Five Song Friday: Old & Busted

This Week: Defying gravity, British poetry and sandwich struggles

Apr 01, 2022

I’m not in the mood for jokes today.

It’s been a really rough week.

I know this email isn’t supposed to be about me. I’m not asking for your sympathy and I definitely don’t need your pity.

It’s just that… sometimes our personal struggles are too overwhelming to stay personal.

Believe me, the LAST thing I wanted to do was burden you with my problems. But my therapist thought that sharing my story could help get me through this difficult time and, more importantly, help others who may be facing the same challenges.

I was born with a condition called “Chronic Youth Deficiency.” It’s a slow, degenerative disease that robs my body of its youthful energy and vigor. Every day it gets worse and eventually, it will kill me.

I still function normally, but every day seems to bring something new.

More gray beard hairs. An obsession with lumbar support. Overwhelming urges to nap.

I yell at commercials on the television and call them stupid.

I have two pairs of yellow hospital socks in my sock drawer.

This week I’ve noticed that my neck makes sounds like walking on gravel.

It’s not easy, but I manage.

Music helps.

Whenever I feel like my disease is getting me down, I put on the old headphones and mainline some “dope ass jams.”

One song makes me feel like a kid again. Another takes me back to college.

Every track works like a time machine, transporting me into the past and flooding me with memories of days when “everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”

Which is a nice vacation from the present day when “everything hurts and… what the HELL is that spot on my leg? Is that new?”

Have a lovely weekend!

Sincerely,

DJ Crankypete

Five Song Friday 007

“Roam Around” - Wonderful Broken Thing

This song really takes me back to the Southern California skateboard scene of the late eighties. My memory of those days is a little blurry because of all the sunny days, recreational drugs and pure adrenaline.

But oh brother, what a time to be alive!

I remember this one trick I did, a kind of double backflip/twisty thing that kept me airborne for almost 5 seconds. Honestly, it felt like zero gravity. All the other skaters were shocked and gave me a standing ovation. I want to say that they all lifted me up onto their shoulders? Or maybe it was just a giant group hug.

I’ve also been told that Tony Hawk cried.

Either way, it was the highlight of my time in the Southern California skateboard scene of the late eighties. Thanks to this song, I can relive that moment without having to attempt my now-legendary Double Backflip Twisty Floater. Which is a good thing because I doubt I could do it twice.

Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of Wonderful Broken Thing before. In the world of “normals” they are pretty obscure. But for “four-wheeling freaks” like me who grew up in the Southern California skateboard scene of the late eighties, this band’s music was part of the essential soundtrack of our lives.

“Capable Man” - Man & the Echo

I probably shouldn’t have included this song because it makes me so mad that I can’t see straight.

The band is named after a poem by William Butler Yeats. Sounds original, right? Maybe, except somebody else ALREADY named their bands (plural) after Yeats poems and that somebody was me.

It was kind of my thing back in college, back when these English blokes were still in nappies.

I’m not saying my goth band “The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner” or my punk rock threesome, “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” were any good. I’m just saying that I thought of it first.

What hurts even more is that Man & The Echo write some wicked good pop songs with hilarious, oddball lyrics. So I end up really liking them even though I also secretly hate them. Damn you Gaz, Fush, Joey and Chris!

How can you not applaud a track that kicks things off lyrically with the line: “I have successfully challenged parking fines with my persuasive rhetoric”?

You can’t.

[applauds]

“Is This It?” - The Greeting Committee

I’m a sucker for songs that ask the big questions.

And questions don’t come any bigger than this.

“Is this it?” is the kind of query that stops you in your tracks and forces you to reconsider everything you know about anything. What is the meaning of life? Why are we here?

Is this it?

If the answer is YES? Then we’re all forced to cope with the idea that life is MEH, a monotonous treadmill of eating, sleeping and accumulating so many daily prescriptions that you need to buy one of those daily pill organizers.

If the answer is NO? Then we must all move forward on the path to our mysterious futures, which could lead to a bottomless pit of eternal suffering or a joyous voyage into ethereal bliss. It’s a coin flip.

Either way sounds scary. That’s why I avoid the big questions. If someone asks me a big question, I pretend not to understand. I’m good at changing the subject. Sometimes I just take off running.

Thankfully, The Greeting Committee has made things easy for everybody.

Yes, the Kansas City band asks a big question. But you don’t have to look far for the answer. The delightful song “Is This It?” is from their 2018 album… This Is It.

So there you go. That settles that. Existential crisis averted.

“Empire” - Martha Hill

This week, I called an audible.

That’s a football reference where the quarterback fellow changes his mind at the last minute on the line of scrimmage and says, “Hey guys, instead of Green 22, Green 22… let’s try a little Blue 44, Blue 44 and just see what happens.”

This playlist slot was previously occupied by another Martha Hill tune called “Grilled Cheese,” a sad song from 2020 about the end of a relationship and sandwich-making power struggles. I still recommend it, but felt compelled to share her shiny new single called “Empire.”

It’s not like me to pass up a grilled cheese in any form, but this new song has a nice kick and I like the cut of its jib.

What’s it all about? I’m not sure, but at one point the UK singer-songwriter makes it known that when “the shit hits fan,” she will be on an island, sipping Johnnie Walker, somewhere in the Highlands, sitting in a bunker.

So don’t blame her.

“Butterfly” - Mason Jennings

“Butterfly” is a sticky and sweet little banger of a song.

(I know that sounds like I’m describing a sausage, but I’m writing this late so please just go with it.)

The track is from folk musician Mason Jennings’ self-titled 1997 debut. According to the Internets, Jennings played all of the instruments himself and recorded it on an analog four-track in his rented apartment.

Since those humble beginnings, Jennings has done well for himself musically. He built a loyal following in Minneapolis and released several, critically acclaimed albums. His fans and collaborators include Jack Johnson, Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse) and Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard.

In 2020, Jennings and Gossard joined forces to launch a band called Painted Shield. The group includes veteran Seattle musicians Brittany Davis and drummer Matt Chamberlain.

Those familiar with the Seattle music scene have called them a “supergroup.” But if you’re not familiar with the Seattle music scene, you can just call them a “group.”

Either way, the group/supergroup had nothing do with this song and I should just wrap this up already.

In summary: Mason Jennings made this song with his bare hands using magnetic tape in an apartment he did not own, way back in 1997 (the same year that Anaconda was released in movie theaters and I could still read a book without glasses).