So, did you download this Mike Doughty track yet?

I liked it when I first heard it, and it’s been growing on me.  It’s the
immediacy and the honesty.

And the lyrics.

Did you watch that "60 Minutes" segment on the echo boomers?  The key, their
GOAL, is to be a member of the team.  All the winning of their baby boomer
parents…they just want to participate.

But what if you’re left out.

That’s not what MTV is selling.  MTV is selling inclusion.

And the deejays on the radio.  They’re lording over a GROUP!  Used to be the
deejay spoke to you, individually.  That’s what the switch from AM to FM
represented.  A change from fast-talking jocks to regular people.  The radio was a
respite.  It was where you were understood.  It was the girlfriend you desired
or had lost.

And the music was too.  We were married to the music.  Now, the music is just
an ingredient.  Got the beer?  Got the babes?  Got the music?  Whereas we
were alone in our bedrooms with ONLY the music.  Sure, there were the great AM
party tracks of the sixties.  But the music on FM…it was about alienation.

Being a human being is tough.  TV tells you you’ve got B.O.  Your teeth
aren’t white enough.  Your hair color needs to be changed.  How can you MAKE IT in
this world unless you get with the program?

And the musical acts on TV…they’re ENDORSING these products.  If you want
to be like them, you’ve got to buy what they’re selling.

But you’re never going to be like them.  You’re just not that good-looking. 
Not that aggressive.  Not that talented.  You’re just normal.  Is it okay to
be normal?

Of course not.  You’ve got to look like Beyonce and date Jay-Z.  You’ve got
to wear diamonds like Puffy.  You’ve got to afford a new ride, a watch from
Jacob the Jeweler.  You feel inadequate.

And where do you turn?

You can’t tell your friends your innermost feelings.  Your TRUE feelings. 
Your difficulty in coming.  Your anxiety over physical intimacy.  That blemish
on your inner thigh.  You hold these inside.  In today’s world where you’ve got
to measure up.

But things were different in the sixties.  It was an INCLUSIVE society. 
Thin, fat, made no difference, you could play.  Now, unless you look like a model
you can’t get past the velvet rope.

Our music reflects this culture.  And this is just not reality.  It’s not
what living on this planet is about.  Living on this planet is about SEARCHING
FOR CONNECTION!  MEANINGFUL CONNECTION!

It’s so elusive.  It’s so frustrating.  You’d take Jennifer Aniston on a
date, rescue her emotionally from Brad, but she doesn’t want to know you.

Who wants to know you?  That’s the question.

You had the feeling the musicians of yore wanted to know you, they understood
you.  Because they WROTE about their innermost feelings.  Those feelings you
couldn’t tell anyone.

That Cuban girl
That brought me low
She had that skin so fine and red lips rose-like now
Her mouth was wide
And sweet as well
And now relentless hours of dreaming up her smell

Your buds tell you she was an asshole.  She didn’t DESERVE you.  They
catalogue all her faults.

But you just can’t get over her.  It was the whole package.  She was so right.

But now she’s gone.

And you can’t complain.  Everybody says to get with the program.

Which makes you feel more lonely.  More isolated.

And I feel as if I am looking at the world from the bottom of a well

You can’t have a song like this on hit radio, Top Forty radio.  It just
doesn’t fit the ethos.  Top Forty is all sheen and no humanity.

But you’re looking for humanity.  How do you cope?

By listening to someone who understands you, who’s making music for YOU!

Oh all the days
That I have run
I sought to lose that cloud that’s blacking out the sun

You’re trying to get over her.  Really hard.  But it’s so tough.

And then you discover a record.  That you play again and again.  Because it
makes you feel good, it has energy, it gives you HOPE!

That record is Mike Doughty’s "Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A
Well".

It starts off quiet.  And then you get those angry drums.  And that resonant
guitar.  And the guy’s voice.  It’s not perfect.  Which makes it all the more
BELIEVABLE!  And, as he tells his story the band picks up behind him.  He’s a
one man army.  At this very moment, he gets you believing his message.

Lonely
And the only way to beat it is to bat it down

Your best friend has been telling you this.  The one you’ve confided some of
your feelings to.  But it didn’t work.  He just didn’t get it.  But Mike
Doughty gets it.  He’s been hurt.  By someone he loved.  He’s doing his best to
crowd her out of his mind, listening to his music your body starts to move,
suddenly you’re optimistic.  She wasn’t that great.  You’ll find somebody again. 
Who’s BETTER!

(Download at: http://www.mikedoughty.com/music/)