BONY FINGERS

At the end of the 70's disco was dying but not fast enough for me. I ached for Rock and Roll to beat Disco to a bloody pulp and to once again take its rightful place.  Enough was enough. I felt if I had to hear one more falsetto voice, I would do someone bodily harm.

I regularly listened to a top 40 station from Miami and just shut off the volume when a disco song came on. WQAM had always been my go to station.

Then one day, with no announcement or warning, they changed their format.     Around noon one day a  top 40 song was playing as normal and when it finished, the very next song was country, not to go back to top 40 ever again.

This will offend some but consider my limited exposure please before judging. I hated country music growing up.  My brother loved it and I seriously doubted his intelligence. I had never heard a country song all the way through but I pompously judged all who enjoyed this form of music as having a negative IQ.

Then "Bony Fingers" burst into my life that day in 1980 when the station changed its format.  It was the very first country song I listened to start to finish. OMG, this was funny stuff.  When I heard the chorus, "Work your fingers to the bone --- what do you get---bon--y fingers",  I pulled off the road I was laughing so hard. 
  


Then out of curiosity and hoping for another gut busting laugh, I continued to listen to the new country station. They then played an oldie "A Boy Named Sue" which also gave me a chuckle.  The startling thing I noticed about country was that I could understand  the words to all the songs. Hummm.

The literal logic of country music was enormously refreshing. Lets face it, according to country music, ya do wrong, ya pay the price and most country songs were about someone doing something or someone wrong and regretting it.  Also, no genre can tell a sad story like country music. 

Quickly I became a regular listener as much in rebellion to disco as to needing a  toe taping change of pace and occasional chuckle.  Eventually, it grew on me and  I  became "country" when country was just thinking about becoming cool.

Today I have done a bit of  back sliding and no longer have a style of choice.  I would say I have an eclectic musical taste.  I enjoy classical,  blues, zydeco, new age, gospel, country and most in between styles almost equally. My MP3 is a hodgepodge of genres.

My last three downloads were Grandpa Elliot--blues, Rascal Flatts--country and Pachelbel's Canon In D from Classical Rocks. Did you know there are many free down loads for classical music?  For me, there is no better hammock music.  

The only two forms I have not embraced are progressive jazz and rap.  Neither of those move me but every thing else I enjoy and have room for.

When country did go mainstream, much of its unique flavor was lost in cross over treatments. Country now days is a more polished product.   A hybrid was born which I still  do enjoy, I just kind of miss the ole "Bony Finger" days. 


This was meant to only be a one paragraph lead in to the main post I had in mind. Guess that will have to wait now. Anyway when I do get around to the one paragraph lead in for that other post, it may make more sense. Thanks for bearing with my ramblings.

Have you dipped your toe into a vastly different, perhaps maligned by you medium of music, art or literature and found it surprisingly entertaining?