Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me
Last night we watched Volume 2 of the Best of Hee Haw (which is sort of an oxymoron, but whatever). Frau loved it.
My reaction? Well, at least it had Johnny Cash. That makes just about anything enjoyable.
According to Wikipedia, CBS first aired Hee Haw as a mid-season replacement for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1969, after the brothers were canceled for getting too political. Of course, the phrase "According to Wikipedia" is the moral equivalent of "It happened to this guy my friend's brother knows". But I believe Wikipedia in this case, if only because it lets me imagine the following conversation:
CBS Bigshot - Now that we're done with those dirty pinkos and their weird explosive-loving friends, we need something else. What's the least hippie-like thing you can think of?
Flunkie - Umm, inbred hillbillies drinking moonshine and telling prehistoric jokes in a cornfield?
Bigshot - Perfect!
And so it began...
The title of this entry reminds me of another thing I forgot to mention recently. The Post-Dispatch reviewed a book with the charming title of I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard by Tom Reynolds.
The book covers songs from the "tragedy songs" of the early 60s (Teen Angel, the Last Kiss, etc.) to Nine Inch Nails, but no blues or jazz music. Reynolds defends this decision by saying that the blues have a "sense of defiance" to them that makes them more about anger than despair. I will admit that the saddest blues song I know, "Death Letter" by Son House, is a lot more pissed off than depressed, but there's plenty of room in there for both.
Anyway, I don't understand a lot of his choices, such as #30 on the list being "The End" (or as I like to call it, "Twenty minutes of Jim Morrison ranting like a mental patient".) But I do have to give Reynolds credit for his #1 pick, even if I'd never heard of it before. He chose the horrifyingly sappy "Christmas Shoes" by the Christian rock band Newsong.
To save you from reading the lyrics and then having to suppress the urge to shoot yourself, here's the gist: it's about a little boy who tries to buy an expensive pair of shoes on Christmas Eve as a gift for his dying mother. He has no money but he needs the shoes because "I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight". Yikes.
My reaction? Well, at least it had Johnny Cash. That makes just about anything enjoyable.
According to Wikipedia, CBS first aired Hee Haw as a mid-season replacement for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1969, after the brothers were canceled for getting too political. Of course, the phrase "According to Wikipedia" is the moral equivalent of "It happened to this guy my friend's brother knows". But I believe Wikipedia in this case, if only because it lets me imagine the following conversation:
CBS Bigshot - Now that we're done with those dirty pinkos and their weird explosive-loving friends, we need something else. What's the least hippie-like thing you can think of?
Flunkie - Umm, inbred hillbillies drinking moonshine and telling prehistoric jokes in a cornfield?
Bigshot - Perfect!
And so it began...
The title of this entry reminds me of another thing I forgot to mention recently. The Post-Dispatch reviewed a book with the charming title of I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard by Tom Reynolds.
The book covers songs from the "tragedy songs" of the early 60s (Teen Angel, the Last Kiss, etc.) to Nine Inch Nails, but no blues or jazz music. Reynolds defends this decision by saying that the blues have a "sense of defiance" to them that makes them more about anger than despair. I will admit that the saddest blues song I know, "Death Letter" by Son House, is a lot more pissed off than depressed, but there's plenty of room in there for both.
It looked like 10,000 people standin on the burial groundSee what I mean?
I didn't know how much I loved her until they laid her down. . .
Then I folded up my arms and slowly walked away,
Ain't going to see my good girl again until the Judgment Day
Anyway, I don't understand a lot of his choices, such as #30 on the list being "The End" (or as I like to call it, "Twenty minutes of Jim Morrison ranting like a mental patient".) But I do have to give Reynolds credit for his #1 pick, even if I'd never heard of it before. He chose the horrifyingly sappy "Christmas Shoes" by the Christian rock band Newsong.
To save you from reading the lyrics and then having to suppress the urge to shoot yourself, here's the gist: it's about a little boy who tries to buy an expensive pair of shoes on Christmas Eve as a gift for his dying mother. He has no money but he needs the shoes because "I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight". Yikes.
posted by Skippy | 2:21 PM
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