Bad Directions?

Billy Currington's song, "Good Directions" is probably currently my favorite song. It tells one of those cutesie stories that Country songs are known for,

I was sittin’ there sellin’ turnips on a flatbed truck
Crunchin’ on a pork rind when she pulled up
She had to be thinkin’ “This is where the rednecks come from”

Currington has a masterful voice and funny, casual lyrics. And you can't help but smile when you hear

I told her way up yonder past the caution light
There’s a little country store with an old Coke sign
You gotta stop in and ask Miss Bell for some of her sweet tea

However, about the 20th time I listened to the song, I was struck by how quickly Currington falls in love with the girl. The only evidence that we have supporting his line 'Kickin’ myself for not catchin’ her name. I threw my hat and thought, “You fool, that coulda been love”', is

She had Hollywood written on her license plate
She was lost and lookin’ for the interstate
Needin’ directions and I was the man for the job

So Currington is this small town boy selling turnip greens when a girl from Hollywood strolls by looking for directions because she's lost in Georgia, probably scared out of her mind. In reality, Miss Bell probably gave Ms. Hollywood Bad Directions and now the poor rich girl is heading back for the redneck who considers her his dream girl after a short conversation about the quickest way to get out of this backwater town where the best landmark is the "caution light" up the street, surely cautioning drivers that they are approaching the downtown of no town.

I guess it's just funny that my favorite song is about a daydream occurrence with such a low probability of ending in "love" that its almost comical. I think I like it just for the way Currington says "turnip greens" in the last line of the song.

Juggling Two-upmanship

If you haven't seen Chris Bliss's juggling performance to Lennon and McCartney, you are probably the only one. In fact, you may also have seen Jason Garfield's parody. But what I didn't realize when I first watched Garfield, is that he is a World Juggling Federation champion (and yes, ESPN does cover it). Garfield also has a pretty funny stand-up. I think it is a fair approximation to say I am to Bliss what Bliss is to Garfield. I think I would be darn pleased if Bliss parodied my juggling performances. All I'm saying is don't feel too bad for Bliss. Garfield felt left out of the limelight and decided he needed to one-up (well, more like two-up) Bliss. It's akin to a high school basketball player doing a innovative slam dunk to music at a midnight madness event and then having Kobe Bryant play the same music and show that he can do the same dunk from twice as far away, blind-folded and whatever else. It is a kind of honor.

Parabéns, you are still alive

In Brazil the Happy Birthday song (sung to the same tune as ours) is

Parabéns pra você
Nessa data querida
Muitas felicidades
Muitas anos de vida

or in English

Congratulations to you
On this special day
Much happiness
Many years of life

I find it interesting that they congratulate on birthdays, whereas in the US, we just say happy birthday. So instead of wishing well, they acknowledge an accomplishment, namely, survival. My first thought was that this difference was due to culture differences arising from a lower general life expectancy. However, at 71yrs, Brasil does not rank far behind the US at 77yrs. Although when the song was written (shrouded in mystery but probably around the turn of the 20th century), life expectancy in the US was only 49yrs. So that theory can be safely trashed.

So it seems to me that we should use the American version on peoples birthdays, but every year that life expectancy rises we should have a national/world wide singing of the Brasillian version to congratulate the world on its accomplishment.

Are the 80's back?

I don't know if I am ahead or behind the curve on this one because I am kind of sheltered here in Brasil. One thing I am not sheltered from is American music which pervades the airwaves of Rio more than any other local variety. However, utilizing WMP and iTunes radio option, and sadly listening to Top 40, has left me feeling the rhythm of the music has some 80's undertones (I am struck by my inadequecy at describing the sound of music). "Stacy's Mom" and "Cool" come to mind, though the feeling is subtle.

On a similar but different note, I'm not sure when the term "oldies" arose in its present significance, but I certainly remember the term being used in the early 90's. This means it could not have been more than perhaps 15-20 years after those hits from the 60's and 70's (if you consider 70's oldies). Does anyone know the date the term came into use?