2/21/07

The Truth Shall Set Me Free.

Hypothetical question: Say you're sitting at work with your iPod on shuffle, and someone comes up to your desk to ask you a work question. When you pull your earbuds out they say, "So what are you listening to?" and the answer to the question, at that exact moment, happens to be a sappy love song from your childhood called "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Coley -- do you admit this?

I think I muttered something about OK Go's new CD and then quickly changed the subject, because I'm not talkin' bout my linen.*

I feel so ashamed for two reasons. One, for having this song on my iPod. Two, for lying about it. Also, I really do miss your smile.




*yes, that's what I thought it said when I was a kid. I figured maybe she stole his linen and he wanted it back.

23 comments:

  1. No I always try to sound cool too. i.e. girls just want to have fu-un ends up a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo.

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  2. I would have told the truth. My iPod has everything on it, so you never know what you're gonna get. The Fratelli's, Green Day, Mozart, Faron Young, Merle Haggard, Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, Connie Francis, even New Kids on the Block...I could go on, but I won't.

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  3. Shuffle is evil to me. Since my wife and I use the same machine for iTunes sync, I get all the kids songs and her stuff dumped on as well. Some how, Celine Dion is almost always in the first 20 songs, at least once. Spongebob's Yellow Album and the Velvetine Rabbit audiobook are also frequently at the top. Quite annoying.

    I may end up spending the time to actually setup iTunes to exclude certain CDs, books, etc just to clean up the shuffle option

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  4. Anonymous2:43 PM

    OMG! I was just listening to that same song yesterday. It was a 70's compilation cd...it even had David Souls's "Don't Give Up On Us Baby" song on it! Now I don't feel all alone in this world! And I love your blog...I read it everyday.

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  5. You ought to be ashamed JV ... after all, right in the lyrics of that tune (not that I really remember) he says, "I won't ask for promises, so you won't have to lie" tch. See? You'll cut a rug to the tune but you won't heed the message, will ya?

    {hag slowly boogies away while singing to self ... "I'm not talkin 'bout movin in, and I don't want to change your life ..."}

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  7. Sgt, synchronize via lists only, and everyone can share one ipod music library. Make a couple of really big playlists to take your stuff to your ipod, THEN shuffle. Much more better-er.

    JV, I would have to lie, since U +UR hand comes up on my iPod all too often.

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  8. Huh, I almost never get in iPod time at work, and yet I was on shuffle even as I read this post. Good timing.

    My iPod has an annoying tendency to suddenly become flamboyantly gay. i.e. Blasting me with showtune after showtune, then playing back to back the only Madonna and Britney Spears tracks I have on the entire drive.

    Other than that, I have a pretty decent catalog of very respectable tracks.

    ...though occasionally you'll catch me rocking out to something like Deana Carter... but not often.

    - Scott

    P.S. It also has the mysterious ability to make my coworker want to talk to me. The instant I press play, he says something. I take the earbuds out, respond, wait an appropriate amount of time then go back to listening and he says something else. It's amazing.

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  9. scotty, mine does the same thing! I can guarantee that within 30 seconds of me putting my earbuds in, my phone will ring.

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  10. Anonymous9:03 PM

    JV - depends on if they can actually hear the music, or worse, they grab your iPod & read what it says. In that case you say something like...My wife is always uploading this sappy stuff... :) Be more believable than SGT was though.

    Lindy, I always go with Joe Satriani. I sound WAY cool that way.

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  11. Wow, this does make me feel like an old shit! I have Skynard, Journey, 38 Special, Van Morrison, Petty, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd etc.
    I guess it is time for my meds and some warm milk, good night.

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  12. Darlin, talk to me when you have to fess up to having Britney Spears on your iPod, mmmmkay?

    Not that I know anyone like that, of course.

    Ahem.

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  13. Lucky for me, I've never had to lie. Which is pretty darn lucky seeing as how I've got some pretty embarassing stuff on mine.

    BTW, what's happened to England Dan and John Ford Coley anyway?

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  14. First, I admit to having that song on my iPod as well.

    Second, I also always thought he wasn't talking about the linen. That's still what I hear when I listen to that song, even though I know it's wrong.

    Third, I love your blog.

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  15. " Also, I really do miss your smile."

    I miss your smile too.

    Wait, you were taking about me, right?

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  16. Whoa whoa whoa-there is absolutely no reason to lie about listening to that song. It's on my iPod as well, and if you ever hang out with Danielle and me again we will sing it for you. We serenaded the people at the pool in Vegas with that song.

    P.S. There's a warm wind blowing the stars around.

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  17. My sister, when I was young, tried to convince me that the lyric was "I'm not talking 'bout Meridian," since Meridian, Mississippi, was where the couple in the song had originally met, fell in love, and lived together. I had a friend in Junior High who insisted it was "I'm not talking 'bout my linen," in a tacit reference to having had sex with other women. The actual lyric, as near as I can tell, is "I'm not talking 'bout movin' in," which is far less fun.

    Best to believe that nobody ever has, or ever will really know just what they're singing in that chorus.

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  18. Sarah, that song came out in 1976. You were, quite literally, a fetus at that point. How the hell do you guys even know that song?

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  19. Shamus, you know it, baby.

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  20. Anonymous4:50 PM

    I have a really eclectic mix on my iPod, including lots of 70's & 80's soft rock, a teeny bit of country, quite a bit of jazz, a little big band (can't beat Louis Armstrong!) and a ton of show tunes. But when you ask, you'll always get one of two answers. Either Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" or "Coltrane." So far, nobody's ever asked what Coltrane piece I'm listening to. Good thing, too, because I've never gotten around to loading any. It's just a lot cooler sounding than having to explain the plot of a Broadway show they've never heard of in order to understand the title of a song like "Sensitive New Age Guys."

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  21. Anonymous6:29 AM

    I'm with you only I thought it was "the linens," like, he's not talking about messing up the sheets together.

    I love 70's soft listening.

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  22. there is a 99.4% chance this song is on my iPod. I will let you know. Also if anyone asked me what I was listening to I would definitely tell them no matter what it happened to be. Just saying.

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  23. Anonymous11:57 AM

    Oh my God - happened to me once when I was not just listening to - but actively JAMMING to "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" by Wham!

    Heh.

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