Deacon Blues

I was out in the spring-like weather enjoy my morning exercise and listening to music as I often do. Then, I got to thinking, which I also often do. The song ;Deacon Blue;, by Steeley Dan came on and I cranked it up a little bit. I've like this song for decades, but perhaps was listening to it for the first time through earbuds. Let me tell you, earbuds, high volume and saxophone do not mix. Any two of the three works just fine, but add the third element and wow! Instant headache. Fortunately, it's the kind that goes away in three and a half minutes.

It was really the next song that got me thinking about music, 'Valencia' by The Decermberists. What a great story. The first few times Ryan played this band for me, I wasn't liking what I heard. But, it was my brother's-in-law house and my brother's-in-law music; that and there is nothing wrong with people playing music I don't like, as this story will become a testament to. Not much later, I found out that our friend Amy had gone to high school with the lead singer, Colin Maloy (sorry about the spelling as I sometimes would rather be wrong than fact check on Wikipedia). He apparently had been quite pretentious and somewhat a prick towards Amy. That was it. This is a band I would hate.
But I kept it to myself a while and Ryan continued with the disk in heavy rotation. Eventyally, during a board game when voting on music I mentioned that they were not something I wanted to listen to. Everyone in the room was amazed. My other brother-in-law, Kristian, literally stood by the CD player with a shocked expression on his face. Ryan, Kristian and I are all music snobs. Kristian, however, always seems amazed that people can like music that he doesn't, which he usually refers to as them lacking musical sense, and is even more surprised when someone doesn't like something he does. I love the guy to death, but sometimes he just cannot comprehend how other people in the world can feedl differently about stuff than he does. So, in true Kristian fashion, he resolves that the problem is I had not been listening enough and put the album on. Now, he didn't live with us, so he had no way of knowing that we had been hearing that album four or five times a day on Ryan's days off from work and two or three times a day the rest of the week. Whatever.

But, something did happen, not at once, but by the time Courtney and I found our own place I was willing to listen to the back library to see if there was something in it that I might like better. I also saw them live, which made a world of difference. Colin didn't sound so 'snotty' live.
Time went by and The Decemberists released a new album, which I found myself eagerly awaiting. What had happened? Stories. These songs weren't throw away pop songs full of the latest jingoisms. The songs are also full of clever wordplay, which is a big turn on for me in any medium.

James Taylor's 'Fire and Rain' came up next, followed by Jonny Cash's rendition Trent Reznor's 'Hurt'. Both songs are excellent stories, if a bit depressing.
I was first turned on to Bob Dylan by his story telling. The same holds true for Tom Petty, Pink Floyd ('The Wall' was the first album of their's that I owned) and Bruce Springsteen. I found a lot of good stories in Pearl Jam's work as well as Soundgarden's and Beat Happening's work.
I like more music than just "story-tellin'" music, but don't think I get as deeply involved.