A Day in the Life

February 8-14, 2016

Tell me why

By Becca Bona

MC and I recently did a bout of spring cleaning. Yes, I know it’s February, but the Arkansas weather had us feeling like it was actually April or May the other day, so we got to it.

By cleaning, I really mean furniture rearranging.

MC’s music studio was getting a little full with a set of drums, a love seat, a record rack, a couple of guitars, a bass, and a microphone or two among other odds and ends. Plus, there was still somehow room for amps and a side table.

On top of all that, MC has a new keyboard, and it just didn’t fit in the studio. Unfortunately, the apartment is like a puzzle … if you move a piece of furniture from one room to another, you have to adjust all the other rooms accordingly to get a sense of balance.

Even though we were working on the studio, I started in the kitchen before moving my way to the hallway, the bedroom, and finally the living room. I doubt if I ever made it to the studio, in reality.

Throughout the dusty haze of the day, MC played DJ. He started off with some real high energy stuff, stuff that I’m not even familiar enough with to write about in this column. As the day went on, though, the styles in music began to change drastically, until we finally finished our task and were listening to none other than – you guessed it – Neil Young.

Familiar readers will know that I’m not necessarily a Neil Young fan. I know he’s important in music and all that, but he’s just not my cup of tea.

After the Gold Rush was playing rather softly by this point, soft enough so I didn’t even recognize the usual squeakiness Young harbors in his voice. The song, “Tell Me Why” graced the speakers and I actually found myself listening to and enjoying it.

MC noticed.

Next thing I knew, he disappeared in the studio to grab his acoustic guitar and began his own rendition of the song. His voice wasn’t nearly as squeaky as Young’s although he lacked the harmony on the chorus.

He sang it once or twice and I just had to join in. I’m a sucker for harmony.  

Next thing I knew, we were both harmozin’ and foot tappin’ until the clock alerted us it was well past 10 p.m., and our downstairs neighbor was likely tired of our noise-making.

And thus, I learned three things that day.

The first is, MC is pretty good at picking sad songs, and making them all the more sad. It’s something about his eyes. “Tell Me Why” is an introspective ballad of sorts, andthe lyrics are almost too melancholy for the upbeat jaunt of the guitar-picking.

The second thing is, and get this, I can actually like a Neil Young song. I particularly love this one, I mean, the folksy twang speaks to me. Plus, it’s fun to sing if you can get over the tears that are likely to swell in your eyes if you start thinking about the lyrics too much.

Lastly, always clean to music. If you don’t, the task is likely to bore you out of your mind, plus you never know what you’ll discover.  

Becca Bona is the managing editor of the Daily Record and an award winning columnist and photographer. Contact her at Becca@dailydata.com.  

  • Becca Bona
    Becca Bona