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30 Days of Songs, day 8: songs you know the words to
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by Paulie Walnuts
Day 7’s song reminds me of going out and singing karaoke with my friends. So I thought I’d keep the theme alive with a personal karaoke favorite.
Day 8: A song I know all the words to
“Beautiful In My Eyes” – Joshua Kadison
This is the song that made me famous. This is the song I loved to croon to make all the ladies swoon. I croon, they swoon. Poetry.
Once, an acquaintance who happened to frequent the same bar decided to sing this song. He struggled with the flow. The poetic flow. The rhythm. So I ran to the stage to offer my helping hand. Literally.
To this day, I haven’t lived it down. As the dude was trying to find the correct rhythm, I waved my hand around to the flow of the lyrics. And now, whenever my friends want to make fun of me, they wave their hand in similar fashion.
RFP once said I sang this song well enough to be in a band. My head has been swollen ever since. Tommy Thompson’s mom offered me a compliment after my crowd-pleasing performance at Beerwad’s wedding reception. Poetry, son.
Anyways, the song is kinda hokey and uneventful. But I like it. And I know all the words to it.
What songs do you know by heart? Let us know so we can envy your karaoke prowess, as well!
30 Days of Songs, Day 7: Nostalgia
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by Paulie Walnuts
It’s been a while. Day 7 comes more than a week after Day 6. Such is life, I guess: full of random events that sometimes prevent us from accomplishing things.
Day 7: A song that reminds me of a certain event
“In the End” – Linkin Park
Karaoke. Who doesn’t enjoy the ludicrousness that is singing dumbed down versions of overplayed songs in front of a bunch of drunken slobs at the local tavern?
In my teens, I took joy in rapping in my car where no one could hear me, unless I was driving down a dirt road with the windows down and a group of rascally kids were outside playing or something. Sometimes, as I was bustin’ out muh best Snoop-Dogg or Tupac, the kids would watch in astonishment and awe as I passed by. This is about the time I decided karaoke was for me.
“In the End” was one of the iconic songs I rapped at the local bar. Beerwad handled the actual singing. We had good charisma and we meshed well as a karaoke duo. Our fans went wild whenever we busted out this classic.
This song will always remind me of late bar nights and drunken lyric mix-ups. The years of karaoke on Tuesday nights flew by, and now seem like the events of another lifetime. Part of me misses it. Part of me has moved on. But I still jam this song out in my car – these days, for some reason, with the window up. RAWK!
~Walnuts
30 Days of Songs, Day 6: Songs That Remind You of Somewhere
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by RFP
So Days 4 and 5 have left me a little sad. This challenge is really taking a toll on my emotions. Bring in Day 6, now, to fill me with a warm feeling of nostalgia.
Day 6: A song that reminds me of somewhere
“Far Behind” – Candlebox
Talk about a great song by an underrated band! In fact, the entire album is amazing, featuring a good mix of hard rock and jazz. This album alternated between making me want to poop on my ex-girlfriend’s porch in a fit of rage and making me want to kick back by the pool with a fat stogie and cold beer.
“Far Behind” is the most recognizable song on the album. I first heard it on summer vacation, 1994, at Eight Point Lake in Michigan. My cousin Pot from New Jersey spent the week with my family and me at a cabin. We fished every day and listened to a cassette tape he’d recorded before coming to Michigan. “Far Behind” was on that tape, and I was hooked from the beginning.
That week-long trip was one of the most memorable times of my life. We did what we wanted. We swam. We fished. We met girls. We played football. We listened to good new music. “Far Behind” always takes me back to a time I’m grateful for, and a place I’ll never forget.
-Walnuts
30 Days of Songs, Day 5: Songs That Remind You Of Someone
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by Paulie Walnuts
It’s Day 5 (but not the fifth consecutive day, of course), and I have to choose a song that reminds me of someone. As if there aren’t a thousand of those.
Day 4 left me feeling sad. That Kenny Loggins can really croon me to tears. Anyways, both of my grandmothers died of cancer. I associate that Loggins song with cancer and sadness. Right now, my mom has cancer. And I can’t listen to that song.
So, for Day 5, I’m choosing a song that reminds me of happy times with my mom, when she was young and healthy and I was too young to understand what cancer is.
Day 5: A song that reminds me of someone
“Baby Love” – The Supremes
My mom used to sing this song to me. She would hold little ol’ me on her lap, wrap her arms around me, and sing, “Baby love, my baby love, I need ya, oh how I need ya…”
Those were happy days, before life became real. Before I realized what death was. Before I realized that someday, our mothers leave us.
I just hope she knows how much of a success she is. And, of course, how much I love her.
30 Days of Songs, Day 4: Sad Songs
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by Paulie Walnuts
It’s Day 4, and the rollercoaster continues. First we went from best to worst, and now we’re moving on from happy to sad.
Day 4: A song that makes me sad
“Meet Me Halfway” – Kenny Loggins
I know, I know, I know. It’s a lame choice. You’re probably laughing right now, which means this song probably belongs as your choice for Day 3. But not for me, son. Not for me.
For whatever reason, this gem from Sylvester Stallone’s “Over the Top” makes me incredibly sad. I listened to it nonstop when my grandmothers died some seven or eight years apart. I even sang it for karaoke to a packed house and humiliated myself by getting choked up. My voice cracked numerous times, but I was in a zone of emotion, so I didn’t much care.
I never understood why the producers decided this song was appropriate for a movie about a deadbeat father trying to resurrect his image and relationship with his son. The lyrics clearly suggest loss, not reunion. The narrator of the song pleads with the lost loved one in the chorus, “Meet me halfway across the sky / Up where the world belongs to only you and I / Meet me halfway across the sky / Make this a new beginning of another life.”
These lyrics, admittedly, might suggest reunion, in which case the father/son theme I mentioned would be reasonable. However, it’s the verses that really suggest loss and hope of afterlife. For example: “In a lifetime made of memories / I believe in destiny.”
There’s just too much suggestion of death and afterlife throughout the song for me to accept that it’s about a truck driver and his whiny kid. Either way, I hope this song makes you weep as often as it has me.
-Walnuts
Day 3: If It Makes You Happy
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by Paulie Walnuts
Day 3, and I find myself in need of recovery. Not from alcoholism, or drug abuse, or sex addiction. No. I like those things. What I need recovery from is that Natasha Bedingfield song.
I’d like to thank whoever came up with this challenge because the segue from Day 2 to Day 3 is just what participants need. Now I can move on past “Pocket Full of Sunshine” and get on with my life.
Day 3: A song that makes me happy
“The Unwinding Cable Car” – Anberlin
We all need something or someone to turn to when life has us down. This song reminds me that there’s always hope. It affirms, for me, that love exists in all its wonderful and mysterious forms. It plants a seed of inspiration and, suddenly, I find myself motivated to do more, to be more.
Couple the encouraging lyrics with the best music video I’ve ever seen, and you have a masterpiece. I can imagine that this song/video has saved lives. I hope so. And I hope you find it just as pleasing to the soul as I do.
And don’t forget to post your choice in the comment section below!
Day 2: Least Favorite Song
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by Paulie Walnuts
So, we’re on Day 2. This is getting harder each day. Either that, or I’m lazy.
The first two days go from one end of the spectrum to the other, assumingly to get them out of the way before covering everything in between.
Day 2: My least favorite song
“Pocket Full of Sunshine” – Natasha Bedingfield
There are plenty of songs I hate, but I actually found it harder to choose one as my least favorite than I did as my favorite. Most of my hatred is aimed at such “artists” as Miley Cyrus and Hillary Duff because, for all intents and purposes, they never had to earn anything. Their success has been handed to them. They don’t have any talent, but they’re pretty, and have leeched off their parents in order to achieve fame and fortune. Ironically, their parents leeched off them, too.
But let’s get back to the song I chose. First of all, I don’t have any qualms with Ms. Bedingfield. She seems like she worked to achieve success, and I’m okay with that. However, this “Pocket Full of Sunshine” malarkey is just plain gruesome. It’s so bad, in fact, that a college professor once critiqued it in class in order to mock how simplistic our society has become.
There is no poetic quality to this particular song. The beat is annoying, her voice is annoying, and the lyrics are just atrocious. Not only that, but during its hay-day, this song was on every pop station every five minutes. Combine bad music with too much airtime and you have, in my opinion, one of the worst songs ever. So here it is! Enjoy my least favorite song!
And don’t forget to post your choice in the comment section below!
30 Days of Songs: #1 Favorite
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by Paulie Walnuts
As part of my triumphant return to MRS, I decided to partake in the 30 day song challenge. Ironically, listening to one song per day is not a challenge at all; the challenge comes in writing a post about each one.
I’m not sure where the idea for this task came from, but it sounds like a hoot. I invite all of you to post a song per day in the comment section below each current post. Follow the rules! It should be a good time, and it’s an excellent way to learn about people.
So, without further adieu, let the games begin.
Day 1: My favorite song
“Overcome” – Live
There’s something about this song that just ruins me. It’s one of the only songs I can listen to on repeat. It feels new each time I hear it.
Ed Kowalczyk has an excellent voice, but what strikes me most is that piano riff. The lyrics are excellent. To me, this is perfect song. It’s just plain beautiful.
I equate this song to 9/11, as well, although it was written well before that and depicts an entirely unrelated message. It reminds me of life. It reminds me of love. It reminds me that I’m not alone.
Comment below with your Day 1 song!
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