Running Up That Hill
I love music. In fact, for someone with absolutley no talent for singing, dancing or playing an instrument, I am surprisingly surrounded by music. My wife sings, my daughter plays in the school band and church band, both of my sons were in the school choir and I listen to all kinds of music. I’m listening to music right now as I work on the paper.
So, any time I can find a new song I like, it’s a cool thing. I don’t really get into today’s music so it’s not that often that I come across a new artist that I get into, although I do like Ed Sheeran, 21 Pilots, and even Lady Gaga, so I’m not completely shunning contemporary music.
One of my all-time favorite songs is “All These Things That I’ve Done” by the Killers. I first heard it over a crappy sound system while playing mini-golf. I committed a part of the lyrics to memory so I could look it up later.
Once I did, I added it to my music library where it remains in regular rotation.
Several years ago, I heard the DJ on the radio refer to a song as “The Song of the Summer,” and while I don’t remember the song, I definitely remember the concept. It is basically the song that you can’t seem to escape as you go out and about during your summer festivities. A couple of years ago it was “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X. Go back a few more years and that song “Blurred Lines” was all over the airwaves. I went back and checked and you can find tunes being labeled “Song of the Summer” going all the way back to the 1970s, when groups like The
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Eagles or artists like Elton John were the kings of FM radio.
This year, I’ve been listening more to my own “playlist” on Amazon Music than I have the radio, so when I got to thinking about it, I couldn’t really tell you what the most played song for Summer 2022 was. My daughter and I have been jamming out to the “Hamilton” soundtrack any time we have hopped into the truck for this or that, but you can’t have a whole musical as your Song of the Summer, right?
Anyway, I Googled it, and I shouldn’t have been surprised. Oddly, this year’s Song of the Summer is nearly 40 years old. Thanks to the nostalgia kick the Netflix show “Stranger Things” has eveyone on, Kate Bush’s 1985 track “Running Up That Hill” is just everywhere. It wasn’t even that big of a hit back in the day, peaking at #30, but it seems to have struck a chord with today’s teens. Can’t wait to hear my great-grandchildren jamming out to “Old Town Road in 2057…
