Leigh M. Johnson

#30DaySongChallenge, Day 17: A Song You Sing At Karaoke

“Karaoke” is a portmanteau of two Japanese words, kara (“empty”) and oke (“orchestra”). The first karaoke machine was invented by Daisuko Inoue in 1971, and it has since become a staple of nightlife across the globe. The idea of providing music lovers an instrumental version (an “empty orchestra”) of their favorite songs is genius, really, and I…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 19: A Song From The Year You Were Born

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…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 20: A Song You Listen To When You’re Angry

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…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 21: A Song That Is Personally Meaningful

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…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 22: A Song You Wish You Had Written

For a long time now, I have kept a running list of “Songs That I Would Cut Off A Limb To Have Written.” It’s not a super-long list because my standards are high, but I certainly do not have enough limbs to cover it. Most of the time, I find that it’s the lyrics of…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 23: A Song With A Person’s Name In The Title

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…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

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…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 24: A Song That Motivates You

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…

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#30DaySongChalleng, Day 11: A Song That Breaks Your Heart

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…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 10: A Song That Makes You Happy

For today’s pick, I’m returning home to Soulsville, to draw from one of our deepest cultural and musical wells: Stax. The Stax “sound” is the sound that I most closely identify with Memphis, and even the saddest of songs from the Stax vault has always possessed the power to cheer me up. Those horns. That…

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