THAT SONG IS DRIVIN' ME CRAZY,
I GOTTA HEAR IT AGAIN...
...'First time I heard it, I was with some friends
It's a simple little song you can sing along with an old-time melody
So won't you play that crazy little song again for me?
--I never thot I'd quote this 1974 song by Tom T. Hall, but there it is!

Have you ever been somewhere doing something, and all of a sudden, a song popped into your mind? And try as you might, your mental 'needle' got stuck, and the song played over and over and over, driving you nuts! When that happens to me, the only way I can cure it is to actually hear the complete song, either on the radio, CD player or phonograph. That way, I can seem to exorcise the musical demons; that is, until another song hits me. I remember when our family went to the Washington coast for a summer vacation on the beach in 1974. At the time, I was a huge fan of the Moody Blues, and still am, by the way. And, having never been to the ocean before, it was something totally new to me. And, a Moody Blues ALBUM track (not a well-known single) invaded my brain...the song went, "...and the tide rushes in, and washes my castles away"...I kept hearing that song over and over and OVER!

Later on, when I was working for the Forest Service fire crew, we were "between fires", and our crew was up in the woods, making a hiking trail along some stream. We had to hike in over a mile to get there; all us wet-behind-the-ears kids, carrying shovels, axes, 40-lb.water bags, radios and such, in the 90-degree heat. We were dressed in long-sleeve chambray shirts, jeans and steel-toed shoes. Just absolutely frickin' MISERABLE. And of course, when the day was done, we had to gather up our stuff and hike back to the van for the 30 mile ride back to headquarters. I love the outdoors, but I am no hard-core camper. As we were trudging along clumsily, I thought of a current Wayne Newton song, and I sang a refrain; "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast", and we all had a laugh from that. Even though working for the Forest Service was miserable. Always was, always will be. I hate that kind of work. Digging holes. Picking up rocks. That's about as miserable as it can get.

So recently, I saw a photo at "Huckleberries Online", that anarchic blog-assembly site where all of us regional bloggers chew each other out over whatever we're steamed about. (Fun to be negative, huh?) It is operated in conjunction with a newspaper, the blogmeister of which probably wonders every day how he got himself "in so deep". Anyway, this photo I saw, reminded me INSTANTLY of a song...the old schottische (it's an old type of music), with the lyrics, "Put yer little foot, put yer little foot, put yer little foot RIGHT UP..."


www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo is the place where you, too, can steal great photos to your hearts content.

...this musical thing in my crazy head. It's a curse, ah tell yuh, a curse.