WEDNESDAY WRAP

CD SHOWCASE MEMORIES

Ending the day listening to Ronnie Milsap (“Carolina Dreams”) & Jamie O’Neal (“There Is No Arizona”), while checking under the hood of this 1973 Nova 6-cylinder, originally owned by the guy’s grandmother….

(photo by OC,SHer JAY J: Secretary Of State Car Show, Springfield IL, 2002)

#1 “Carolina Dreams” | Ronnie Milsap
This is 1 of those songs I remember hearing on the radio, but apparently didn’t do so well. It hit the airwaves 11/27/1982 (as the B-side to “Inside”, which claimed #1) & spent 18 weeks on the country charts but didn’t register in the Top 100. This Robbinsville NC-native singer-songwriter-pianist is blind since birth & is 1 of my MANY favorite artists. I’m not a concert-goer, but I was thrilled to see Milsap live in person in the St Charles IL Arcada Theater, 09/27/2015, part of his farewell tour. He kicked off the evening with a favorite of mine, 1984’s “Prisoner Of The Highway” (#6) & performed many of my favorites: 1980’s “Smoking Mountain Rain” (#1), 1983’s “Stranger In My House” (#5), 1984’s “Still Losing You” (#1) & 1988’s “Button Off My Shirt” (#4). During his career, he charted 40 #1 tunes!

#2 “There Is No Arizona” | Jamie O’Neal
This song, her 1st release, debuted 08/12/2000, spent 35 weeks on the country charts & claimed #1 in early 2001. It crossed over & reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Born Jamie Murphy in Sydney, Australia, this singer-songwriter was raised in Hawaii & Nevada. Her brief career spanned mid 2000 to early 2009 & featured 2 other Top 10 tunes: 2001’s “When I Think About Angels” (#1) & 2005’s “Somebody’s Hero” (#3). Only 1 of her other 8 releases reached the Top 20: 2004-5’s “Trying To Find Atlantis” (#18).

On a personal note, it took me less than 10 minutes to write a slightly different version, the week of 10/19/2015, after I had heard the very end of it on the radio, 10/13/2015:
“They promised us a new & better team, in the World Series
Underneath the blue, never ending sky
swore they were gonna get things in order
they’d make us prouder
When the season started
it never crossed our minds

there is no World Series
no division title, no championship
If there was a promised land
we could fill it up with the lies they’ve told us
but they don’t exist
those dreams they sold us
We’ll wake up & find there is no World Series

We got some tickets with no game time or date
postmarked Wrigley
They said the Cubs would be in the big games
& when they are you’re invited
May, June, July
we wonder why
we’re still waiting
we’ll keep waiting

‘cause there is no World Series
no division title, no championship
If there was a promised land
we could fill it up with the lies they’ve told us
but they don’t exist
those dreams they sold us
We’ll wake up & find there is no World Series

Each year the ivy grows on the bricks
our hearts sink lower in our chests
& friends keep asking when they’ll win it
finally we tell them
don’t you know

They promised us a new & better team, in the World Series”