by Jordan Berardi

The Quirk: Song attribution

Look at my iPod and find 114 country artists. Look on my iPod and find 1,042 country songs. Look on my Pandora account find 14 country music stations. Look on my Grooveshark account find 9 country music playlists. Look through my stack of CD’s on my dresser, find 98 country CD’s. Being a country music fan is a lifestyle. So does it surprise you that with every country song, I am reminded of a person, event, memory, or just a rant?

Don’t get this quirk confused with my Lyric Application entry. Instead of a single sentence in conversation reminding me of a lyric, this involves the reverse. I can hear a song and the entire song will suddenly attach itself to a memory, a person, or an event in my life. So it’s different. Lyric application is triggered by conversation, but song attribution is triggered by a song.

To all those rap fanatics, don’t worry I have a little part dedicated to you <3. Anyway, as a prelude, I’d like to tell you I took a poll on what the first thing people thought of when I said the words “country music.” Some of the results were soul-shaking (Bailey Whitehead).

One of my best friends who goes to Sion, Ali Campbell, said “life.” When I asked the same question to Natalie Kilgore, she said “life” too. Coincidence? For some, though, it was a person. I asked two boys who go to O’Hara, one said “Brad Paisley,” while the other said “Jason Aldean.” But most of all, five people said “summer.” I’m pretty sure everyone, even if you don’t like country, likes summer. So, if you like summer but you’ve never given country music a chance, hit that up.

Unfortunately there was two responses which were especially wounding me. Sabrina Redlingshafer, the weirdo who wrote “Problems of a Tall Girl” and only wishes she was my height said, “Tbh I hate country music. It reminds me of life men yodeling and it makes me want to stuff my head into a sweet potato.” Harsh, right? First of all, the fact that you want to shove your head into a sweet potato sounds like a personal problem. But that aside, your facts are wrong. I’ve actually never heard a country song yodel so… Then there’s Bailey Whitehead, who I expected a dismaying response from to begin with, and boy did I get it. She lovingly sent me 18 text messages which I had no time to respond to any due to the short intervals between. Some of the 18 texts included the words, “bad,” “hicky,” “annoying,” “depressing,” and “lame.” Most importantly, I can find you endless country songs which aren’t depressing. Start out with anything by Luke Bryan because regardless of the lyrics, his voice is far from depressing and he doesn’t look too bad either.

Moving on from the haters, I have my Miranda Lambert Pandora station playing (create it, it’s so good) and for each song that plays I will name it as well as explain what pops into my head. Sometimes I just do it for fun and type out what I think of I hear a song. Hold on, Grace, my dog, is sniffing my Sperry’s and I’m surprised she hasn’t passed out so I’m loling right now at her <3.

6:06 pm – Hard to Love – Lee Brice: I mean not to be a love guru over here, that’s Shaeffer Smith’s role, but this song is so good. If you actually read the lyrics, I think it really explains a lot of people. It’s a different approach to a “love” song. I respect the lyrics. A lot.

6:10 pm – Fly Over States – Jason Aldean: This is one of my all time favorite country songs. Talk about good lyrics. It makes me cry. “Who’d wanna live down there, in the middle of nowhere?” See, he’s talking about us, the midwest. But then he throws the haters a bone by continuing to say, “On the plains of Oklahoma, with a windshield sunset in your eyes. Like a water-colored painted sky. You’ll think heaven’s doors have opened, you’ll understand why God made those fly over states.” Ponder that. Everyone flies over the midwest wondering why we’d ever want to live here. Well, we will tell you why.

6:16 pm – Angel Eyes – Love and Theft: I love this song. It reminds me of one of my best friends. I remember being in the backseat of her car and belting this out. I just stopped during the chorus and said, “Hey, it’s you.” It kind of makes me want to run through a sprinkler which I’m not sure why. That’s not necessarily rebellious…whatever. “She’s got a little bit of devil in those angel eyes.”

6:22 pm – Laughed Until We Cried – Jason Aldean: I love my friends. That’s all I have to say. “It’s like the best days under the sun. Every emotion rolled into one, a little of this, a little of that. Kinda happy, kinda sad.”

6:26 pm – Touch – Josh Abbott Band: So, I don’t have any words to explain this song. The Josh Abbott Band is amazing. Shout out to coach Hough. No words. I get chills. If there’s anything you take away from this blog, just please let it be a mental note to listen to this. Regardless if you like country music or not, you need to.

6:32 – Big Green Tractor – Jason Aldean: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Okay. Just take it for what it is. It’s a classic. Yeah, it’s a stereotypical country song, but whatever.

Like promised, for all you rap fanatics out there, I like rap too. I can rap the the following songs in all entirety: “Drop the World” by Lil Wayne, “Find your Love” by Drake, “ Literally anything by Akon, he’s my main man. Also, “Knockout” by Lil Wayne and Nickki Minaj, “The Price is Wrong” by Lil Wayne. But just for you, Bailey, I’m working on some more.

So sure, my main jams are country, judge me. But I can drop a mean beat and spit a mad rhyme. Just kidding, I’m absolutely horrible at rhyming, but I can memorize raps, so I like to think that counts for something. I’ll wait a little while to do this, but an upcoming blog will feature my three favorite artists, each from different genres.

Oh, also, I love Miranda Lambert and Eric Church more than words can describe.

Her Quirk: Green Day

They’re lovely, really. Green Day, that is. I mean, at least they are in my main chaquita, Rachel Smith’s eyes. Do you think she forgot to wake them up when September ended? Because we’re well into October now and that song has played in my ear since then. I received a very heartfelt moodle from Rachel expressing her utmost admiration for the band. “ The summer after 8th grade [Green Day] came to KC to do a concert and I asked my parents if I could go. They said no. So, no joke, I sat on my back porch and cried and listened to Green Day all night.” This particularly stood out to me, and then I kept reading and it only got more intense. “Also, I definitely have a fake Twitter account dedicated to tweeting Billie Joe Armstrong. No shame. Loooool so that’s my story. Enjoy.”