James Taylor "Shower The People"

Here's the first entry in a mini-series of posts, called "They Don't Like The Song For A Random Reason."

We all have prejudices.  Sometimes they come from a place that you can logically understand/forgive.  Sometimes they are just bizarre.

I'll occasionally post simple stories that come to mind when I hear a song, because a certain friend once said the disliked a song for a random, picayune or bizarre reason. 

For instance, my friend Craig told me he didn't like James Taylor's "Shower The People" because Taylor sings:

"Things are gonna work out fine if you only will, do as i say, yeah"

Taylor hits the "do as I say" line hard.

Craig said he didn't like the song because, "I don't like James Taylor ordering me around."


Hear the song on Youtube.

Suzanne Vega "Last Year's Troubles"

I imagine (no, actually, I know) that when we play a song on the radio that has been in heavy rotation, that there are people who are listening who are saying, "This one again?!?!  Ugh!"

Imagine how WE feel?

We're not playing songs because we want to hear them (though usually, we do), we're playing them because the listening audience wants to hear them.  Unfortunately, there's a wide range of how much our listeners, listen.  For some, a song that is burnt toast, still sounds new and fresh to another passionate listener, who listens less often.

So we've got to play the songs.  And WE can't even turn the station!

I especially feel for the office staff.  They've got the station on (because the front office should have the station playing), and they're listening for 8+ hours a day.

It could make a man go crazy.

Craig Sherman worked at the front desk, while also working part-time as a DJ.  So he had to listen to songs he had a low tolerance for.

Craig was not a fan of Suzanne Vega, but what was he going to do?  "Last Year's Troubles" was a big song for mvyradio in 2001.

What could he do, but go crazy . . .

He invented what he called The "Last Year's Troubles" Dance.

I liken it to the story of "The Red Shoes."  Whenever "Last Year's Troubles" came on the air, he would start dancing in a clipped, hurky-jerky fashion that was seemingly out of his control.  It was like a malfunctioning robot motion that he couldn't resist. 

He'd do this regardless of what was going on.  If you were trying to have a conversation about a commercial contract or a phone message, forget about it if "Last Year's Troubles" came on.  And he committed to the "this is out of my control" aspect of it so much, that it was impossible to continue with him, until the song was over.

I asked him about the Dance recently, hoping that maybe I could get him to do a Youtube video of it.  He didn't even remember it.

Clearly, the trauma and torture of the repetition of this song has created some kind of diss-associative disconnect and the horror of The "Last Year's Troubles" Dance was completely blocked out.

So please, next time you curse the repetition, have mercy and think of the folks in the office . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.


P.S.  Craig recently complained that my blog posts had not paid enough attention to his interests.  Hopefully, this resolves that issue.

The Allman Brothers Band “Pony Boy”

Craig Sherman used to drive me nuts.

He was the mvyradio overnight DJ, in the early 2000s. He was (and still is) a good friend. And he was/is very creative/silly/uninhibited.

He’d get off the air at 5:20am, and turn things over to me. In those days, I was the morning DJ.

But every morning at 5:20am, he’d end his shift with the “PJ Finn Fact Of The Day.” Which was always entirely made up.

He’d say things like:

PJ’s nickname in college was “Pony Boy.”

Or "PJ won Winnepesaukee's Best Dancer three years in a row between 1997 and 99, and had tried for the millennium but lost to some kid from Keene."

Craig and I were at a party once, and a woman, hearing that I was PJ from mvy, approached me.

“I hear you love macrame! So do I!”

I just turned to him and said, “Thanks, Craig.”


Here's Craig, in one of his own Youtube videos:







(All Youtube music videos should be this awesome)