Beach Boys — “Do It Again”
Voice of the Beehive — “I Walk the Earth”
Camper Van Beethoven — “Eye of Fatima”
Happy Mondays — “Step On”
Velvet Welk Underground — “Sister Ray”
George Jones — “The Race Is On”
Rolling Stones — “Gimme Shelter”
The Who — “A Quick One”
Leonard Cohen — “Tower of Song”
Lambchop — “Is a Woman”

Today’s theme refers to my classics, those songs that I keep coming back to year after year, once the Johnny-come-latelys have left my CD player and I’m looking for those time-honored songs that I can’t let go. It was a little difficult winnowing the selection down to what I could find on YouTube, but I picked a handful that represent certain periods in my life from early childhood through the college years, then marriage, divorce, and marriage again. It finally ends when my kids were born, as I no longer listen to much of anything except the Sippy Cups, and they shouldn’t be wished upon anybody. A quick rundown then:

Beach Boys — Listened to by my family on every trip we ever took, whether it was a two-hour trip to Seattle or a 14-hour trip to Salt Lake City to see the relatives. It was the only thing we could all agree on. Our favorite song was Salt Lake City, and we’d listen to it as we drove into the city at the end of our trip. Here are the lyrics:

Down in Utah
The guys and I dig a city called Salt Lake
It’s got the grooviest kids
That’s why we never get tired of Salt Lake
And the way the kids talk so cool
Is an out of sight thing
And the number one radio station
Makes the town really swing yeah
Salt Lake City we’ll be coming soon

There’s a park near the city, yeah
All the kids dig the Lagoon now
It’s full of all kinds of girls
And rides and we’ll be flyin’ there soon now
And girl for girl
They’ve got the cutest of the Western states
They got the sun in the summer
And winter time the skiing is great yeah
Salt Lake City we’ll be coming soon.

Salt Lake City we’ll be coming soon.

Funny that this song is never on their Greatest Hits collections.

Voice of the Beehive — My version of the B-52s. Two female singers but without that strange man yelling stuff in the middle of each song.

Camper Van Beethoven — I tried to listen to it on a road trip with my parents once. They listened for about 15 minutes before taking it out and proclaiming it “unlistenable.” It must’ve been the violin. This is what I always thought of as “college rock,” being maybe slightly too young for the heydays of REM and Hüsker Dü. It was a fine mix of rock, country, pop, ska and punk. Maybe like Gogol Bordello but with less accent.

Happy Mondays — My first taste of something different after several years of listening to bands that started with C — The Cure, The Clash, The Cult (maybe I’d peek over at the D’s to find the Damned, Dead Kennedys and Dead Milkmen, but that was a stretch for my musical taste up to this point). It was crazy hearing music that made me want to actually shake that ass. Somehow all their songs made me feel high without actually doing any drugs. It’s hard to explain. I still think their Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches is one of the best summer albums of all time. You can’t help but feel good and want to groove in the sunshine.

Velvet Underground — First heard them through a high school friend, Kari. The only person I know who drives better when she’s loaded than sober. We’d listen to VU while cruising around town, through the hills, wherever we were going, as long as it took a long time to get there so we could get our fill of Lou Reed. I think you’ll find this video to be an amusing version of the song.

George Jones — I was looking for a Grateful Dead version of this but couldn’t find it on Youtube. Since Johnny Rotten had told us to “Never trust a hippie,” I hadn’t ever given the Grateful Dead a chance. Until the day Jerry Garcia died, August 9, 1995. I was working in a lab cleaning leaves (science loves cleanliness more than God), accompanied only by an old stereo that could only pick up Rush Limbaugh or the oldies station. They played the Dead all day long as a tribute to Jerry, and as each song would play I’d think, “Hmm, this stuff isn’t as bad as I expected it to be.” By the end of the day I was a fan of the Grateful Dead.

Rolling Stones — Similar to the Grateful Dead, but this time it was the Clash telling me there would be no “Elvis, Beatles, or the Rolling Stones (in 1977).” Who am I to argue with my idols? So of course I made fun of the Rolling Stones (who were already old when they were on the Steel Wheels tour when I was in high school. And who knew they’d still be going today. I blame the marijuana for making me fall in love with the Stones though. I remember lying on my bed listening to Sympathy for the Devil. I’d play maybe the first 10 seconds of the song, then start it over again. The next time I’d let it play 15 seconds, then 30, each time thinking it couldn’t get any better. By the time my wife walked in on me, I’d gotten to the “woo woo” part and just kept repeating it over and over again. That was some good shit.

But it’s this song, Gimme Shelter, that really made me understand that drugs were invented so you’d hear the extra notes that normal people weren’t hearing. I mean, how great is that? It’s already a great song, but if you’re high it’s even better. And when Merry Clayton wails along with Mick in there you just can’t hold it back. Woo woo!

The Who — See “Rolling Stones” above. I do love that on they managed to upstage the Stones at their own Rock & Roll Circus. This performance proves it.

Leonard Cohen — The Voice, The Poet, The Inimitable, Mr. Cohen. I have to forgive my ex for making me listen to her Ani, Indigo Girls and her beloved Nelson, because it was she who introduced me to Leonard Cohen. Watch this video and wait for his exit. Classy.

Lambchop — I think anybody who’s known Bryan Waterman for the past 5 years or so has had to endure some Lambchop. I was happy to receive his Lambchop Primer in trade for introducing him to Wes and Bottle Rocket. I don’t know what it is about this music. If I heard this kind of music coming from anybody else I’d have to slit my throat, as I generally don’t like music that’s intended to lull you to sleep, but somehow this stuff just gets the job done for me. It was the first thing I played on the stereo as I took off on the long drive from Boston to Seattle, 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground, lighting up a cigarette and singing along with my pal Kurt, “I’m smoking again…”