Journal: News & Comment

Nothin' else

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I've wondered previously whether good music is timeless. My six-year-old daughter recently gave me another example.

We were driving in the car while her younger sister was at preschool, and I turned on the radio. While paging through the presets, I came across a local "soft rock" station, which was playing a song so hideous I couldn't help but listen, with my musician's ear analyzing why it was so bad. I don't know who the artist was, but I remember one of the lines as "I'll touch you like you've never been touched before." That says enough, I think.

The next song was the glorious Stax sound of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman," from 1966. I listened through, and then some more soft-rock dreck came on.

We arrived at our destination and I turned off the radio. My daughter had been quiet, and she said, "That was a good song."

"I can turn it back on if you like," I said.

"No, the Man Loves a Woman one. That was good."

"Yeah, it was."

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