“I Think I’m Going to Kill Myself” – Elton John
from Honky Chateau

Remember the line in High Fidelity where Jack Black, speaking about Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You” asks if it is unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter-day sins. A question that could easily be asked of Elton John, whose Lion King soundtracks and lyrical changes to dead princess’ are enough to put him on the bad artist list.

But it’s songs like this that make me resurrect the old man again and again. Suicide was never so fun, at least not until Heathers came along. The music is like a circus, with a choir-like chorus singing a hymn to the fallen egos of teenage life. Perhaps it is a bit morbid to smile so big while singing along to a song all about killing oneself, but John creates such a terrific melody that it’s hard not to jump up and dance around the room listening to this tune.

Revisiting his early 1970s albums make me remember what a really terrific artist Elton John really is, but like a lot of artists with a string of hits so overplayed on classic rock stations you have to dig into the albums themselves to understand.

“Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts” – Bob Dylan
from Blood on the Tracks

At nearly nine minutes this is one Dylan story song that I’d like to cut out a few verses from, but being the master storyteller, you’d have a hard time finding something weak enough to cut.

Supposedly this album was written at the time of Dylan getting divorced. But like much of Dylan’s life and music, there is plenty of information refuting this as well. Whatever the inspiration, this is one of the best albums by an artist full of great ones.

Like “I Think I’m Going to Kill Myself” this song has a bit of a carnival going on in the music. The organ rolling in the background bounces as Dylan acts as the barker telling his story for all who will listen.

“Walking in Memphis” – Marc Cohn
from Marc Cohn

There was a period of four years that I often made the nearly 800-mile drive from Montgomery, Alabama to Claremore Oklahoma, and back, visiting my family from college. On almost every trip this song played while I traveled through the city of Memphis, and I swear to you it was always raining. Perhaps it was just me, or maybe Memphis radio stations like the idea of playing a song about Memphis in the rain while it is raining in Memphis. Whatever the case, it always produced a big smile in the middle of a long drive home.
I was fifteen when this song first came out. I grew up attending a conservative Christian church, but the first part of my teenage years was spent rebelling against those ideas. My parents were always urging me to make the commitment and become a Christian. There were too many questions that went unanswered in my head to take that step, yet the thought of being a heathen and rotting in hell kept me up more than one night.

I loved this song, but the lyric where the lady asks the singer if he’s a Christian, and his reply “Ma’am I am tonight” always gave me pause. I liked to think for that moment in the song, I too was a Christian and then I was pained to realize that I was not, nor necessarily wanted to be one.

“License to Confuse” – Sebadoh
from Bakesale

Speaking of college, I met my first real girlfriend via a Dinosaur Jr. t-shirt during my freshman year. It was her that turned me on to Sebadoh, being fronted by Lou Barlow, Dinosaur’s original bassist.

Though not really my style anymore, songs like this remind me of my long haired-hard rockin’ punk days. This is low-fi, loud guitar post-punk music. It’s a somber song, bad relationship singer-songwriter stuff, recorded in a bedroom and amped up to justify the grunge rockers’ credibility.

“Leaving On a Jet Plane” – John Denver
from Rhymes and Reasons

I always duck my head when I admit I’m a John Denver fan. He’s just not hip, or cool anywhere in the world. But there is something about that nerdy folk singer that I dig to my core’s end.

Back several years ago when my wife was just my girl I finally made the jump from being in a long-distance relationship (she lived in Indiana, me in Tennessee) and moved to the same town as her to see if this could really work. She promptly moved to Montreal, Canada.

There were some major bumps in that road for the summer she was gone, and this song brought tears to my eyes more than once. She had left on a jet plane and though I knew she was coming back, I wasn’t so sure I’d be there to meet her. It all worked out well, and three years into a marriage this song can still bring back tearful memories.