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country music radio station
The previous lyrical exhibition was only a test. Had it been a real query, I would not know the answers to the question of which songs said lyrics belonged to. As it is, I do know (mostly), and have cribbed said for you, behind the following lj-cut.
1. in the garage where I belong, no one hears me sing this song - "In the Garage," Weezer
2. you might blow up but you won't go pop -- that De La Soul song whose name I have forgotten, if I ever knew it
3. he still lives with his momma but he sneaks down, a coolie in the shadow of the playground -- "The Vampires," Songs from the Capeman
4. they speak fluently blonde from her legs to her cigarette -- "Living it Up," Rickie Lee Jones
5. picking up his sword again, it was a Mont Blanc monogrammed pen -- "Love Letters," Jude
6. oh you poor, poor suffering murderess -- "Black Widow," Michelle Shocked
7. we're living in France and I'm fond of your fantasies -- "Inside Your Painting," Patty Larkin
8. she had a one-in-a-million bad day -- "Thinking Amelia," Deb Talan
9. out there in the shadow of the modern machine -- "St. Robinson and his Cadillac Dream," Counting Crows
10. there's a church beside the park, and it fills the dying dark with five strokes -- "5 a.m. in Amsterdam," Michelle Shocked
11. we were younger then, we were children in India -- "Twenty Thousand Hearts," Eddie From Ohio
12. she was only responsive with a drink, he was only responsive by photo -- "The Couch," Alanis Morissette
13. I'm in love with a fan and she thinks I'm a star -- "The Asshole Song," Jude
14. barnyard thug, sleeps on straw and calls it a rug, yeah, that's a rug, okay -- "Pigs, Sheep and Wolves," Paul Simon
15. there's a carrot-top that can barely walk with a sippy cup of milk -- "Outside Lookin' In," Lonestar
Meanwhile, I'm spending a good portion of my inter-car time these days with KZLA, America's Most Listened-To Country Station. Or, as I prefer to say, "country music radio station," because I love the rhythm of that phrase. It's practically dactylic.
People complain about the radio in LA, but I'm really pretty pleased with it. We spawned Ryan Seacrest, after all, though I'm developing a new fondness for his replacement, Jason Pullman, on the drive-time slot on STAR 98.7, which has all ten songs on the pop playlist you could ever want. Jason Pullman got a lot of flak because in the dark he sounds just like Seacrest, from the wide-mouthed chuckle to the "I'm-not-gay-really" slushy sibilants. Personally, I was peeved that Lisa Foxx, Ryan's longtime cohost, didn't step up and headline the show herself, and I was tempted to blame the market for immediately bringing in a new GUY rather than letting Lisa helm for a while, but at the end of the day, Lisa's just not charismatic enough to have her own show. She's a sidekick. And there I go, betraying the sisterhood once more.
Back to radio. KCRW, of course, represents as our NPR-and-Polyphonic Spree station, as every good urban market needs a place to go for Garrison Keillor and Morning Becomes Eclectic. And we've got 103.1, excuse me INDY 103.1, the new Clearchannel "independent" radio station which, despite a propensity for Pearl Jam and Bob Marley, really does an okay job playing indie-label stuff. Bottom line, a reasonable dial, and I've got four out of my six preprogrammed buttons in the car taken care of without having to revert to oldies and/or Pacifica.
And yet. Some time earlier this year, I decided I'd give the country music radio station a try. Which isn't to say I'm without affection for country music as a genre; quite the contrary, actually. I've always been a mamas-don't-let-yer-babies-grow-up cowgirl, but with the exception of the rockabilly brigade (Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen, Jr) and the alt-country bluegrass mainstream (Lucinda Williams, Allison Krauss), my knowledge of straight-up contemporary country fizzled out sometime around Dolly Parton. I mean, I can pick Trisha Yearwood out of a lineup, and I can hum along to Reba, but there's a whole school of skinny girls and modern cowboys who have (up until now) eluded me. Enter KZLA.
I've been listening steadily since, oh, Christmas? I change channels for commercials or war songs (of which there has been a preponderance, and I find them all both manipulative and frightening, which is to say, I listen to "American Soldier" and it makes me cry, and then makes me angry with myself for being duped, so, anyway, off to KCRW or Indy I go) -- I check 98.7 first, stick if it's "Hey Ya" ('cause if you don't like that song, check yourself for a pulse), stick if it's Five For Fighting's "100 Years," switch if it's that Hoobastank song or anything by Sarah McLachlan, check Indie 103.1 and stay unless it's Bob Marley or tuneless punk, check KCRW and stay unless it's the all-Radiohead hour (because I'm in the CAR, yo). And still I'm left with a hot whole lot of country songs.
I don't know the names or artists for any of 'em. Nine months of listening, you'd think I'd pick up something, but, nada. I can sing along and the top of my lungs, and I do, but I can't tell Toby Keith from Kenny Chesny and I can't tell Rachel wossname from Mindy wossname either.
Therefore (because you folks are way more interesting than google), I bring you the What Country Song Am I Probably Misquoting Country Music Radio Station Lyrics Quiz List. If you've ever spun to the country side of the dial, please, take a gander:
Guess if you can, just for fun. I'll do the looking up legwork later iffen you can't help me. I'll take artist reviews and recommendations, too.
1. and the band played songs that we had never heard, but we sang anyway
2. pour me something tall and strong, make it a hurricane, before I go insane
3. shook me up and turned me around, helped me learn to breathe it all in
4. I had a barbecue stain on my white t-shirt, she was killin' me in that miniskirt
5. Cupid works for the devil, be suspicious if he cries, you know sex is usually good, but it ain't always right
6. [still lookin' at you,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
_maayan] and we like to drink our beer from a mason jar, oooooooohhh, I love this bar
7. I look to the left, see his suntanned hands, his muddy river hair and his thousand-acre plans
8. living on dreams and spaghetti-os
9. there is no Arizona, no painted desert, no Sedona
10. I can't even remember now what she backed my truck into
ETA: I think it says something, either about me or about the state of pop playlists on commercial radio, that half a year into my country-music listening I can only quote ten songs. Then again, I already blew my wad on "My Front Porch Lookin' In" in the last lyric set, and that one's my favorite. a little blue-eyed blonde with her shoes on wrong 'cause she likes to dress her-SEYALF!
1. in the garage where I belong, no one hears me sing this song - "In the Garage," Weezer
2. you might blow up but you won't go pop -- that De La Soul song whose name I have forgotten, if I ever knew it
3. he still lives with his momma but he sneaks down, a coolie in the shadow of the playground -- "The Vampires," Songs from the Capeman
4. they speak fluently blonde from her legs to her cigarette -- "Living it Up," Rickie Lee Jones
5. picking up his sword again, it was a Mont Blanc monogrammed pen -- "Love Letters," Jude
6. oh you poor, poor suffering murderess -- "Black Widow," Michelle Shocked
7. we're living in France and I'm fond of your fantasies -- "Inside Your Painting," Patty Larkin
8. she had a one-in-a-million bad day -- "Thinking Amelia," Deb Talan
9. out there in the shadow of the modern machine -- "St. Robinson and his Cadillac Dream," Counting Crows
10. there's a church beside the park, and it fills the dying dark with five strokes -- "5 a.m. in Amsterdam," Michelle Shocked
11. we were younger then, we were children in India -- "Twenty Thousand Hearts," Eddie From Ohio
12. she was only responsive with a drink, he was only responsive by photo -- "The Couch," Alanis Morissette
13. I'm in love with a fan and she thinks I'm a star -- "The Asshole Song," Jude
14. barnyard thug, sleeps on straw and calls it a rug, yeah, that's a rug, okay -- "Pigs, Sheep and Wolves," Paul Simon
15. there's a carrot-top that can barely walk with a sippy cup of milk -- "Outside Lookin' In," Lonestar
Meanwhile, I'm spending a good portion of my inter-car time these days with KZLA, America's Most Listened-To Country Station. Or, as I prefer to say, "country music radio station," because I love the rhythm of that phrase. It's practically dactylic.
People complain about the radio in LA, but I'm really pretty pleased with it. We spawned Ryan Seacrest, after all, though I'm developing a new fondness for his replacement, Jason Pullman, on the drive-time slot on STAR 98.7, which has all ten songs on the pop playlist you could ever want. Jason Pullman got a lot of flak because in the dark he sounds just like Seacrest, from the wide-mouthed chuckle to the "I'm-not-gay-really" slushy sibilants. Personally, I was peeved that Lisa Foxx, Ryan's longtime cohost, didn't step up and headline the show herself, and I was tempted to blame the market for immediately bringing in a new GUY rather than letting Lisa helm for a while, but at the end of the day, Lisa's just not charismatic enough to have her own show. She's a sidekick. And there I go, betraying the sisterhood once more.
Back to radio. KCRW, of course, represents as our NPR-and-Polyphonic Spree station, as every good urban market needs a place to go for Garrison Keillor and Morning Becomes Eclectic. And we've got 103.1, excuse me INDY 103.1, the new Clearchannel "independent" radio station which, despite a propensity for Pearl Jam and Bob Marley, really does an okay job playing indie-label stuff. Bottom line, a reasonable dial, and I've got four out of my six preprogrammed buttons in the car taken care of without having to revert to oldies and/or Pacifica.
And yet. Some time earlier this year, I decided I'd give the country music radio station a try. Which isn't to say I'm without affection for country music as a genre; quite the contrary, actually. I've always been a mamas-don't-let-yer-babies-grow-up cowgirl, but with the exception of the rockabilly brigade (Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen, Jr) and the alt-country bluegrass mainstream (Lucinda Williams, Allison Krauss), my knowledge of straight-up contemporary country fizzled out sometime around Dolly Parton. I mean, I can pick Trisha Yearwood out of a lineup, and I can hum along to Reba, but there's a whole school of skinny girls and modern cowboys who have (up until now) eluded me. Enter KZLA.
I've been listening steadily since, oh, Christmas? I change channels for commercials or war songs (of which there has been a preponderance, and I find them all both manipulative and frightening, which is to say, I listen to "American Soldier" and it makes me cry, and then makes me angry with myself for being duped, so, anyway, off to KCRW or Indy I go) -- I check 98.7 first, stick if it's "Hey Ya" ('cause if you don't like that song, check yourself for a pulse), stick if it's Five For Fighting's "100 Years," switch if it's that Hoobastank song or anything by Sarah McLachlan, check Indie 103.1 and stay unless it's Bob Marley or tuneless punk, check KCRW and stay unless it's the all-Radiohead hour (because I'm in the CAR, yo). And still I'm left with a hot whole lot of country songs.
I don't know the names or artists for any of 'em. Nine months of listening, you'd think I'd pick up something, but, nada. I can sing along and the top of my lungs, and I do, but I can't tell Toby Keith from Kenny Chesny and I can't tell Rachel wossname from Mindy wossname either.
Therefore (because you folks are way more interesting than google), I bring you the What Country Song Am I Probably Misquoting Country Music Radio Station Lyrics Quiz List. If you've ever spun to the country side of the dial, please, take a gander:
Guess if you can, just for fun. I'll do the looking up legwork later iffen you can't help me. I'll take artist reviews and recommendations, too.
1. and the band played songs that we had never heard, but we sang anyway
2. pour me something tall and strong, make it a hurricane, before I go insane
3. shook me up and turned me around, helped me learn to breathe it all in
4. I had a barbecue stain on my white t-shirt, she was killin' me in that miniskirt
5. Cupid works for the devil, be suspicious if he cries, you know sex is usually good, but it ain't always right
6. [still lookin' at you,
_maayan] and we like to drink our beer from a mason jar, oooooooohhh, I love this bar7. I look to the left, see his suntanned hands, his muddy river hair and his thousand-acre plans
8. living on dreams and spaghetti-os
9. there is no Arizona, no painted desert, no Sedona
10. I can't even remember now what she backed my truck into
ETA: I think it says something, either about me or about the state of pop playlists on commercial radio, that half a year into my country-music listening I can only quote ten songs. Then again, I already blew my wad on "My Front Porch Lookin' In" in the last lyric set, and that one's my favorite. a little blue-eyed blonde with her shoes on wrong 'cause she likes to dress her-SEYALF!
no subject
1. and the band played songs that we had never heard, but we sang anyway Deana Carter - We Danced Anyway - love this one!
2. pour me something tall and strong, make it a hurricane, before I go insane Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet - It's 5 O'clock Somewhere
3. shook me up and turned me around, helped me learn to breathe it all in
4. I had a barbecue stain on my white t-shirt, she was killin' me in that miniskirt Tim McGraw - Somethin' Like That, (I think that's the title - know it's Tim McGraw)
5. Cupid works for the devil, be suspicious if he cries, you know sex is usually good, but it ain't always right
6. [still lookin' at you, _maayan] and we like to drink our beer from a mason jar, oooooooohhh, I love this bar Toby Keith - I Love This Bar
7. I look to the left, see his suntanned hands, his muddy river hair and his thousand-acre plans
8. living on dreams and spaghetti-os
9. there is no Arizona, no painted desert, no Sedona JoDee Messina - drawing a blank on the title
10. I can't even remember now what she backed my truck into
I used to be big into country, not that long ago. Kinda more into adult contemporary now, and classic rock.
As for recs - I love me some Gary Allen (Right Where I Need To Be, Smoke Rings in the Dark). Matraca Berg - not real current, or ever really popular, but she's a kick-ass song writer, and has had a couple of her own CDs. Mary Chapin Carpenter, who isn't country-country, but gets played on those stations, and throws in sly references to Lyle Lovett and Dwight Yoakum now and then.
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no subject
And the Mavericks too, they predated my fascination with contemporary country, though every now and again they show up on KZLA and I'm happy as clams. Mary-Chapin hasn't appeared on my station yet, and when I called to request a song of hers ("I Take My Chances," for those playing the home game) she wasn't even on their playlist. *growl*
THANK you for the help here, too. Is Lonestar good enough to merit investigating an entire album?
no subject
Oh, hell yeah! They have a greatest hits, if you want concentrated bang for the buck, but their other albums aren't shabby, either.
And you know about the Dixie Chicks, right? Get the Live Top of the World Tour double CD set - 22 songs, every damn hit they've ever had, plus a cover of "Mississippi," a Dylan song - I can listen to that on repeat all damn day, with happy memories of having seen/heard it in concert.
Matraca Berg's Lying To The Moon and Other Stories is the RCA anthology release of songs from some of her solo albums. Lovelovelove! The Things You Left Undone.
She has a site - http://www.matraca.com/ . Saturday Morning to Sunday Night is the other album you're thinking of. *Such* good songs! That Train Don't Run, and the hi-larious Back in the Saddle!
Oh, put me in your big ol' pick up truck
Take me to the rodeo
I don't know a thing about broncin' bucks
And I can't do-si-do
But I can put you back in the saddle, baby
Yeah, stand you up tall
I can put you back in the saddle, baby
Yeah, and that ain't all
:)
Backup vocals on that one: Suzy Bogguss, Faith Hill, Patty Loveless, Martina McBride & Matraca Berg. Oh, so "nudge nudge, wink wink.)*g*
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no subject
Here I'm doing painful research for a fic on country music and radio stations (they do listen to the stuff in Wyoming/Montana, right?), and I don't know anything about either, both; and here you are, my savior! With stations and lyrics and all. This post is going to make a guest appearance in my next baby, if you don't mind.
You know what? I LOVE this bar.
no subject
http://www.garyallan.com/main/index.html
Love Man to Man, off the Alright Guy album. And the title song!
You know just the other morning
I was hanging around in my house
I had that old book with pictures of Madonna naked
And I was checkin' it out
Just then a friend of mine came to the door
She said she never pegged me for a scumbag before
Said she didn't ever want to see me no more
And I still don't why
I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm an alright guy
Well I just want to live until I gotta die
I know I ain't perfect but God knows I try
I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm alright
Maybe I'm dirty and sometimes I like to get stoned
Ain't like I'm foolin with my intern while I'm talkin' on the phone
but I know get wild and I know I get drunk
It's not like I got a bunch of bodies in my trunk
My old man used to call me a no-good punk
And I still dont know why
I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm an alright guy
Well I just want to live until I gotta die
I know I ain't perfect but God knows I try
I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm alright
You know just the other night
The cops pulled me over outside the bar
When they turned on their lights
And they ordered me out my car
Man I was only kiddin' when I called 'em a couple of dicks
But still they made me do the stupid human tricks
Now I'm stuck in this jail with a bunch of dumb hicks
And I still don't know why
I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm an alright guy
Well I just want to live until I gotta die
I know I ain't perfect but God knows I try
I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm alright
no subject
Take My Time
Love is such a big rush
You wanna hurry it along
'Cause you can't get close enough
And I know it wouldn't feel wrong
But it's all right going slowly
Just fine getting to know me
I'll give you one thing you can't buy
Baby you can take my time
A Little Gasoline
What my heart needs now is rest
So I'm packing up and I'm headed west
My mind's made up, I'll put it to the test
Pushing myself and this old machine
Burning fumes and what's left of my dreams
Let 'em go 'cause I don't need no strings
Just give me a road and a Little Gasoline
Greatest Hits album coming out July 27.
no subject
My recs will all be about ten years old since it's been that long since I've bought a CD, but here ya go:
Alan Jackson's Greatest Hits - One of the more recent ones that's still singing old school style. Favorite songs: Midnight in Montgomery, Chatahoochee (it's just fun)
George Strait: He's the one you want to listen to when you step into the dusty bar in Texas. Favorite song: Amarillo by Morning
Faith Hill: Her first album before she went pop-country. (I have a weakness for people who can belt things, and she can belt. I also (heresy ahead) didn't mind the remake of Janis Joplin's song.)
Travis Tritt: You can go for a greatest hits here as I find that ten years later all his power ballads sound like the overblown power ballads that they were. Favorite Songs: Here's A Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares, Cause the Whiskey Ain't Working Anymore.
For pure cheesey tongue in cheek fun I'd go with Sammy Kershaw and listen to "Queen of my Double Wide Trailer" or "Vidalia."
Dwight Yoakum comes closest in my mind to crossing over into alt-country territory.
Songs that Came Out More Recently:
I am irresistably drawn to the Toby Keith/Willie Nelson "Beer for My Horses" song.
Jo Dee Messina - "Heads Carolina, Tails California"
Deana Somebodyorother - Strawberry Wine
? - I Hope We Danced
no subject
LeeAnn Womack did I Hope You Dance, backed by Sons of the Desert
I'll endorse the recs for Sammy Kershaw and George Strait.
I'll add anything by Martina McBride. Ditto Patty Loveless, who is prolly as old-school as George Strait, in her way, which is a good thing.
Lyle Lovett's Road to Ensenada album, especially I Can't Love You Anymore, and It Ought to Be Easier.
Only the ones I didn't see you had answers too...
8. living on dreams and spaghetti-os - Martina McBride "This one's for the girls"
9. there is no Arizona, no painted desert, no Sedona "There ain't no Arizona" - and my god, do I ever love this song
10. I can't even remember now what she backed my truck into One of the new boys, not Kenny Chesney, might be Brad Paisly, don't think it's Keith Urban, "(I live for)Little Moments Like That"
Music's like poetry - is poetry, I think. It's gonna manipulate you and make you react on pure gut, not intellectual. I have to grin (smirk? smirk unfairly?) when a person (even me) says "This song made me think..."
'Cause music ain't no thinkin' thang. *g*
And, for a lot of people, songs like Toby Keith's American Soldier and Angry American are 'bucking the system' - protesting 'mainstream' liberal urbanism.
I find it very interesting that country music has several very good songs that reacted to September and to the ongoing War on Terror - covering a wide range of reactions, but mostly refective, not drumbeaters. Pop/rock has, I think, Bruce Springsteen's City in Ruins. (Please, do say if you've heard others.)
On that note, let me recommend Dixie Chicks (again) - they are worth it. Traveling Soldier will make you cry, though.
Others you might like are Trace Atkins ("I'm Tryin'") and Pam Tillis ("Spilled Perfume"). Older ones I like are Merl Haggard and (early) Tanya Tucker. Johnny Cash, but surely he's already on your list. *g*
- hossgal
Re: Only the ones I didn't see you had answers too...
Alan Jackson - Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) - very introspective, subdued 9/11 reaction.
yes, but you forgot ...
And lots more that I probably can't remember.
no subject
And SheDaisy... also George Strait and Dierks Bentley (What Was I Thinkin' is just your basic rockin' great hellacool country song).
Clay Walker. Radney Foster. Suzy Boggus.
I am the country ho, I tell you.
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Trisha Yearwood - Sleep While I Drive, which maybe Melissa Etheridge did first, but both are good versions.
no subject
She also got me some Bonnie Raitt B-sides. That girl can thrash, I tell you whut. :)
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Aaron Tippin.
Collin Raye.
Rosanne Cash. I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me, and Seven Year Ache
Radney Foster. (not current, but I always :facepalm: when I unexpectedly hear Nobody Wins and realize I'd forgotten about it) He was in a duo once - Foster and Lloyd, I think it was.
Brooks and Dunn - can't believe I forgot to mention them.
And "no Arizona" is Jamie O'Neal, There Is No Arizona, not JoDee Messina - my bad.
no subject
How long was I asleep?
When did we plan to meet...
Heck, the whole Wheel album.
And Books and Dunn - guh. Yes, yes.
It's like a lost and found in a border town,
you're asking 'bout a diamond ring,
They just look at you like you lost your mind,
say they haven't seen a thing...
I know she's been here lately,
I can still smell her perfume...
She gets crazy, onna full moon...
And Neon Moon.
Brother Phelps is another good one.
- hg