And Props Must Be Paid...

In my time of writing this little forum, I've come across a few writers of other sites who just get "it," the "it" just being an honest understanding of one's relationship with music, and often capture it with succinct and/or beautiful prose. Greg over at Captains Dead is someone like this, and as such, I've been reading him now for years. In a recent post he commented on talking music with those folks who don't share anywhere near the same level of music geekdom that he possesses. It's so fantastic and true I wanted to share it here...

to me, there is nothing more awkward than talking about music with someone that’s really not into music they way i am. this is a character defect of mine that i am fully aware of. its just really hard for me to bullshit about bands or music that i dont like without wanting to be rude, and i dont like being rude. well, not so much rude as derogatory to whatever music they hold dear.

i was out, not too long ago, sitting by myself, having a few drinks @ 45 tchoup and as the bar filled up some dude who looked seemingly cool, sat right beside me. unless your a total fuckin anti-social alcoholic, just there for the beer, your bound to end up talking to someone. typically the conversation starts off innocently enough filled with what you do, where you live, etc and then as the beers progress the convo turns to alien abduction, 9/11 conspiracy theories, the state of political unrest in kenya, etc. i dont really ever talk about music unless someone else brings it up first, or i know for damn sure that we will be on the same or similar wavelength. long and short of it is this dude mentioned something about going to see a show, that night, and i having the inquiring mind asked “oh, who?” honestly i cant remember who it was, some local band, but he went on and on about em, and then he hit me with the dreaded question, “what is your favorite song?” this is just me, but i rarely think about this question, cause im an album guy. the bands/artists that i, and presumably you too, like make records, they dont make hit singles with 10 other crappy songs on an album. still i felt compelled/obligated to answer his question. i thought about it for a minute, had a few sips of beer and proclaimed that the drive by trucker’s “never gonna change” is my absolute favorite song. he had never heard of said band, or song. it was really like deer in the headlights at that point, but i felt the need to get into details with him. man, i was on fire, also pretty buzzed. i was getting all deep and shit on his ass, but the blank stare and polite nodding was all i could get out of him. i went on for about 15-20 minutes and two beers just on this song. what it all boiled down to is that its just a bad ass song. that actually may have been part of my closing argument. its true though, everything from the lyrics to the 3 guitar attack make it the perfect song, in my book. listen to it with head phones on and try and pay attention to the whirling dervish like guitars. the only thing i would change, and jason does change it live, is instead of “I wouldn’t have trouble with a piss test; only problem is my bad left knee,” i like “I wouldn’t have trouble with a piss test; only problem is my god damn knees.” i know im weird, but i think it adds a greater sense desperation, regret and tension.