"Old King" - Neil Young

Throughout high school, my best friend was my dog, Spike. Quite the imposing name for a 30-pound basset hound-cocker spaniel mix, I know, but that was his name. He was a great dog and a great listener. Never judgmental. Always happy to see you. Didn't hump legs too frequently.

One of our nicknames for Spike was "Lazarus". Early in his life, he got into some rat poison or something and became very ill. He even crawled under our shed to be alone and die. My father and I finally forced him out and took him to the vet. He was quite the sad sight to see when we next visited. All four paws were shaved so that they could run four IVs simultaneously, and he was rather sickly looking generally. The vet was almost positive he would not make it. However, somehow, someway, like the (nick)namesake, he rose from the dead to walk among us again.

Years later, I spent a summer in Eugene, Oregon (a puerile attempt to dry out my liver after my Junior year of college while foolishly chasing after a girl). While I was in Oregon, we had some significan rainfall and flooding back home. Unfortunately, the rains washed up something or the other that Spike ingested, and there was no miracle recovery this time. When my parents called me, I do not recall being devastated. Rather, I felt utterly devoid of all feeling, of all life.

At the time, I was listening to a lot of Neil Young, including Harvest and Harvest Moon. One of my favorites on the latter album was this song. I must have sung it to myself a hundred times that day, inserting "Spike" for "King" in my zombie-like state.

I have been fortunate enough not to feel such exquisite emptiness since that Summer of 1993. I have endured the deaths of my great-aunt and my grandmother (95 and 96, respectively) and the horror of two miscarriages; none of those events eviscerated me in any way close to the degree of Spike's death. Sadly, my good fortune seems to have ended. Much like the Harvest - Harvest Moon relationship, on this day, things have come full circle for me. 

"I am SO exquisitely empty."
--Pinhead in Hellraiser: Bloodline 

25 Songs in 25 Days

"Weak in the Knees" - Serena Ryder

No prosthelytizing from me for a change. Just enjoy the guitar, voice and lyrics. 

25 Songs in 25 Days

"Lust for Life" - Iggy Pop

Okay, I am tweaking this one a bit. It's my fucking Posterous. Truth be told, I do not know if I could isolate a single favorite movie. And it's not like the soundtracks of Lord of the Rings, Citizen Kane or ...And Justice For All were particularly memorable. Instead, I present you with something from my favorite soundtrack (which is from one of my favorite movies).

If I had entrance music like a WWE Superstar, this would definitely be under consideration. This is just a balls-out (possibly literally, if you went to an Iggy Pop concert), no-holds-barred, get-fired-up song. This is always something I listen to on the way to work the morning of a big closing. This plus a large Americano is almost as good as some dirty biker crank. ALMOST. 

Come to think of it, I really need to work on the entrance music bit. And the dirty biker crank.

25 Songs in 25 Days

"White Light/White Heat" - The Velvet Underground

Understanding that I consider every Velvet Underground song to be magnificent, I had to choose something as one song for this post. So I went with one of the most famous "Side One, Song One" songs in modern musical history. There is a sweet irony in denoting anything by this band as "famous" as popular success was elusive until right before the band's breakup shortly after the release of "Loaded". (And PLEASE do not even mention that travesty that Doug Yule perpetuated after Lou Reed left the band.) Notwithstanding the lack of popular success, The Velvet Underground is the single most influential Rock band ever. EVER. As the saying goes, "only 1,000 people bought their first album when it came out, but each of those 1,000 started a band" (or something to that effect). Other topics for other posts...

Putting aside my penchant for soapbox ascension, especially when discussing Lou Reed or The Velvet Underground, please enjoy this two minute and forty-six second sensory assault. I think they capture the act of shooting up pretty well in this tune. How about you?

25 Songs in 25 Days

"Jump on my Shoulders" - AWOLNATION

Megalithic Symphony is by far the most functionally eclectic album I have heard in a long time. Maybe since 40 Oz. to Freedom; who knows? I probably should not be so keen on superlative or comparative statements. In any event, the musical range on this album is astounding. While "Sail" is the song with the heavy rotation on Alt Nation right now (and rightly so--fabulous song!), this particular track is quite uplifting. This takes me back to those carefree, sheltered, pseudo-socialist hippie days such as the fabled spring of 1992. My father and I have spoken on more than one occasion about how I might have been meant for a more Bohemian lifestyle; but, then again, as he said, principled poverty does not allow for certain comforts we take for granted in America.

If this song does not make you want to dance or at least get up and do something or at the very least smile, then you definitely need to either increase or decrease your meds.

25 Songs in 25 Days