Showing posts with label judds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judds. Show all posts

Saturday, March 23, 2013

I Want My CMT






Well, here's the deal:  I was completely enamored of MTV in the 1980's.  Sure, one wouldn't call the music "rock"; more like rock-pop or something; but it was GOOD.

The one and only reason I switched back to country music was because I happened to flip my radio dial one day, while waiting in my car for my kids to be dismissed from school; and I heard a song by somebody named "George Strait".  I said to myself, well, that sounds good!  Maybe I've been missing out on something, lo these five or six years that I've been away from country music.  (Isn't it just like music to flip on you when you least expect it?  And suddenly become good, when you turned away from it because it was so putrid?)

After hearing a song by this "George Strait" guy, I chanced to give country music another go.  I honestly had never heard of any of these artists that were suddenly wafting out of my speakers.

The first cassette tape (remember those?) I purchased was by somebody who called themselves the Sweethearts of the Rodeo.



I carried my boom box around while pseudo-cleaning my house, and I played that tape endlessly.  Why I had glommed on to this particular group, I don't know.  I know that I was reticent to embrace George Strait, because my mom and dad thought he was so good, and I wasn't about to bow to Mom and Dad's whims.  While I was visiting them one evening, they popped in a VHS tape of a George Strait live concert, and I watched it half-hardheartedly between snippets of conversation, and I still didn't get it.  Or chose NOT to get it.  I came late to the George Strait party, but when I finally climbed aboard, I turned into a giggly adolescent girl; devouring anything and everything that had the Strait name attached.

Meanwhile, though, there was this other guy, who had sort of a nasally sound, but, boy!  Those guitars sure rang!  This was like Buck Owens and the Buckaroos on steroids.



FULL DISCLOSURE:  Even better than George Strait!

This was a weird time in music for me.  Number one, aside from SOTR (or, Sweethearts of the Rodeo), everybody I liked was male.  I'd come of age during the time of Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette and Lynn Anderson; but no girl singers (except for one) were even a blip on my country music radar.  What had happened since I'd been away? 

But when the girls were good, they were good:



I sat behind my steering wheel, parked in front of my kids' elementary school, when this song accosted me from my radio speaker.  The first time I heard it, I believe I actually swooned.  I simply wanted to hear it again...and again; but I had to wait for the damn album (or by this time, CD) to be released before I could listen to it as many times as I needed (George never made a music video for this song ~ huge mistake):



(Admittedly, that song wasn't from the eighties, but I just wanted to include it.)

This song, too, had no official music video, but wow ~ what a great song!



Speaking of George (again), and speaking of swooning, well, here I went again:



And, again, there was Dwight:



But it wasn't all George and Dwight.  It was Clint:



It was Randy:



And did I forget some girl singers?  Apparently!



Some guy I'd never heard of before recorded an album of songs that took the 1989 CMA award for album of the year, and I knelt in front of my TV that night; cheering him on:



Sitting at a table at the Dakota Lounge one Saturday night, this new guy managed to strangle my heart strings with this:



Another really great song to two-step to was this, by Steve Earle:



"Got a two-pack habit and a motel tan" ~ I so admire great lyric writers.  FOUR STARS on this song!

Country music in the eighties wasn't all George and Dwight and Randy and Clint; however.  I want to also feature some of my favorite eighties country by some artists that might not readily spring to mind when we think about that decade:

Foster and Lloyd:



Rosanne Cash:



Singing background vocals on Roseanne's song segues us into Vince Gill:



Singing background vocals on Vince's song leads us to Patty Loveless:



Singing background on nobody's here-to-fore mentioned songs, and unfortunately a video with poor sound quality (but I wanted to include it, just because), here is Steve Wariner:



(For unknown reasons, in the days when I went out dancing on a Saturday night, whenever the band played the part in "Lynda" that went, "I woke up screaming this morning", all the patrons were apparently obliged to scream.  Naturally, I abstained.)

Speaking of live music and dancing, this next song is essentially impossible to dance to.  I'm thinking it's because the tempo changes between the intro and the rest of the song; and then back again.  If you want to look really foolish out on the dance floor, try dancing to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and this:



Like Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea has a great voice, and I love this song:



Please don't forget Restless Heart (another song I love):



I have no doubt forgotten to include some artists.  After all, it was more than 20 years ago (really?)

You can shoot me now, but I just never was a big Garth Brooks fan.  I certainly didn't hate him; I was simply ambivalent.  That is why I have not included any Garth Brooks videos.  Feel free to hum, "If Tomorrow Never Comes". 

I do believe I have made my point, however.  The 1980's were the prime time for country music; and alas, it will never be the same again.  I don't begrudge anyone their taste in music.  I like a ton of stuff that would cause people to scratch their heads.  That's why we're called "individuals".  For me, however, I choose not to listen to "today's country".  But who knows?  If a Randy or an Alan or a Rodney comes around again, and shakes things up, chances are I would be right back listening to radio again.  Luckily, in the absence of that, I have music videos.



























Friday, April 20, 2012

More Time Travels....and Travails

(I love ths movie.)


Working second shift (3:30 ~ 10:00) at the hospital was kind of peaceful, in reality.

Oh sure, it was pretty busy from the start of my shift until about 5:30'ish.  That was because from a couple of hours before clinic closing time to actual clinic closing time, the doctors made their decisions to admit folks, so everybody showed up around that time.

I was a Communications Clerk (or what some lesser-advanced hospitals called "Ward Clerks").  I like Communications better.  It sounded more important than it really was.

By working second shift, I avoided all the hustle and bustle of the daytime hours, when all the docs were hovering around, and the baths were being given, and people were checking out (is that what they called it?  Maybe not.  Discharged, I guess.  "Checking out" has kind of a negative connotation in hospital lingo).

At 3:30'ish, things were busy.  I had to take the calls from Admissions, and figure out where to place the incoming patients, and believe me, it was a real juggling act, because those nurses could be vicious if you overloaded them, and who could blame them?  I got into a verbal tizzy with an RN once, who felt that I was being unfair to her, by giving her too many new patients, and it took a long while for feelings to cool down.

Nothing was computerized then (what were computers?), so all the physicians' orders had to be filled out on little three-copied slips of paper, and sent by messenger to the various departments.

Likewise, the supper menus that the patients filled out.  Somebody from Nutrition stopped by each evening to pick those up.

My least favorite job duty was trudging along with my water cart, to fill all the pitchers in each patient's room.  I wasn't the most socially adept person then (I'd do way better now), so sometimes I felt awkward making small talk with the patients, but they were invariably cheery, no matter their condition.  I hope I'm like that when my day inevitably arrives.

But, after the supper hour, when all the trays had been collected, and folks had turned on their TV's to enjoy, as best they could, the evening's repose, the nurses and I sat behind the station, and did whatever we could to pass the time unobtrusively.

Counted cross-stitch was my big obsession then.  And not just mine.  A bunch of us always had projects going.  We'd all sit there, and chit chat, and work on our various projects.  The radio was on, too.  It was, well, peaceful.  Quiet.

The back rubs would be given at 9:00, and by 10:00, I was out of there.  I never gave a second thought to meandering out to the parking lot at 10:00.  There wasn't even a security staff on hand.  It took me all of 7 minutes to drive home   Now, I'd be petrified to work second shift.  Funny how times and circumstances have changed.

The big TV show then, at least my big TV show, was St. Elsewhere.  It was set in a hospital, so I guess I felt like I had an insider's knowledge of all the little peccadilloes of the hospital world.   I VCR'd it.  My schedule was unpredictable.  I preferred to be home on Wednesday nights, but often, that was not to be, so I had my trusty VCR.  I think all the nurses, not just me, watched that show.

I wonder, now, if there was a show about people working in the insurance industry, would I be just as enamored?  Maybe.  But I'm sure it would have much more intrigue than the actual insurance world.  People would be setting up fake doctor's accounts and scamming the system (that really happened, by the way), until the wily insurance investigator showed up and used his (or her) CSI techniques to flush out the perpetrator.  Much more exciting than sitting at a computer and hitting F3, F4 all day long.  And the investigator would be played by Matt Damon.

Music, too, obviously played a big role in those days (nights).   We had an FM radio playing behind the nurse's station, and surprisingly, it was mostly tuned to the country station, unless somebody complained enough, and then we'd turn the channel and let them listen to their classic rock for awhile.  But you know, us rubes liked our country.

When the docs came by to make their evening rounds, and subsequently to dictate their progress notes into the telephone system, we shushed the radio.  We dealt with a lot of interns, because the actual doctors were home having their dinner served to them by their butlers, and they let the interns do all the work.  Interns were much nicer than the actual doctors, though.  At least until they became the actual doctors, and then they got all snooty, like they didn't know us.  And they still helped themselves to the candy that an appreciative patient had sent.

1986 was one of the (many) years I worked at St. Alexius.  And on the radio, whether shushed or not shushed, at night, at the nurse's station, we listened to songs such as these:

Bop ~ Dan Seals





Grandpa, Tell Me About the Good Old Days ~ The Judds



Just Another Love ~ Tanya Tucker (sorry, no actual performance video to be found)



On The Other Hand ~ Randy Travis



Rockin' With the Rhythm of the Rain ~ The Judds



Honky Tonk Man ~ Dwight Yoakam




One of the best country songs ever: 

1982 ~ Randy Travis



I Tell It Like It Used To Be ~ T. Graham Brown (again, (sorry, no actual performance video to be found of this one, either)



Another one of the all-time best country songs ever: 

Guitar Town ~ Steve Earl




This song got me back into country music, so it holds a special place in my heart:

Since I Found You ~ Sweethearts of the Rodeo





Ooh, I do like this one:

Stand On It ~ Mel McDaniel



George Strait had three hit singles in 1986.  Here's one:


Something Special




There's No Stoppin' Your Heart ~ Marie Osmond (sorry for the poor video/audio quality ~ this is the only one out there):



Drinkin' My Baby Goodbye ~ Charlie Daniels (isn't this cool?)

 

Here's an old Ray Price song, made a hit again in 1986 by Ricky Skaggs (and I guess this is the old-er Ricky, who has now decided to grow out his hair ~ hmmm....)

I've Got a New Heartache




Do you remember the O'Kanes?  Yea, probably not.  But they were good.  I really liked them in 1986.


Here's Oh, Darlin':



I truly love this next song, and dang, if it isn't impossible to find a video of it.  I don't understand this, but I do try.  But sometimes I fail.


However, here is a link to the video, which, for some unknown reason is not embeddable.

Walk The Way The Wind Blows ~ Kathy Mattea


1986 was one of the finest years in country music.  Just go back and watch these videos, if you don't believe it.  And we had new, young stars, like George and Dwight and the Judds and Randy.

In fact, two of the top 20 country songs of all time (my list!) were hits in 1986.  That's damn good, considering the long storied history of country music.

I guess it's the sentimentalist in me, but when I think about it now, even with all the aggravations and the travails I went through in 1986, I wouldn't mind being back in those days.  Back behind the nurse's station, working on my crafts and listening to country radio.

But, really, I think it was the music most of all.