Songs That Have Defined My Life - Broken Phone Booth Style

I'm going to start a new series where I look at a number of songs that make me stop, close my eyes, and take me to a place far away from the present. These are songs that have defined moments of my life, or an idea of my life. I'm going to pose, then answer a number of questions along with each song, and will post the video here. If you can't view the video (due to this being emailed to you, or some other technical snafu, please click here and go to the main blog page. And now, without any further delay, here is our first song:

Artist: Primitive Radio Gods
Title: Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand
Year: 1996



Why This Song?: Let's see ... I remember hearing this song right around the time I was ten or so, which would have put me in ... fourth grade? At any rate, this song, among many others, got the benefit of the fact that I struggle to go to sleep. I always have, and from a very young age I listened to the radio to fall asleep. Once TV was integrated into my nighttime routines I put less value on the radio. Which, ironically, dovetailed with the onset of the crappy music generation that we've been in for a decade or so. But in 1996, I was right in the "Top Nine at Nine" demographic, and I listened to night time radio on U93 habitually from around 8pm until I could fall asleep. This song is from that era, and it has the unique qualities of sounding completely original, having a title and a band name that sticks out, and having a good feel to fall asleep to. Triple win.

Lyric that stuck out back then: "If I die before I learn to speak, will money pay for all the days I've lived awake but half asleep?" I remember discussing this lyric with adults at the time. To say that it peaked my interest is an understatement; perhaps my interest in this concept explains my appreciation for philosophy of all kinds. It's a lyric that seems stupid on the surface ... how could someone singing a song to me die before they learned to speak ... but is much deeper once you understand theoretical points of view.

Lyric that stands out now: it's a cop out to say the entire song ... really, I enjoy all the lyrics on a thinking level ... so I'll give you one: "Life is time they teach you growing up. The seconds ticking killed us all a million years before the fall. You ride the waves and don't ask where they go. You swim like lions through the crest and bathe yourself in zebra flesh." I like this lyric because it reflects on the nature of time, the finite reality of life, and it even hits on a theological dimension. Man am I a sucker for philosophy.

Thing that surprised me: The Primitive Radio Gods just released another album. And they have a website. Seriously, go check them out. I need to start a band.

Final evaluation: I hadn't heard this song for over a decade when, in my senior year of college, all the sudden I had a flashback to the lyrics about "if I die before I learn to speak." Something made me think of the lyrics, which in turn made me think of the song. I went out and downloaded the song off of ITunes, and then, as luck would have it, I heard the song in a bar later that night. I have since then mediated on this song as one of the many which allow me to slow down, breathe, and refocus when life gets a little crazy. I highly recommend you look at the lyrics and the musical composition of this song: it's unique, it's deep, and it's fun. I give it a 10/10 now, so it's withstood the test of time.