The Tingle and American Pie and Blue Sky

Sometimes you're in the car or on the porch and a song comes out of the bluetooth speaker that changes the world just for that few minutes. "Volunteers" by the Airplane or "Right Down the Line" by Gerry Rafferty or "Thirteen" by Big Star or "Love is Alive" by Gary Wright or "Catfisherman" by Marah or "Get Together" by the Youngbloods or "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell or "Northern Sky" by Nick Drake and suddenly you sit up straight like you were slumped in class and the Priest just walked in. Your senses tingle and all the shittiness in the air evaporates and you feel more alive than you have in forever. It's like wind through your hair on a salve for your burn or free drink tokens lined up in front of your bar stool. All the stupid people stop being stupid and the lame can walk and the blind can see and the deaf can hear and everything smells like bacon. It's like reading a great book that you don't want to finish because then you won't have running home to it to look forward to anymore. And then the song ends and something shitty comes on next and you suddenly feel like the pool float that nobody used all year. That, my friends, is what music can do. The only thing that comes close is drugs, but drug dealers insist on being paid, unlike bands these days, who due to the streaming services can only make money by selling CDs and t-shirts out of the broken down van. Or they too can sell drugs. Way higher profit margin. Just saying…