Leigh M. Johnson

Earworms are funny creatures, really. When you find yourself infected with one, it can be either a blessing or a curse. Earworms feed on our obsessive-compulsive tendencies, they activate whatever tacit proclivity for addiction lies deep within us, and the only cure for bad ones is to replace them with good ones. It’s kind of…

It seems like bad juju to pick the theme song to your life before you’ve finished living it, but oh well. [*throws salt over shoulder*] I miss the days when television gave us real theme songs, by which I mean songs with words, not the sonic mood-setters typical of so many popular programs now. (Listen:…

I suspect today’s will be the most difficult prompt of the month, because it requires me to step outside of myself and try to think about what others think about what I think about music. Others know that I think a lot about music, so what I really have to consider is what others think about me, my tastes, my…

I’ve made no secret over the years about my dislike for NashVegas wunderkind and fake-country recording artist Taylor Swift.  She even made it into my “Uncanny Valley” series on this blog (see here) as an example of what I called the very Form of the Fake.  Now, I’ll admit I’ve been pretty harsh in my evaluations of Swift–…

First, let’s just get something straight right away: The Rolling Stones is the greatest band of all time.  Full stop. Several years ago, my favorite music magazine No Depression ran a contest they called “Exile on Main Street vs. The White Album Smackdown” and invited readers to write in and explain why one album was better than the…

If you’ve ever lived close to a train track, which I have for many of the years of my adult life, you know exactly what it means to love and to believe in the sound of a train in the distance.  There’s something seductive and promissory about that sound, something that assures you that there…

There are any number of songs by the late, great Michael Jackson that make me want to dance. Most of them, in fact.  In addition to being a phenomenal and innovative dancer himself, MJ also had a preternatural talent for producing songs with just the right mix of rhythm and groove to force listeners’ bodies to…

Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of musical theater.  This may be due in part to the fact that I seem to lack whatever aesthetic gene or neuron inclines us against corniness, but I like to think that it’s rather because I have a deep appreciation for storytelling in song.   My favorite musical…

I had some major blog snafus this past week, so I’m waaay behind on the 30 Day Song Challenge!  What that means for you, readers, is that the entries are going to be considerably briefer for the next several days while I catch up. Today’s prompt was easy for me.  I’m choosing Sam Cooke‘s “A…