Girl Crush in These titles mean nothing.

We have two radio stations at work. One is country and one is sort of classic pop. I generally prefer the classic pop one. It plays Seger and the Beatles and Springsteen and Paul Simon and Billy Joel. You get the idea. It plays a narrow range of each of their songs- as if their record collection is limited to Springsteen’s Glory Days, Born in the USA and the sexy one about fixing the girl’s car.

The country station limits itself to current country music and I am not a fan of current country music. It all sounds alike to me. It’s too southern. It’s like we lost the Cilvil War of someth8ing. I’m evil.

Last week I started hearing this song. One day I counted. They played it three times. It’s very distinctive. I understood the words. I got it. It made me mad at first. It’s taking one idea and turning it around. Word play - which of course is what country music is so good at. (I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.)

So this morning when I woke up at 4:30 with nowhere to go and nothing to do I went to Youtube looking for the song. I wondered who sang it. First I found this video.

I’d heard of Kelly Clarkson. She won a contest, didn’t she? I was taken by her looks and her personality and she does sing the heart out of the song.

The version I hear on the radio was probably this one. It’s cooler. And polished do gem-like distinction.

Either way it’s a triumph of song-writing. The bit about drowning in a bottle of her perfume deserves either a Grammy or Nobel prize. I can’t decide which.

Later -

Turns out the song was written by several people including a Massachusetts folk singer, mother of five kids, Lori McKenna. Here’s how it sounds when she sings it.

Still later -

Here is a better McKenna video.

Damn, that girl is all about obsession. I like that.

Last updated May 31, 2015