Are you one of those people that get obsessed with a song and have to listen to that song over and over and over again until your parents’ ears bleed and they buy you earphones for a birthday present, even though it isn’t your birthday?  If this has happened to you, then we are kindred spirits.   Back in the day, it was not uncommon for me to come home with a brand new 45 rpm single, put it on the record player and let the song repeat until I had every lyric, nuance and drum fill committed to memory.

Back then I had the radio to sort of guide me as to the songs and music I might obsess over.  Today it is a bit tougher to find a new tune that catches my fancy.  My truck doesn’t have a radio (that story is for the “why I don’t do car repairs” blog post), the car either is tuned to  oldies or talk radio,  so there are very few sources for me to hear new and different music.  Fortunately for me, someone invented YouTube.

I have found YouTube to be a remarkable vehicle for finding old and new music.  I found a 1965 Waylon Jennings cover of the Beatles “Norwegian Wood”.  I got the joy of playing it over and over just like I did when I was a freshman in high school. (Yes, I had bought the single, but unfortunately I lent it to a friend who left it in his car.  If you don’t know about vinyl records, they melt when left in the sun.)  YouTube also had the complete album “The Twain Shall Meet” by Eric Burdon and the Animals.  Another lost vinyl from the days of my youth.  One of my first blog posts was written with that album playing in my earphones.  (some things never change).  The other great thing about YT is that I find some compelling and different covers of my favorite songs.  For example, while looking up Guns and Roses “Sweet Child of Mine”, I checked out a few of the uploaded covers.  I found a version of SCoM sung by a young woman playing a ukulele.  It was an incredible cover.  From Axel and Slash to this young lady’s lilting voice and ukulele chords.

Which brings me to my latest obsession.  The song “Annabelle” by the Duhks.  I was watching the TV show “Hell on Wheels” and this song was played over the final scenes of the episode.  It is such a haunting, lovely song.  I had never heard the song before, so after the show I immediately went to the computer to find out the name of the song.  My searching turned up that the song was “Annabelle” by the Duhks.  I immediately went to YouTube, but alas, there was no version of the song “Annabelle” by the Duhks.  There was one version by a Kate Goldman that was more uptempo than the song I heard on the show,so it didn’t have that same emotional appeal as the show’s  version of the song.

However, I found out a few days later that I was not the only person that fell in love with the song.  When I checked YouTube a few days ago there were five different uploads of “Annabelle” as performed by the Duhks, all with comments about how people had heard this song on “Hell on Wheels” and felt pretty much the same way I felt about the song.

So at this moment I am continuing the ritual of my youth.  I have put my earphones on, turned the volume up as loud as it goes, logged into YouTube and am listening to “Annabelle” over and over, learning every lyric and every nuance of this, my favorite song of the moment.