backward "B" thing on the computer)
• Air Supply (2)
• Alabama
• Atlanta Rhythm Section
• Joan Baez
• The Beach Boys
• Bread
• Jimmy Buffett
• Christopher Cross
• David Allan Coe (oh please just shoot me now)
• Eric Clapton (2)
• Eric Carmen (I must have been confused about the name)
• Captain and Tennille
• The Charlie Daniels Band (two of the same freakin' album...what's up with THAT?)
  
• Neil Diamond (2--Wanda, please tell Maxwell!)
  
• Sheena Easton
• The Eagles (4)
• Peter Frampton
• Foreigner
• Dan Fogelberg
• Fleetwood Mac
• Electric Light Orchestra (2)
• Merle Haggard (not really sure that one's mine....it was mixed in with Kris Kristofferson, and I know I wouldn't have mixed up the alphabetical order thing...)
• Waylon Jennings (also out of order)
  
• Billy Joel (8--can that possibly be ALL?)
• Elton John
• Kris Kristofferson (8--God help us)
• Gordon Lightfoot
• Little River Band (2--oh how I had a crush on....what's his name....one of them)
• Barry Manilow (7)
• Mother's Finest
• Willie Nelson (4)
• Olivia Newton-John
• The Oak Ridge Boys
• Poco (Poco? Who the hell is POCO?)
• Gerry Rafferty
• Helen Reddy
• Kenny Rogers (7)
• Linda Ronstadt (4)
• Diana Ross (out of order)
• Seals and Croft
  
• Bob Segar
• Paul Simon (5)
• The Statler Brothers
• Barbra Streisand
  
• Donna Summer
• Supertramp
• James Taylor (2)

Three Christmas albums:

• Bing Crosby
• Engelbert Humperdinck
• Perry Como

And some random things, some of which I can't even begin to explain:

• 20 No. 1 Hits from 20 Years of Motown
• Jacki Sorensen presents Aerobic Dance (on a RECORD PLAYER? are you KIDDING ME?)
• The Year in Music's Greatest Hits (have no idea which year, but it's got the brothers Gibb all over it)
• The University of Georgia Women's Glee Club performing at the American Choral Directors Southern Division Convention in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1980. I almost passed out during the concert (from bad shrimp, not bad beer. Wait...I didn't even DRINK beer back then... I felt like if I could just take my shoes off, I wouldn't pass out. The alto next to me told me she'd kill me if I took my shoes off. Being short and on the front row and all....)
• The Georgia All-State Mixed Chorus in 1977, with my picture on the front AND back covers
  

I'm still trying to get over that Poco thing......