And everyone can relate to the feeling that they don't want to get caught up in any of that funky shit goin' down in the city.

The older guys at the bar don't often play the jukebox; they remember when it took coins, not paper money. Every once in a while though, you'll see one punching in some selections, and some late-fifties or early-sixties music comes on; it is a welcome change of pace, and even some of the younger patrons find themselves bobbing their heads.

One day a few years back an older gentleman played a nice selection. Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline, a couple from Otis Redding.

Then: Jim Croce, John Denver. Jim Croce and John Denver rarely get played at the bar -- they seem to now belong to The Forgotten Seventies. Maybe I'll go deeper into The Forgotten Seventies later, it is something I've been known to talk about from time to time.

Anyway, I smiled at him, then went and played a song. Lynyrd Skynyrd. Not of the Forgotten Seventies, them: wherever there is a bar with a jukebox someone will eventually play "Free Bird". Because: America.

Anyway, the older gentleman smiled back. Not his music really, and really not mine, but when a theme is established you gotta keep with the theme.

Then the bartender went and played Steve Miller.

Goodbye to people I've trusted
I've got to go out and make my way
I might get rich you know I might bet busted
But my heart keeps calling me backwards
As I get on the 707
Ridin' high I got tears in my eyes
You know you got to go through hell
Before you get to heaven

Steve Miller didn't actually die in a plane crash, but it did wrap up the theme nicely.

And everyone can relate to the feeling that they don't want to get caught up in any of that funky shit goin' down in the city. Which is pretty much what happens right outside the bar on a regular basis: Ragged Crazies, Street Urchins, Heroin Kids, etc etc.

Perhaps later I will go into detail about Show Tune Tuesdays.


- james james

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