John Hiatt "Damn This Town"

I write quite a bit of volume on this blog, on the subject of how a song gets added to rotation, whether or not a song should get added to rotation, what problems it might cause or solve to add a song to rotation . . .

But what happens next? I haven't written too much about that.

Every song has a shelf life, I suppose, for regular rotation. Some tunes may circulate with regularity for months. Some wear out their welcome quickly. Some tunes benefit from a fast ascent with heavy play, others work as a slow build gaining familiarity over a course of months.

But at some point, a song has to come out of regular rotation. It might be 8 weeks, it might be 6 or 7 months. But some time.

Then what?

There are two choices.

The song goes into a Hold folder. Meaning, we don't plan to play it regularly anymore. You might pull it out on a special occasion, but otherwise it's not a part of the fabric of the station.

Or, the song goes into the Library.

And that means the tune will continue to rotate, albeit with less regularity than a current song.

So it's a pretty big crossroads. Is the song going to be part of our future by becoming the part of the past that we write down?

That's where I'm at with John Hiatt's "Damn This Town."

Its had a pretty good run here at mvyradio. And its had a lot of things going for it.

Hiatt's a damn fine songwriter, deserving of the critical acclaim he receives. We have plenty of Hiatt tracks that have made it to the Library. The song did well on the National charts, so it was pretty broadly accepted by the kind of folks who listen to mvy-like stations.

But here's what it has going against it . . . it's been on the air for several months, and after a few initial inquiries ("I hear John Hiatt has a new song, can you play it?") . . . nothing. I haven't heard a request for it, received an email about it, had any passionate comment, pro or con, about it.

So I'm kind of on the fence.

Clearly someone liked the song, or the record wouldn't have sold, the tour wouldn't have sold and the song wouldn't have charted.

But if there is no passion for the song, what's the reason to keep playing it?

Even when I get negative comments about a tune, I can often feel like its okay to keep playing it. Because the comments are sometimes "I am so sick of this song," which indicates that they liked it once. If we just play it less, they'll probably like it again.

But when no one comments . . . well, you wonder if anyone is listening, or if they've just changed the station.

So, any "Damn This Town" lovers out there? Or haters? Speak now, or forever Hold-folder your peace.


See the video on Youtube.