Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues

Listen while you read: It's a parody!

Hey, hey, my, my
Rock and roll will never die
Just hang your hair down in your eyes
You'll make a million dollars

Well, I was in this band going' nowhere fast
We sent out demos, but everybody passed
So one day we finally took the plunge
Moved out to Seattle to play some grunge
Washington State, that is
Space Needle
Eddie Vedder
Mudhoney

Now, to fit in fast, we wear flannel shirts
We turn our amps up until it hurts
We've got bad attitudes, and what's more
When we play, we stare straight down at the floor
Wowee
Pretty scary
How pensive
How totally alternative

Now to fit in on the Seattle scene
You've gotta do something they ain't never seen
So thinkin' up a gimmick one day
We decided to be the only band that wouldn't play a note
Under any circumstances
Silence
Music's original alternative
Roots grunge
. . . 

~  Todd Snider

So it may be that while you are reading this, I am driving around Seattle. It seemed appropriate to get into a Seattle frame-of-mind by focusing on one of the things Seattle is famous for: the grunge movement. As I may have mentioned before in this blog, I was absent the day they taught grunge music. (The truth is, I was making babies and then doing all the stuff one has to do once they're made.) Nonetheless, I know a thing or two about it, because hardly a day has gone by without a Nirvana or Pearl Jam song to accompany my activities. Grunge rock will never die.

This Todd Snider song, a parody of Bob Dylan's 1962 "Talkin' John Birch Society (Paranoid) Blues," was an afterthought to Snider's premiere 1994 album, Songs for The Daily Planet, but it became a bit of a folk-rock hit. The song tells a story, so be sure to listen to the entire song via the link above, as I got tired of typing all the lyrics. You won't be sorry, because it's pretty funny.

Our plan today is to drive out to Olympic National Park and then ferry/drive to Anacortes, where we might get to see some fireworks, so I'm not sure if we will get to see much of Seattle proper. But we'll be back in two weeks for our return flight, so the Space Needle, A Sound Garden, and other touristy places are on the list of things to see. Before then, we have 2,500 miles to travel, so it's time to get started!