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Living in Chicago, by way of Dayton, OH and Havertown, PA. Contact me at atozpod@gmail.com.

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Friday, November 21, 2008

from If I Had $1,000,000 to If I Had...

Day 874, Session 145:
When/Where:
Monday November 17th - Afternoon chorefest: car/Jewel/home
First song: If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: If I Had A Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn
Progress: 2133-2141 of 6069
Total Songs Heard: 1868

First of all, once again, F you iTunes. I won't bore you with the details of exactly why it happened, but when I started iTunes this morning, I had to rebuild my iTunes library. Just like the last time, after the initial rebuild, I had to re-rebuild the library because iTunes couldn't find over 1000 songs. I can understand why it would miss those songs since they were hidden away... in the iTunes folder. It's not a huge deal, except for the part where a big part of doing this project right means being able to track stats. Now all the stats are f-ed.

Anyway...
9 tracks, but only 4 different songs today. Started with 3 versions of If I Had $1,000,000. This is the song that launched my fandom of BNL. I had never heard of Barenaked Ladies (despite my affinity for scantily clad women) before my freshman year in college. 2nd semester Joey and I got a radio show and BNL showed up on our playlist. We were hooked immediately.

That started a whirlwind affair with BNL that saw me attend something like 8 shows in the space of 18 months. Of course this was also pre-One Week which meant you could go to a BNL show and actually get to be close to the band and do fun things like throw mac and cheese at the stage when they sang the "we wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner" line. I still love the guys today, but it hasn't been the same since their shows moved from mid-sized clubs into full-sized arenas.

If I Had $1,000,000 is also my "go to" karaoke song. The down side is you need someone to sing it with you, so I've occasionally ended up singing it with complete randoms. The upside is when you have someone who knows the song as well as you do, it's always a crowd pleaser. Kaylor and I have gotten compliments from strangers after our rendition.

If I had $1,000,000 I'd buy something nice for the wife, then we'd take a fun vacation. I'd bank the rest and attempt to live off the interest. After building up a few years of interest I'd probably buy a new place to live. I like where I live now, but if I could buy a really nice new condo or single family place that'd be even better. The new place would have a game room and I would buy an Addam's Family pinball machine and a pool table for that room.

I'm guessing everyone here is familiar with the song, so instead of the Gordon version here is live version from a 2004 Philly concert:

If I Had $1,000,00 - Barenaked Ladies

The 2nd song (actually the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th) heard was If I Had A Boat. It's a Lyle Lovett song, but the Lyle Lovett version is the last one I actually heard. I first found the Dave Matthews Band thanks to Napster in 2000, then the Eddie From Ohio and Jimmy Buffett covers. It's one of those songs that speaks to me for some reason. I think it's my chronic urge to get away from things.

If I really had a boat, I'm sure I'd have no idea what to actually do with it. I'm don't think I would take it out onto the ocean. Knowing me I'd sink the thing 1st time out. If I'm going to sink a boat I'd rather do it in a nice recreational lake. So I guess that means I don't really want to get away from things, I just want to be somewhere I can float and drink a beer. The pony would be a nice though. I could rent it out for kids parties and finally have a source of income. That is assuming of course that you make more money renting a pony out than you spend on the costs of pony upkeep. This may be a losing proposition all around.

If I Had A Boat - Lyle Lovett
If I Had A Boat - Eddie From Ohio
If I Had A Boat - Jimmy Buffett
If I Had A Boat - Dave Matthews Band

So if you had $1,000,000 and/or a boat (and pony,) what would you do?

7 comments:

dara said...

To this day, it's my favorite BNL song. And every time I tell my brother that I wore something green, he always responds with "But not a real green (whatever), that's cruel."

Anonymous said...

My favourite BNL song too, and the one that introduced me to the band. My brother and I like to giggle at the way Americans pronounce 'emu' (we say 'eee-mew', not 'eee-moo').

If I had a million dollars I'd buy a house (with a pool), do Europe with my brother, take a month off in the middle of the year so I could do the States in the summer, and bank the rest, using the interest to pay for guitar lessons and to buy a nice electric.

Unknown said...

you are the one who introduced me to BNL and I remember listening this song on a mix tape you made for me on the bus is 6th or 7th grade. It is still my favorite and I regret that I never got to see BNL in a smaller setting. Big arenas were still really fun so I'm sure smaller would be great!

Anonymous said...

I love Lyle Lovett...if I had a million dollars I might hire him to come and sing to me, on my boat. Because with a million dollars you could hire a signer and have a boat.

Bob said...

I don't recall which song introduced me to BNL but I remember a friend of mine hating If I had $1,000,000... He turned out to be an ass, so that song is that much better.

I suppose if I wanted to help myself and possibly others, I might put all of the money into the stock market to give the market a boost because I wouldn't have had a million dollars yesterday and if I didn't have it tomorrow, that wouldn't be so bad. Or I would buy some more socks. I am in need.

Mike said...

Also one of my favorite BNL songs (and one that people who don't normally like BNL can agree on). I saw them play at the tiny 9:30 Club in DC in 1996 or so, and it was great - one of the best live shows I've been to.

If I had $1,000,000 I'd probably invest it, retire and do nothing for a while (my cost of living is not very high, so a million would still go pretty far). Then after I got bored with that maybe I'd use the interest to give myself a research grant to do something interesting. Or buy a submarine.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shout out. Our renditions at the Celtic Crown both times won us some compliments. They must have been drunker than us. Your version at my wedding is still the best version I've ever seen, wish I could post that video.