You’re Older Than You’ve Ever Been And Now You’re Even Older
Three weeks from now will mark the third anniversary of Cover Freak. I’ll be doing the traditional Year In Review post, so if there’s anything from the last year you’d like me to repost let me know and I’ll try to work it in. If you’ve only recently started reading the blog feel free to peruse the archives and ask for something you missed. You can leave a comment or send me an email. But I won’t repost anything that was originally posted before October 2008. Don’t ask. I won’t do it.
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One of the things I do in my job is database development. I was asked to do an hour-long presentation on a specific software program that I use to develop databases. The people who asked me to do the presentation said that they would contact their customers who use the software. I would be presented as an expert and get to meet potential new customers. The folks who asked me in would be providing an hour of free training for their customers. A win-win as they say in the cliche-flinging environs of corporate boardrooms. So I spent a chunk of time working up an engaging presentation at an intermediate-to-advanced level as my hosts requested.

One problem. Nobody showed up. The folks who asked me in apparently did not adequately promote the event. A couple of people who had other business nearby wandered in and out while I was speaking, but I was never talking to more than two people at any given time and spent much of the hour talking to nobody at all.

While I was doing the presentation my mind was occupied with what I was talking about and what my next topic would be. But as I rode the train back home I had several songs running through my head…

Tok Tok Tok “Alone Again, Naturally” (Gilbert O’Sullivan)
This song is one of those very odd one-hit wonders. There are plenty of pop hits that wallow in self pity and despair but not too many that openly contemplate suicide. This version sets the lyrics to a spare jazz arrangement and the result is a heartbreaking torch song. The singer really sells this one.

Gobbleshoot “Alone Again Or” (Love)
The original version had a wonderful tension between the upbeat music and the bleak lyrics. Gobbleshoot dispenses with that tension and just ladles on the bleakness. The singer sounds like a serial killer when he says “I think that people are the greatest fun.”

Social Distortion “Alone And Forsaken” (Hank Williams)
This is one of Hank’s most harrowing songs. The folks in Social D really bring it with slashing guitars and relentless, bludgeoning percussion. This is one of those songs that raises the hair on the back of my neck every time.

Blast “I Think We’re Alone Now” (Tommy James & The Shondells)
Blast is a very good name for this band. If this one doesn’t get your heart pumping you’re clinically dead.

J. Costa “All By Myself” (Eric Carmen)
My misspent youth of shallow relationships and casual sex has left me bereft of human contact. None of my friends answer the phone when I call. Time to drop some X and hit the clubs!