Right By Me

Hi there!

If y'all remember, the last time I wrote with a song ("Poor Man's Susannah"), I mentioned the brilliant CMA Music Fest that was coming up.  Well, it's come up and passed us over.  Fortunately, I was watching it, and documenting the performances quite diligently, and will now proceed to describe them for you, in as much detail as I will permit myself to fall into. 

The 2010 CMA Music Fest, though it took place in June, aired on ABC on September 1, 2010 at 8 pm.  I tuned in, and watched the first few performances with a friend.  It began with a Keith Urban cover of "With a Little Help From My Friends" by the Beatles, with a backdrop of the horrific flooding that Nashville survived earlier in the year.  In fact, the entire festival was "dedicated to the people of Middle Tennessee," and much of the proceeds went to help alleviate the flooding consequences.  That opening was followed up by newlywed Carrie Underwood (of course, when the actual show happened, she was still engaged, as her big bonanza wedding to Mike Fisher...yippee...happened on July 10) and "Cowboy Casanova."  After a commercial break, the festival returned with a montage of Lady Antebellum documenting the band's daily schedule on tour and in Nashville during the week-long festival, accompanied with a soundtrack of the hit song "American Honey"; when the package was over, Lady A played its new single, "Our Kind of Love," a song I've always liked.  Jason Aldean followed this up with "Crazy Town," a performance I wasn't exactly watching; I was otherwise occupied.  The dapper Tim McGraw took the stage next, and sang two songs: the first was "Somethin' Like This," which I had never heard before (yes, I'm human - shocker, I know...) and then "Southern Voice," from his latest album of the same name.  The next piece which aired was a montage of Taylor Swift, documenting her 13-hour signing during the festival; in a show of how dedicated she is to her fans, it ended up surpassing the 13 hours and became something more like a 15-and-a-half hour signing to ensure that she made time for everyone who stood online.  The song in the background was her hit, "You Belong With  Me."  This was followed up by none other than Cap Nash's Darius Rucker, with his new single from his new album, "Come Back Song."  (Shameless plug: that album is out October 2, 2010, and will be called Charleston, SC 1966.)  Rascal Flatts came on after the next commercial break; unfortunately, I missed the first song the band performed, so I can't tell you what it was, but I can say it was followed by "Summer Nights," from the band's Unstoppable album.  Thinking back on it, it was probably "Why Wait," to be released with the Flatts' new album on a new label, Big Machine.  In a comedic twist, the next package which aired was Carrie Underwood being interviewed by Brad Paisley about things that she likes; the twist was, he took it from her wikipedia page (featured passage: -"What's your favourite colour?" -"Blue." -"Oh, really?  Well, it says here that your favourite colour is red."  -"I like red, too.").  This was followed by her double performances of the rockin' "Undo It" and "Last Name."  The extraordinarily popular Zac Brown Band took the stage next, singing "Pass the Jar," presumably from its new album, You Give What You Get.  The only song I know from it is "As She Walking Away," featuring none other than Alan Jackson.  It's a good song, listen to it.  Or you can get the whole album, it's probably been released by now.  The "modern-day Dolly Parton," also known as Kellie Pickler, performed next, her new single, "Makin' Me Fall In Love With You."  The subsequent performance was one from Reba McEntire, "I Want a Cowboy," from her last album; why does she always look like she's 40 years old?  That's not supposed to happen, she's not supposed to be that stunningly gorgeous at 63 (or around that)!  A duet between Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker, "Good To Be Me," was featured next, followed by the spectacularly talented Miranda Lambert and "Only Prettier" (fun fact: the music video for it is BRILLIANT, check it out, I implore you, your life will be better for it).   Her fiance, Blake Shelton, took the stage with Trace Adkins, and the two combined their extraordinary talents to produce their smash hit, "Hillbilly Bone."  In his first of two performances in the broadcast, Brad Paisley brought summer to the arena with "Water."  Another montage came with the next artist, the newbie Justin Moore, with whom there was an interview prior to his "How I Got To Be This Way" (featured quote: "What makes me blush? Kellie Pickler"; and fun fact, the music video for that song is beautiful, it's a bunch of picture of his life, but that's so perfectly simplistic in its wordlessness that it can't help but be beautiful).  Kid Rock, whose surprise country hit from two years ago, "All Summer Long" apparently qualified him for country status, was again in the arena, and this time he stayed for two songs: "Rock 'n' Roll Jesus" and "Born Free," which is, so I've heard, the song for the baseball playoffs (anyone, correct me if I'm wrong).  And then, in an exclusive yet stunning performance, Taylor Swift presented, for the first time on television, her first single from Speak Now, "Mine."  Who loves this song?  I DO.  With yet another single from his best album to date (my opinion only), Defying Gravity, Keith Urban performed "I'm In," followed by the beautiful Martina McBride with "Wrong Baby Wrong" from Shine.  I think it's a sign that I'm becoming way too engrossed in country music (not that that's a bad thing, I certainly don't see it that way) when I can not only name the album from which a particular song is, but also have that album and know all the words and melodies to all the songs.  My library is getting pretty full.  Next to perform was Josh Turner and "Why Don't We Just Dance," an unimpressive song just by itself, but when paired with its visuals from the music video is absolutely fantastic.  Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, and Jamey Johnson combined forces in a private, intimate setting to bring Dierks Bentley's song, "Bad Angel" to life next.  The third-to-last (yes, there is an end in sight) performance was the guy with the wonderful head of curls, Billy Currington, and "That's How Country Boys Roll."  Alan Jackson was the penultimate performer, with his latest single and a song I've come to love lately, "Hard Hat and a Hammer," an homage to the working man (featured quote: "there's nothing wrong with a hard hat and a hammer / the kind of glue that sticks this world together / hands of steel and cradle of the Promised Land / god bless the working man").  And lastly, to bring the festival to the credits, if you were following along, you could figure out who it is, Brad Paisley lit up the night with his energetic "American Saturday Night," from the same-name album.  I love the guy.  Is anyone more wonderful?  No.

I really breezed through that quickly, but hopefully, you got a sense of how much I love the CMA Music Festival.  So much, in fact, that I can actually remember the performances of the very first one that I saw, and I can actually even remember what I had for dinner while I watched in on TV.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's right. 

And now, onto this song.  It was inspired by a quote by Mo'nique, when she won her Best Supporting Actress Academy Award earlier this year; when paying tribute to her amazing husband, she said something along the lines of what I'm about to horribly paraphrase (I'm sorry, Mo'nique): "Thank you, for allowing me to forgo what was popular for what I knew to be right."  Yeah, okay, so that was wonderfully destroyed by yours truly.  In fact, it's more what I would say if I were standing up there with the golden statuette, although I'm not entirely sure to whom I would be saying it.  Perhaps to myself.  Anyway.  Moving on.  I was inspired by the real quote of hers, whatever it actually was.  And then, through a series of mental events, I knew what the song was about.  There is an appositive to the song title, and by that I mean like what is with "Danielle's Song (Apple a Day)," with the parentheses, but that's for me to know and for you to never find out.

Right By Me

I have never been a quitter, so I'm sticking to this
It won't be easy, but that's one more reason to do it
And if the time comes for me to have to reach your closed mind
trust me, I'll do my best to build that bridge, but I'll never apologise

CHORUS:
this is my decision, so don't you dare judge me
I'm doing what I can so that I can feel free
I've made my choice between the moral and the mainstream
you may not agree, but I'm doing what is right by me

there have been times I've tried to go down this road before
but for some reason, I've always made myself close the door
this time is different, there's no room for excuses now
you might not recognise me on my way out, but

CHORUS (2x):
this is my decision, so don't you dare judge me
I'm doing what I can so that I can feel free
I've made my choice between the moral and the mainstream
you may not agree, but what I'm doing is right by me

It sure would help me if you were always on my side
as I move not according to what is popular but what is right
I've made my bed and I know that I'll sleep like a baby
but my life means nothing if I don't have you right by me...

I can hear you now, "WOW, that's a short song, you really outdid yourself with effort this time, didn't you?"  And my response to that?  If you don't like it, I'm sorry.  But I like that it's not always corresponding to the pattern I've fallen into lately.
Well, there you have it.  It kind of flickers between defiant and pleading, but it is what it is.  For those of you wondering if the line "I've made my bed and I know that I'll sleep like a baby" was closely inspired by the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready To Make Nice," ("I've made my bed and I sleep like a baby"): (a) you know too much, and (b) yes.  And I love "I've made my choice between the moral and the mainstream."  It's amazing what flashes of brilliance come at 1 in the morning, as I'm holding my iPod open to the Notes function, trying desperately to come up with something good that rhymes with the word "me."

Much love, and thank you for the musik!

Just Another Ordinary Girl

p.s. I was more excited about Ilya Kovalchuk's second contract with the Devils getting approved by both the NHL and the NHLPA than about getting my first kiss.

28 days until Speak Now!

name change

This is just a short post to alert my fan base that I have to change my username.  But don't worry, it will still be me.

Hm, you'll know it is me.  I'm thinking to go with "ME."  What do you think?

Much love and thank you for the musik,

ME

Hmm, does that work?