Country.
So I'm at Wal-Mart the other day, had to get some film for our older daughter who is on a field trip to the Frank Loyd Wright house, Falling Water, today. She is very excited, she's glad she joined the art club at her high school. Anyway, I don't like going to Wal-Mart but, sometimes you have no choice. Seems I can never find what I want there, they space everything out to facilitate the impulse buy.
Right next to the photography department is the electronics department. I walk through the electronics department on my way to the men's room. Wal-Mart always makes me have to relieve myself, don't know why, it just does. I exit the latrine and turn the wrong way, end up walking through the aisle where they sell bargain priced music CD's. I can navigate cross country in a vehicle. I can navigate cross country on foot with a map and compass, but put me in a department store or a mall and I get lost. Since most of my favorite music is now played on the oldies and classic rock stations, it can be found in the bargain bins at the store. That's a bonus.
As I wander through the bargain aisle I see it. A David Allen Coe CD. Now, me bein' an old biker at heart, well I just love David Allen Coe. The first two tracks on this $5.88 CD are Cheap Thrills and You Don't Have To Call Me Darlin'........Darlin'. These days I'm a husband and father, economic considerations are such that I no longer have a nasty old shovelhead to ride, still got those faded old wings burned on my back though. Back when I did ride, and I did ride, I rode all year long. Rain, snow, sleet or shine. Didn't matter, nothin' like straight pipes and an iron block. I miss those days sometimes, wouldn't change the way things are but I miss them. I miss the biker bars, real biker bars. "Bad Food, Cold Beer, Ugly Women" read the sign over the door at one of my old hangouts. When I joined the cops I was invited to ride with the Blue Knights, a cop motorcycle club. Nice guys, organized rides, kind of like a rolling PBA meeting sometimes, lots of complaining about the job. I still rode with my old friends, if they smoked a joint they did it out of my sight, respected my position. I didn't really care about that, I partied a bit myself before I was a cop.
Lets get back on subject here, Country. When I was a kid we had a radio station out of NYC that played great country music. 1050AM, I think the call letters were WHN or something like that. Anyway, I'd sit in my room with my old AM radio and listen to Bob Wills and Ray Price. That's probably why I dig the whole southern rock thing so much. Being that I lived in North Jersey, it was sort of my little secret. Eventually I found like minded people and we listened to the old country classic stuff together.........I just want to know, what the hell happened to country music?
We get some XM music channels on our Direct TV. They have a station that plays real country, new stuff, real country. Who decided that country had to become disco with a steel guitar? I mean, disco wasn't all bad. Well okay most of it was bad, except Barry White, maybe The Commodores and Earth Wind&Fire. I love Earth Wind&Fire. That stuff was more R&B though, real disco sucks. Living in a house full of women I'm really sick of that "I Will Survive" crap. I know, I know. It's like a chick anthem. Every time it comes on the radio or my wife pops in one of her mix CD's I pretend to dig it, just for the sake of harmony. Well I don't pretend to dig it, I tolerate it without making rude comments, that's different. Yeah, "I Will Survive". I'm hearing that and thinking "..judge a boy by his friends....and all of mine are trash". Yeah, I really like David Allen Coe.
I'm retired for over nine years now, got hurt in '97. The longer I'm away from the cops the more regular I feel. I don't think I was meant to be a cop. I like old burnouts and bikers. I don't care if someone wants to smoke a joint. I like down to earth blue collar people, I like the regular guys I work with down at The Dock. I like having a CDL so I can drive a tractor trailer if I have to. I like writing and reading. I don't like cheap commercial crap that some corporation tells me is country music. I don't like listening to the same song over and over, even though the words might change, it's the same damn song. I don't like the fact that musicians have to be young and pretty so they look good in a video. I like Ray Wylie Hubbard and Steve Earl. I like real country music, songs that make you think, songs that challenge authority. Music that says what it means, not just dance mix garbage. Buck Owens, he was good. Yeah, I really like David Allen Coe.
Right next to the photography department is the electronics department. I walk through the electronics department on my way to the men's room. Wal-Mart always makes me have to relieve myself, don't know why, it just does. I exit the latrine and turn the wrong way, end up walking through the aisle where they sell bargain priced music CD's. I can navigate cross country in a vehicle. I can navigate cross country on foot with a map and compass, but put me in a department store or a mall and I get lost. Since most of my favorite music is now played on the oldies and classic rock stations, it can be found in the bargain bins at the store. That's a bonus.
As I wander through the bargain aisle I see it. A David Allen Coe CD. Now, me bein' an old biker at heart, well I just love David Allen Coe. The first two tracks on this $5.88 CD are Cheap Thrills and You Don't Have To Call Me Darlin'........Darlin'. These days I'm a husband and father, economic considerations are such that I no longer have a nasty old shovelhead to ride, still got those faded old wings burned on my back though. Back when I did ride, and I did ride, I rode all year long. Rain, snow, sleet or shine. Didn't matter, nothin' like straight pipes and an iron block. I miss those days sometimes, wouldn't change the way things are but I miss them. I miss the biker bars, real biker bars. "Bad Food, Cold Beer, Ugly Women" read the sign over the door at one of my old hangouts. When I joined the cops I was invited to ride with the Blue Knights, a cop motorcycle club. Nice guys, organized rides, kind of like a rolling PBA meeting sometimes, lots of complaining about the job. I still rode with my old friends, if they smoked a joint they did it out of my sight, respected my position. I didn't really care about that, I partied a bit myself before I was a cop.
Lets get back on subject here, Country. When I was a kid we had a radio station out of NYC that played great country music. 1050AM, I think the call letters were WHN or something like that. Anyway, I'd sit in my room with my old AM radio and listen to Bob Wills and Ray Price. That's probably why I dig the whole southern rock thing so much. Being that I lived in North Jersey, it was sort of my little secret. Eventually I found like minded people and we listened to the old country classic stuff together.........I just want to know, what the hell happened to country music?
We get some XM music channels on our Direct TV. They have a station that plays real country, new stuff, real country. Who decided that country had to become disco with a steel guitar? I mean, disco wasn't all bad. Well okay most of it was bad, except Barry White, maybe The Commodores and Earth Wind&Fire. I love Earth Wind&Fire. That stuff was more R&B though, real disco sucks. Living in a house full of women I'm really sick of that "I Will Survive" crap. I know, I know. It's like a chick anthem. Every time it comes on the radio or my wife pops in one of her mix CD's I pretend to dig it, just for the sake of harmony. Well I don't pretend to dig it, I tolerate it without making rude comments, that's different. Yeah, "I Will Survive". I'm hearing that and thinking "..judge a boy by his friends....and all of mine are trash". Yeah, I really like David Allen Coe.
I'm retired for over nine years now, got hurt in '97. The longer I'm away from the cops the more regular I feel. I don't think I was meant to be a cop. I like old burnouts and bikers. I don't care if someone wants to smoke a joint. I like down to earth blue collar people, I like the regular guys I work with down at The Dock. I like having a CDL so I can drive a tractor trailer if I have to. I like writing and reading. I don't like cheap commercial crap that some corporation tells me is country music. I don't like listening to the same song over and over, even though the words might change, it's the same damn song. I don't like the fact that musicians have to be young and pretty so they look good in a video. I like Ray Wylie Hubbard and Steve Earl. I like real country music, songs that make you think, songs that challenge authority. Music that says what it means, not just dance mix garbage. Buck Owens, he was good. Yeah, I really like David Allen Coe.
posted by Squarehead at 9:57 AM
2 Comments:
Wal-Mart is evil. We've all heard about their much publicized exploitation of their own employees...And I can say for certain, based on the business that I am in, that they treat their suppliers no better. They squeeze every last penny of profit out of suppliers and then insist that all merchandise that doesn't sell be returned to suppliers for a full refund. This policy is unheard of in mass merchandising. Yet they get away with it because of their size. I NEVER shop there. I think it is wrong to shop some place where a bottle of shampoo is 5 cents cheaper because many employees and small business suppliers are raked over the coals and taken advantage of. I just wish more people felt this way. OK- I'm stepping down off my soap box (that I didn't buy at Wal-Mart) now and going to bed. :-)
I here you Trip-M. I'm a union man, member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. I don't like shopping there either. The problem is, they put everyone else out of business. They demand tax incentives from local government then destroy the local economy. Like I said in the post, sometimes you have no choice.
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