Day 6 - Callin' Baton Rouge
Garth Brooks
1993
Disclaimer: All perspectives, opinions, and memories in this entry are mine and mine alone. Some content is rugged, raw, and - sometimes - NSFW, but it's all authentic and included with purpose.
Why It’s On The List:
This song, like so many other things from my childhood and teenage years, will make no sense whatsoever to my kids.
I can already hear Kate now:
“Wait, so this trucker had to stop at gas stations to use a stationary 'pay phone' to call some random lady? Why didn’t he just SnapFace her from the screen in the contact lens on his eyeballs??”
I also can’t wait to see my kids’ blank expressions when I tell them that my first job was a video rental store where people had to leave their house to come to a building to pick out a movie (IF the one they wanted was even in stock!), drive home, put a bulky VHS tape in to a “VCR,” rewind it when it was done and take back in time to avoid incurring a fee.
Whew. That sounds insane now.
It was a terrific first job and I always enjoyed the video store experience as a kid. Once a month or so, we would pick my dad up from work and go to McDonalds for dinner and then go to the video store. Some of my most vivid and favorite memories with my parents growing up (pretty sure this routine is how my first viewing of "Back to the Future" happened).
Walking in the store was always a breathtaking experience. So many worlds to discover. I loved perusing the shelves and reading the backs of the cases. You were also out with the world, in the community with other humans. Everything is so isolated now. No magic or mystique to pressing “ok” to stream a new rental today.
Ok, now that I sound a thousand years old, back to “Baton Rogue.”
This song absolutely takes off from the beginning and is a blazing rocket throughout. Also features my 2nd favorite lyric ever written (see below. You will have to wait a few weeks until I unveil my #1).
Listen to "Callin' Baton Rouge" here:
Favorite Line:
I can already hear Kate now:
“Wait, so this trucker had to stop at gas stations to use a stationary 'pay phone' to call some random lady? Why didn’t he just SnapFace her from the screen in the contact lens on his eyeballs??”
I also can’t wait to see my kids’ blank expressions when I tell them that my first job was a video rental store where people had to leave their house to come to a building to pick out a movie (IF the one they wanted was even in stock!), drive home, put a bulky VHS tape in to a “VCR,” rewind it when it was done and take back in time to avoid incurring a fee.
Whew. That sounds insane now.
It was a terrific first job and I always enjoyed the video store experience as a kid. Once a month or so, we would pick my dad up from work and go to McDonalds for dinner and then go to the video store. Some of my most vivid and favorite memories with my parents growing up (pretty sure this routine is how my first viewing of "Back to the Future" happened).
Walking in the store was always a breathtaking experience. So many worlds to discover. I loved perusing the shelves and reading the backs of the cases. You were also out with the world, in the community with other humans. Everything is so isolated now. No magic or mystique to pressing “ok” to stream a new rental today.
Ok, now that I sound a thousand years old, back to “Baton Rogue.”
This song absolutely takes off from the beginning and is a blazing rocket throughout. Also features my 2nd favorite lyric ever written (see below. You will have to wait a few weeks until I unveil my #1).
Listen to "Callin' Baton Rouge" here:
Favorite Line:
“Hello Samantha, dear
I heard you’re feelin’ fine
And it won’t be long
Until I’m with you all the time
But until then I’ve spent my money up right down to my last dime
Ohhhhhhh Callin’ Baton Rouge”
The angst and desperation with which Garth hammers out this bridge is what makes it but the line is southern poetry on its own.
If You Like This Song...
Here are some of my other favorite Garth Brooks songs:
- What She Doing Now
- Unanswered Prayers
- Standing Outside the Fire
- Much Too Young
- The Red Strokes
- Somewhere Other than the Night
- Ain't Going Down
- Shameless
- Two of a Kind (This is my mom's favorite. She likes the line "Her favorite dress is her faded jeans.")
The angst and desperation with which Garth hammers out this bridge is what makes it but the line is southern poetry on its own.
If You Like This Song...
Here are some of my other favorite Garth Brooks songs:
- What She Doing Now
- Unanswered Prayers
- Standing Outside the Fire
- Much Too Young
- The Red Strokes
- Somewhere Other than the Night
- Ain't Going Down
- Shameless
- Two of a Kind (This is my mom's favorite. She likes the line "Her favorite dress is her faded jeans.")
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