A Pre-Christmas Gift

Hey team BRP, what's happening?  I've been messing around, doing the normal.  Hope you are well and ready for some end of the year R 'n R.  I'm SO ready!

One thing that I was doing was thinking about alt-country songs from years past.  Yeah, I know, what the heck, right?  But it's true, and I ended up listening to three tracks that I love but hadn't heard in a long while.  Want to know what they are?  Of course you do!  Here goes.

First up, it's Pure Prairie League's Two Lane Highway.  PPL is most famous for the song Amie, which as anyone named Amy (or Amie) will attest, was a huge hit many moons ago.  It's a really good song the first 300,000 times you hear it, but gets cloying after that.  Anyway, PPL wasn't a one-hit wonder (that's a lie, but go with me), and they had another great song that didn't get nearly as much airplay.  It's got a great country-rock sound that will have you grooving.  It also is a good substitute for I'll Be Home For Christmas.  And my first gift to you is that song:

Next up is the Flying Burrito Brothers song called Christine's Song.  It's also called A Devil in Disguise.  I don't know who Christine is, but she must have been a bad, bad girl.  This song is vicious.  But it's also catchy, alt-country before that term was coined, and a great example of Gram Parsons immense talent.  Listen to it and you'll know why I included it here:

Now, here's another great track from a country-rock band that was part of my youth:  the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.  I love that band's name, and this song, recorded on a farm in Missouri, is one of my favorites by them.  It's called Jackie Blue, and is hummable, poppy, and heartfelt.  Love it!  I hope you do, too:

Is that enough for one post?  Hell, no!  I have a Christmas contest for you.  Ready?  Too bad, here it comes anyway.

Keeping with the "songs of my youth" theme, I want you to tell me which of these two songs is weirder:  Timothy (the absolute best song about cannibalism EVER) or In The Year 2525.  Of course, given the horrors of global warming, none of us will be here in 2525 (or maybe given that it's 2018 and its over 500 years until 2525, that might be the true reason for our demise).  Regardless of the reason, let's have a crack at these two, well, classics, and then you let me know which is the stranger of the two.  I'll be the judge as to which explanation is the best.  The prize?  I'll get your boss to give you next Tuesday off - WITH PAY!  Oh, and you get a BRP t-shirt to boot. 

Without further ado, welcome to the land of the weird:

So what it will it be?  The Buoys singing a cannibal song written by Rupert Holmes or Zager and Evans bizarre futuristic trippy song with Man of La Mancha guitar overtones?  Give me your reason for either and you could win that elusive day off - you know, in the year 2018, you got a day off with pay. 

Here's something to take away from this post:  never, ever question how depraved your humble blogger is.  It's a deep dark cavern here, my friends.  Sort of like a mine shaft, if you will.  Hahaha - and with that BAD joke, I'm off to listen to American Pie and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

ROCK ON!!!