My New Love Affair and The Greatest Songs Ever

A follow up to my last post...Shannon spoke in church last Sunday. She did an outstanding job. The bishop got very brave and decided to ask all of the bishopric wives to speak. Bravery is subjective however. He was too afraid to ask his wife over the kitchen table, so he had Rhett and I come into his office with him while he asked his wife. I suppose a good old fashioned beat down would have been out of the question with witnesses right there. Anyway, they did such a good job that I can honestly say it was one of the best sacrament meetings I have ever been to. Plus I didn't have to use my one freebie that she promised me should I have trouble getting a speaker at some point.

So, after the last post where I brag about my wonderful wife, it is with sad heart that I admit the following. I haven't been completely faithful to her recently. A new object of my affections has emerged and I find myself making excuses to slip away and spend time with my new love. Now granted the excuses I find generally include me having to get something from Bashas' or making a dreaded Wal-Mart trip, but I am so madly in love that I have lost all sense of right and wrong. I mean voluntarily going to Wal-Mart? The madness must end!



I am speaking of course of our new family member. Not Buddy, but Silver. As in Silverado, Chevy Silverado. Silver joined our family three weeks ago and suddenly I find myself volunteering to go get Abby at gymnastics, "forgetting" to get dog food so I can make another trip to get more and other pathetic excuses for driving without a real need. The funny part is that I was told by Tommy Nicholas in my ward that my manly points went up by four just by getting a truck and getting out of my little Saturn (an aside...that Saturn has served us well for nine years and almost 140,000 miles. Getting a new vehicle was inevitable, but that car was awesome), but the funny thing is, I don't think I have hauled much in the back of my truck. I think I might lose some of those manly points if people knew that what I am enjoying most with this truck is playing with the XM radio that comes with it as well as the On-Star features. Basically, the truck is one big phone. When I set up On-Star on the way home from buying the truck, Braden was in the back seat. I think his little mind nearly exploded when he realized I could hold a conversation with someone through the speakers of the truck. I give Braden a hard time about being obsessed with technology but...I called Heath the other night without much cause...ok...no cause really, I just wanted to play with the phone calling features. I suppose this technology obsession might just be a family trait thing.



Of course no one is allowed to eat in it and only adults are allowed to drink beverages other than water in it. (I suppoooossse that Shannon's M&Ms don't count.) Shannon thinks I am obsessive. I know I am. And the point of is??? Shannon asked if she was going to get to drive it. I explained that was a silly question. It is OUR truck. Of course she could drive it a quarter mile down the road to see Melinda as long as she was back in ten minutes and signed a ten page liability statement stating that the family would forego basic necessities for a year to help pay for any damage that should come to the truck while she was driving it. If Shannon weren't such a refined lady, I think she would have shot me the finger as she grabbed the keys on her way out the door while stating, "I'll be back when I get back." (This story has been slightly embellished, but the spirit of the exchange is intact.)



Now since getting the truck, as mentioned, I have been enjoying a reconnecting with satellite radio. One thing I learned on XM the other day was that Jason Mraz's song "I'm Yours" just recently broke the record for the amount of time one song has lasted on the Billboard top 100. It has been there 70 weeks. The discussion went on about the greatest songs of all time. It made me think, what do I consider the greatest songs of all time. Well, I compiled a list of what I think are the 5 greatest songs ever. Now a couple of disclaimers. First, this list could easily change for me. I am sure someone could point out a song and I would go "Oh Yeah!!!", but at this point, these are the top. Second, this list is only contemporary popular type songs. Clearly the composition skills of the songwriters who wrote these songs don't compare with a Brahm or a Beethoven. Just wanted to be clear before someone commented that "How could you overlook The Hallelujah Chorus?" I didn't overlook it, I just didn't include that whole genre. Anyway, here are my choices:

5. Sad Songs (Say It So Much) - Elton John: When this song came out, it was my favorite. I still hear it and love it every time. I am really not a big Elton John fan, but this song strikes a chord with me that is somewhat timeless. That is a big consideration for me when it comes to this list. It is also the only Elton John song where I don't want to check to make sure my iPod isn't skipping when the song is winging down because Elton John doesn't know how to end a song. He just keeps repeating the same words over and over and over...you get the picture. That quality alone almost got this song bumped, but...

4. Always On My Mind - Willie Nelson: For the record, I hate Willie Nelson. That makes it really strange that of my top five greatest songs ever list, #5 and #4 would be by artists I don't really care for. However, this song is as heartfelt and true emotion song as I am aware of. This does not apply to the Pet Shop Boys version. I wish someone would remake this song with the same slow tempo and soul searching sound without the nasal quality that unfortunately comes with any Willie Nelson song.

3. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry: The first great guitar rock song is still the best. If you think about it, all heavy metal, guitar driven country and guitar heavy pop artists got their inspiration from Chuck Berry. If you disagree, I would point you to the original Back To The Future...see, you can't really argue with it can you? This song still makes me want to get up and move. You can all rest easy that I don't get up and move as that would be highly embarrassing, but it still makes me want to. Thanks dad for the education on good rock music at an early age. I know my love of country disappoints you still, but I did listen somewhat.

2. You Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes: If you want a testament to this song's greatness, look at the fact that it has been remade many, many times and yet, to my knowledge, no one has really changed the song. They add their own vocal style, but the tempo, the instrumentation and the basic song sound almost exactly the same. It is hard to improve upon greatness.

1. When You Say Nothing At All - Any Version: When it first came out by Keith Whitley, it was a great song. Yet it seems that each remake only seems to get better. Alison Krauss slowed it down and it was incredible and then the guy who sang it for Notting Hill jazzed it up a bit and it was just as emotional. I love this song!!! One of my wife's favorite songs ever is "Endless Love" because she thinks the words are so romantic and that that is very important. I agree and think this song's words are even more effective while combined with an unbelievable tune.

So there they are. I dare you to argue with me. I realize that there are some notable songs that are not there. For instance, Yesterday by the Beatles is the most recorded song of all time. One problem. I hate the song Yesterday. Therefore, it couldn't make my list. Any song by Elvis. Well, I have been mentally scarred by the image of an older Elvis sweating profusely in a white jumpsuit while singing. I am sorry, I just can't get past that and therefore he is omitted. Anyone is more than welcome to tell me where I am wrong, but I reserve the right to have totally stupid arguments that may make no sense to anyone but me, but then I am the final arbitor so...I will win said arguments. For instance, Imagine by John Lennon. The words in theory are great, but it is totally unrealistic and he uses the phrase "no religion". Therefore...checking with the final arbitor...it is out. See how that works? I am going to see if I can get a show on XM and do a countdown based on this list. It certainly would be better than half the shows that exist on XM.