Normally, over this weekend, I’d be going to a MidWinter’s celebration. However, since Lydia’s still recovering and Carol’s at a meeting all day, I have to satisfy myself by reading about it.
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I was in a friend’s car recently, when “Brown-Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison came on. I found myself mildly annoyed. What was THAT all about? I used to LOVE that song; now it irritates me.
So that’s the first question: what songs that you used to love now bug you because you’ve heard them too much on the radio, on on TV commercials (Like a Rock – Bob Seger), or whatnot?
Probably the #1 song is Yesterday by the Beatles. Why, oh why, are there TWO versions of it not very far apart from each other on Anthology 2? The thing that doesn’t help is that the simple song is covered so often. I have versions by the Supremes, Ray Charles, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra, David Essex, En Vogue, Boyz II Men, Billy Dean, and no doubt others, which is at least eight versions too many.
And I’m not alone: one of my co-workers pegged not only the song formerly known as Scrambled Eggs, but also Hey Jude and Let It Be. While I don’t share the sentiment about the latter two songs, I certainly can understand it.
And the second question is similar: what songs (or whole oeuvre of an artist) are unlistenable now because of affairs of the heart? I understand that, for heterosexual males, Joni Mitchell seems to be a great offender.
For this category, there isn’t anything that I won’t play, but there are songs that may make me melancholy:
Harvest Moon-Neil Young
Cryin’-Roy Orbison with k.d. lang
Gone Away-Roberta Flack
First Night Alone without You-Jane Olivor
Remove This Doubt-Supremes
Stay with Me-Lorraine Ellison
Sweet Bitter Love-Aretha Franklin
Have a Little Faith in Me-John Hiatt
and a good portion of Hasten Down the Wind album by Linda Ronstadt