Leigh M. Johnson

The transition from the late-60’s to the early-70’s was a tumultuous time in this country. We were quagmired in a directionless and immoral war. The economy was stagnant, on the precipice of a major recession. At home, domestic society was fraying at the seams. Women, Blacks, and the LGBT community were fighting for progress against…

I’m not sure if this counts as cheating in the unwritten #30DaySongChallenge Rule Book, but I’m picking one of my own songs for today. Like a lot of amateur songwriters, my songs have always tended toward the autobiographical, though I’d like to think that the stories and sentiments are universalizable. But even the songs that…

Here’s the thing about anger: it’s complicated. If expended in the wrong direction, or if indulged for too long, it can be futile, all-consuming, and self-defeating. You can’t concentrate. You lose sleep. You eat crappy food. You’re truculent and prickly. You bite when you should only bark. On the other hand, if well-managed and judiciously…

Today’s pick was a hard one for some reason. At dinner last night with my girlfriend and her step-mom, I told them what today’s prompt would be and asked for suggestions. They were much quicker on the draw than I was, thankfully, because I had pretty much stalled at “Billie Jean.”  (We’re exactly one week…

Self-motivation is definitely NOT one my virtues. I don’t have a hard time being productive and getting excited about the things I already want to do, but (alas!) those are cases where motivation isn’t really necessary. It’s all the other droll, boring, and tedious things that require an extra push. I’ve heard of people with…

I’m not a big fan of the category “guilty pleasure” when it comes to music. Unlike other pleasures, which can lead to illegal, immoral, or unhealthy actions, there isn’t anything about taking pleasure in music that ought to make one feel “guilty” as far as I can tell. You like what you like. Taste is…

I have a certifiably unhealthy obsession with sad songs.  I think they’re the most beautiful things that human beings create, and I think you can learn far more truth about the complex, convoluted tragicomedy that is human life and community from sad songs than from all the rest of our creations combined.  Among the reasons…

Confession: I’m not sure I totally understand today’s #30DaySongChallenge prompt. I don’t drive very much anymore. In fact, I only filled my gas tank up once a month in that last year. But even when I do drive, I never drive without music. So, by transitive property, every song is “a song to drive to”…