And I also enjoyed this paean, which is where I leave y'all for now, singing Goodbye Girl... until next time

arebelliousnoise.substack.com/p/the-timele...

The narrator's wife moves to Boston, not Jersey. And other problems!

I went back to driving safely, out of range of the internet, and resumed my sleuthing at home. Wikipedia solved the location problem (turns out it's the UK single I'm familiar with, as compared to the US single or the UK album).

I kept muttering half-remembered lyrics and I got closer by realizing the light is sunshine and the chorus is "goodbye girl" - it's amazing how the mind can slowly dredge up these details from some faraway place.

So I found the song (by Squeeze!) and listened to it and was like, not quite right.

I knew the song reminded me of Nait, which is one reason maybe I'm writing it here. Like, we could have listened to it together but probably did not, what I actually mean is I thought (once upon a time) that the song's about him (in the non-literal sense).

Is anyone with me on this?

Do you have guesses?

I couldn't place the "something else", it was just a strong vague feeling about a hotel and romantic petty theft. So I'm driving on my errands and attempting to google bits of lyrics at stop lights. My search history:

"woke up in a hotel pool hall light"
"woke up wallet keys gone slant of light"

The "real" version sounds unlike the group exercise version; that felt strange.

The other strange thing is that verse 3 ("woke up in New York City / in a funky cheap hotel / she took my heart, she took my money / she must have slipped me a sleeping pill") reminded me SO MUCH of something else.

The other day I got la vida loca in my head. I think it must have played at tractor supply while I was shopping because I haven't thought about that song since zumba-esque dance classes at the gym in the aughts, and because I was thinking about the song on the drive after that stop.

And it makes me laugh that the Pearls Before Swine version is so upbeat and plinky and swoopy in it's hippy way. I love it. So now I am going back and forth between my 'old' and 'new' versions, free from the good news.

It's not really that I remember liking/loving the song (it's even annoyed me a little), but I feel like I've deeply concentrated on the song, and it palpably feels like a portal to my experience of myself. It makes me laugh to think I must have over-listed to this one, too.

I HADN'T EVER HEARD BEFORE THE Pearls Before Swine ORIGINAL OF THE JEWELER. hahaha seriously! mind is blown.

I must have been over-and-over obsessed with that song, This Moral Coil version, around age 17 - because the way it transports me back to being in my teenaged body and soul is uncanny.

I usually always have one song I listen to over and over, over a long period of time. And I've been "good newsing hard. But I noticed on the ol' rss reader that Stagger Lee has The Hiatus Sessions (radio gods take note) but it's been a month but I finally listened and

So eventually I decide the only way through this is to listen to bear country 95.3 until I hear the song.

It only takes 30 minutes!

me: it's Shaboozey, "Good times"
gpt: you're right, it does resemble "Sweet Home Alabama"

I've used chat gpt enough to know when it's blowing smoke up my ass!

I even listened to Kid Rock to make sure I hadn't time traveled back to THAT "sweet home Alabama" ripoff

that wasn't it, but it connects because he's sipping "whiskey out the bottle - which is basically "cold truth" mixed with "honey" haha!

me: "honey" is mentioned in the lyrics
[turns out, not true... I later see that I conflated sipping on "cold truth" with "honey" - more on this to come]
gpt: suggests several more songs, with honey in the title

me: those songs aren't real
gpt: sorry, you're right

repeat w/ more imaginary songs

& I didn't see it. I couldn't remember anything.

me: it's got a chorus that reminds me of sweet home alabama
gpt: suggests several songs, not it

me: it feels nostalgic, with a sense of place
[turns out, this is debatable]
gpt: suggests several songs, not it

So I turned to chatgpt
I don't have the log but it went like this -

me: there's a song been hearing on country radio, it plays all the time so it's probably top of the charts and recent.
gpt: you've got to tell me more

I looked at the charts

I've been hearing a song out & about - playing at the Tractor Supply store - playing on the country station in the car. the chorus had been catching me and I thought, maybe this song will cure my music blues. but I didn't know who sang it, couldn't even remember any lyrics.

which is ironic because popular opinion is that my music taste is chaotically wide-ranging

but you see, I'd noted it too! he was agreeing with me.

I want to tell the story of my search yesterday. I've reading a lot about AI and I feel like this is part of the overall "story" in the world