I wasn't a huge JM fan in the 80s—though some of his super early songs are really great—just not played very often. I have a few of his albums from the 90s.

When I was 19, we were on the same flight to Atlanta in 1987. Afterward, as we were both waiting for our respective rides, I said hello to him. He asked me where I was from, how college was going, and what was I doing in Georgia, etc. I told him about the old couple in coach that saw his long hair and "Canadian tuxedo" in First Class who said, "I guess they'll let anybody fly First Class!"

JM was very polite and interested in talking to me. A total mensch! He signed a rolling paper because that was the only piece of paper I had on me. I still have it—I think in the jewel case of one of his albums.

After we went our separate ways, I realized I hadn't even asked him what he was doing in town or how he was doing. D'OH!

Not sure what he's talking about because the lyrics have been correct and complete forever.

James McMurtry - Choctaw Bingo

The lyrics posted here are missing one verse, near the end:


Ruth Ann and Lynn, they wear them cut-off britches
And them skinny little halters
And they're second cousins to me
Man, I don't care, I want to get between 'em
With a great big ol' hard-on like a old Bois d'Arc fence post
You could hang a pipe rail gate from
Do some sister twisters 'til the cows come home
And we’ll be havin' us a time
Uh-huh

Begin rant: 

I find listeners' dismissal of pop music to be mystifying. Is there something about estotericism that makes music more "legitimate"? The RP audience creams themselves for Vivaldi who was, *gasp*, the pop star of his time. Pop artists of today utilize the technologies of today to make music that appeal to listeners with today's tastes. If Vivaldi were alive today, you seriously think he wouldn't be dabbling with a mixing board? Most of the songs on RP were, at some point, popular in their time, and many pop songs now will become classics soon enough. This song may or may not be one of them, but it is a zeitgeist. 

For all that everyone is perfectly happy to classify Gen Z as vacuous, superficial and lazy, this song shows a highly popular (and very hardworking) artist who is serving a few of the most important functions of art: chronicling this moment, expressing a profound and broad human anxiety and making us all feel a little less alone in our deep fears for the future, all packaged into an inoffensive and catchy tune. I don't know what the methodology of William & Co. are, but they very obviously carefully select pop songs with more cerebral messages. She's not singing about drugs, fucking or even the timeless topic of love. Shouldn't we old folks be celebrating (or at least reassured) that her generation looks to her as an idol, and to this song as the anthem for 2026? 

I expected more open-mindedness from RP listeners. I hope the pop-hate is just old folks and misanthropes being curmudgeonly. I'd hate to think the pop-hate has anything to do with the artist being a young woman with a nice body she's not afraid to show off. That'd be even more disappointing. 

Drums make the same sound as when my wife puts shoes in the dryer.....

Michael_Dean wrote:  Oh glad, I found you, an Expert of Pretentiousness. 

Would it not be handy to have a quick reference chart, seeing that we have so many citations of pretentiousness here in the comments section.  Please arrange the following in order of pretentiousness.  If you will do this work, I promise to post the chart every time I see an offense registered.  We can call it the MrsTom Pretentiousness Gradient, MTPG for short.  Not to be confused with Empty Peter Gabriel, of course, THAT'S a whole other chapter, let's just handle these one at a time and in order.  (Was that too Pretentious?).  ah... wait... we were talking about something...... THE LIST ! ! ! I  I'll have it made like a mountain range, with a snow-white pillow for my big fat head, And my heaven will be a big heaven, And I will walk through the front door.  Big time. (I love me!) (Now, I think that WAS pretentious).

 
Pretentiousness of the Highest Level
Indubitably Pretentious
Certainly Pretentiousness
Moderately Pretentiousness
Twinkie Defense Pretentiousness
Barely Pretentious
Criminally Pretentious
Chewbacca Defense Pretentious
Almost Pretentiousness
MTPG Pretentious

Michael_Dean wrote:
 

The MrsTom Pretentiousness Gradient - M.T.P.G. (Not to be confused with Empty Peter Gabriel, of course).

 

10.)  MTPG Pretentious - Pretentiousness that precedes all other Pretentiousness, the Pretentiousness from which all Pretentiousness is borne. Big Bang MTPG some have named it - BBMTPG.

09.)  Pretentiousness of the Highest Level - The inflationary epoch occurred at approximately  10−36 seconds after the Big Bang.  Following the inflationary period, The Pretentiousness continues to expand, but at a less rapid rate.  This is why some "Good" music actually can exist.

08.)  Criminally Pretentious - deliberate, willful, malicious, spiteful, wicked, cruel or violent Pretentiousness.

07.)  Certainly Pretentiousness - deliberate, but not violent Pretentiousness.

06.)  Indubitably Pretentious - Pretentiousness Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, you will do the Time for this one.

05.)  Twinkie Defense Pretentiousness - Pretentiousness attributed to insanity AND is defensible in a Court of Law.  These offenses are often "Settled Out of Court".

04.)  Moderately Pretentiousness - A level of Pretentiousness that is still defensible, but does not oblige insanity.

03.)  Barely Pretentious - This is Pretentiousness that just made it over the line.

02.)  Almost Pretentiousness - This is Pretentiousness so feeble that it doesn't really count.

01.)  Anomalous Pretentiousness  - Sometimes it's there, sometimes not.  Physicists are baffled, naming it  a non-zero vacuum energy Pretentiousness.  In the special case of vacuum energy, general relativity stipulates that the gravitational field is proportional to ρ+3p (where ρ is the mass-energy density, and p is the Pretentiousness).

00.)  Chewbacca Defense Pretentious - Red Herring Pretentiousness, not actually pretentiousness at all, 'tis a strategy, should not be listed here. 

Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - The Spirit

How much garbage can Yorke put out in one year? Will no labels just say "no"?

Thom lives not far from me so I assume his situation is similar.  The maximum a household can put out is regulated by the collection rota which alternates on a weekly basis between green bins (standard waste) on week one then blue (recycling) and brown (garden waste) on week two.   Assuming that Thom has the same standard 360 litre bins as us he would have a maximum of just over 28,000 litres per year.  The garden waste collection is optional though so if he doesn't have a garden or manages his own composting that would exclude a third of the potential output.
On the subject of labelling; only the garden waste involves a label which is generally applied to the lid of the bin to verify the subscription payment.  If you don't opt in for this collection you don't get a label that says "no", you just don't get a label at all.
Since January it is now possible to put glass in the recycling and whilst this is more convenient the glass takes up some space so some of that 28,000 litre capacity will now have to include glass that would previously have been taken to the local bottle banks.  That would indicate a reduction in what can be put out so hopefully that is good news for you but it does depend on how much glass Thom's household is consuming - it could be considerably less than we do.

In case anyone else was wondering about the selectively used, deep-bass harmony vocal…

"The big bass voice on this track is Clarke Peters (real name Pete
Clarke), who at the time was using the name Pete Clarke. He was with a
band called The Majestics, but it would be as an actor that he made his
mark, playing Lester Freamon in the TV series The Wire and appearing in the movies John Wick and Notting Hill.

"We were both in Hair so I knew him, and when I wrote 'Love and Affection' I wanted a bass voice," Armatrading explained to The Guardian.
"Pete wasn't a session singer but not many people can sing that low, so
he also did the bass voice on another song of mine, 'Opportunity.'"

Love And Affection

The Hairy Appendage and I have just had a darned good smooch in the kitchen to this. I remember propping up the gym wall while this was playing during the school disco in that year, unpicked for the slow dance. He had a similar experience as he was operating the decks at his school disco. Ya boo sucks, Universe: we got our just desserts in the end! 

Radiohead - Decks Darkness

"Then in your life comes the darkness." In winter 2016, my wife had just lost a long battle with cancer. I was still processing the loss and dropped my 3 young kids at my folks' house and went to grieve for a weekend on my own. On a cold, snowy afternoon, driving from Port Huron to Pentwater, Michigan, I discovered that Radiohead had put out this album that I'd never heard, despite being a forever fan. It saved me. Still gives me chills. 

I stand by every one of those. 

My rating is a solid 4.

I stand by every one of those. 

Police - Bring on the Night

From a 9 to a 10, what was I thinking?

two great injustices in our world: The ratings and my volume control only go to 10 for this song.

All kinds of awesome here. Love that bass line.

This is such a fantastic tune. The feel, the sound, the memories. Just a perfect song.

Synchronicity has an era feel that is not my favorite, but as a whole I totally agree. Every time this or other early stuff on I look at the ratings and thing "man, this is just a little better than most of the other stuff I've rated a 10". 

The opening bass line of this song is epic. I think we should all get 5 votes for "epic" that we could use for our ultra-favorite songs. This would get two of mine.

This gets one of my very limited votes for 'Epic'. A tune that always gets turned up.  

The police post punk/pre-synchronicity were just about perfect.

10+. This is another 'Epic' tune for me. from the opening note - where I go scrambling to turn up the volume, all the way through - when nothing else gets done.

Just coming back to re-affirm this statement. 6 years later and I still crank it up every time I hear the intro. I'll sit in the car and finish this one out and skip phone calls as well. 

20 years of commenting on this song on RP. Still Epic, still a 15/10, Still hard to get it loud enough. This may be the perfect song.

Well, we've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty.