Monday has arrived without much fanfare. OK, normally Monday doesn’t arrive with fanfare, but today more so than ever. The days have been kind of blurring together since my return from Hawaii – I came home with a sinus and ear infection so I’ve been down for the count all week.

OK, not totally down for the count, after all, us mom’s don’t get to have sick days, we have to power through and do our mom thing, right? I have, however, been taking naps – something I never do, so you know I’m sick when I actually do take a nap.

I’m on antibiotics, so here’s hoping I’m back to normal very soon – well, you know, as normal as I can be, anyway. Being that it’s Monday, it’s time for some music! That always makes me feel better.

This week is the return of our Spotlight Dancer – to kick things off, this week’s Spotlight Dancer is Ramona of Create With Joy, who’s chosen this week’s theme as “Songs that tell a Story”. So let’s get to it, shall we?

Let’s start off with an artist who recently made a return to performing, but when this song was recorded, he was a struggling songwriter when he got together with a Nashville writer to write this song. He thought the other writer was joking when he suggested writing a song around a weather element, but as they started talking and writing, it flowed.

The song actually was first recorded by Tanya Tucker, who ultimately didn’t put it on the album she was working on at the time, so the writer asked for the rights back, which she granted, so this artist recorded it for his second album that went on to sell 18 million copies.

The song originally didn’t have the final verse – that was added later when the producer said he wanted to ‘know how the story ends’. The extra verse in this case adds a darker tone to the song – the wronged woman goes to get a gun to kill her cheating husband. To make the song commercially viable, that verse was left out.

The song was this artist’s sixth #1 on the country singles chart. The song’s music video alludes to the third verse by including the theme of domestic violence. Both TNN and CMT banned the video, with a CMT representative commentating that the network was “in business to entertain, not to promote or condone gratuitous violence or social issues”.

However VH1, which generally aired pop videos, began playing it and women’s shelters thanked the record company for raising awareness of domestic violence. On October 2 1991, the clip was awarded the CMA Video of the Year award.

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Give a listen to the inimitable Garth Brooks with “The Thunder Rolls”:

Next up is a song by an artist my husband is a huge fan of – in fact, the hubby had the honor of playing pedal steel for this artist on stage in Toronto, Canada many years ago.

This song itself is a factual retelling of a shipwreck on Lake Superior in November, 1975 that claimed the lives of 29 crew members. On November 10, 1975, the ship broke in half and sunk in Lake Superior. The storm she was caught in reported winds from 35 to 52 knots, and waves anywhere from 10 to 35 feet high.

An initial investigation suggested that the crew was partly to blame for the disaster by not securing the ship’s hatches. The artist’s first version of the song reflected the original findings in the verse, “…at 7 p.m. a main hatchway gave in.” However, in 2010 a Canadian documentary claimed to have proven the crew of the ship was not responsible for the tragedy. It concluded that there is little evidence that failure to secure the ship’s hatches caused the sinking.

The artist said he intended to change the words to reflect the new findings. “I’m sincerely grateful to yap films and their program The Dive Detectives for putting together compelling evidence that the tragedy was not a result of crew error. This finally vindicates, and honours, not only all of the crew who lost their lives, but also the family members who survived them.”

The artist had decided to write the song when he felt that the ship and its sinking had gone unnoticed with a very small write up in the newspaper, as well as the name of the ship being misspelled in the original reporting.

Fun Fact: This song is referenced in the Seinfeld episode “Andrea Doria,” when Elaine mistakenly believes Gordon Lightfoot was the name of the ship and Edmund Fitzgerald was the name of the singer. Jerry quips: “Yeah, and it was rammed by the Cat Stevens.”

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Without further ado, here’s the legendary Gordon Lightfoot with “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”:

Next up is a powerful song that encourages you to cherish the moments of your life. When the two writers of this song were working on it, it wasn’t until this artist recorded it that they actually got into the emotion of it.

The song was named Song Of The Year at the 39th Annual Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Nashville.

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Get the tissues ready – here’s Trace Adkins with “You’re Gonna Miss This”:

I can’t leave this next song out for this particular theme, with this artist being a doting father of five daughters, this single from his tenth studio album has him singing about spending time with his girls.

While the title may make you think it’s just some ‘redneck thing’, with the song being about a father going fishing with his little girl – while she thinks it’s just fishing, it’s about much more than that, it’s about the lessons that you learn from teaching your children to fish. It’s the time that you spend together doing it. That’s what’s really important.

The song’s music video was filmed on this artist’s property south of Nashville and features his youngest daughter. He had put his other daughters in other videos, and felt it was this ones turn to be in one.

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Give a listen to Trace Adkins with “Just Fishin'”:

Last, but certainly not least, is a brand new song from one of my favorite artists. This song tells the stories of a small-town, hard-working woman just trying to make a living and a big-city, hard-working man just trying to climb the ladder.

This song itself is one of those story songs everybody can relate to, about how life is so hectic, and it’s so nice when – if and when – you actually get to step away for a second. We all need that, and we all need that time to ourselves and to get to take a break.

The artist detailed the inspiration for the song, “We were writing and kept taking breaks to go outside because we were getting a little stuck on a song we were already working on,” she wrote. “It was so beautiful outside that we had a hard time focusing, so we decided to write a song about taking breaks! ‘Smoke Break’ seemed like a great title, so we ran with it!”

Of course some people criticized the song’s lyrics contending that it promoted smoking, but the singer stated that the song is not a pro-cigarette anthem, but instead is a tribute to sneaking away from your responsibilities and taking a minute to breathe. “And we all need that, we all need that time to ourselves to get to take a break,” she said.

Without further ado, here’s Carrie Underwood with “Smoke Break”:

That’s a wrap for this week – have a great Monday!

Now on to the particulars of Monday’s Music Move’s Me:

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I have the supreme honor and privilege of being a co-host with the inimitable Xmas Dolly and our musical cohorts, Callie from JAmericanSpice, and Naila Moon from Just the Stuff Ya Know. 

Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!

INTRODUCING OUR “SPOTLIGHT DANCER”:

 

Ramona from Create With Joy

APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE!



7 Comments

  1. Well, look at you cowgirl hawaiian style!!!! ~snicker~ I didn’t know Carrie came out with a new song! Ultimately cool. Love the tune she thinks we’re just fishin’! Too cute. YOU ROCKED THE HOUSE TODAY GIRLFRIEND. Don’t forget about our new comer #11. He’s got some great tunes too. I’d like to get comments for all our folks. if ya can, but as many as you can is cool too! hugs

  2. I always love your choices! I do hope you feel better- sinus infections are the worst. Almost worst the flu I feel.

    Take care!

  3. You always have such a great line up!

    I don’t remember ever seeing the video for The Thunder Rolls. But I’ve always loved the song!

    Hope you begin to heal soon girlie!

  4. Excellent choices. I had never heard Trace Adkins except on the Wounded Warrior Project commercials, and I really liked these two songs. Carrie’s reminded me of Sheryl Crow’s “All I want to do,” although I like Carrie’s song better. I know just how she feels.

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