There are some songs that will forever remind me of this time in Marfa. They are either constantly in the air or in my head; all are significant. These songs embody my hopes and struggles, and help express how I'm feeling. One or two exhibit the strange way things are linked in my mind, like a memory exercise gone wrong. They are my soundtrack, and when the movie is made of my life in Marfa, that part is in the can.
You Can Get It If You Really Want
Among the few possessions that made the cut on the first trip out was my little portable turntable, however, while packing I never found time to go through my records. So in the eleventh hour, with my car loaded down and running, I quickly pulled a few albums from my collection. The Harder They Come soundtrack was one of them. The songs of Jimmy Cliff and the other great reggae musicians featured on it are inspirational to me. I like putting this record on in the morning when I'm getting 'up' for a day at work. The CD is also on the jukebox at Padre's, and this song seemed to come up more than any other in my first weeks here, even when I wasn't the one making the selections. The lyrics became my mantra, 'You can get it if you really want but you must try, try and try, try and try. You'll succeed at last'. Its about working very hard to reach a goal, and how that goal is all the more satisfying for the effort.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18EAqHx2lMk
Don't Do Me Like That
This great old Tom Petty song goes through my head when I am let down by someone. The someone is usually an employee, and they are usually telling me they can't work when I need them. When a new hire quits after two weeks because they just decided to go back to school, when one of my precious few staff needs off during a busy weekend, or when the appliance repair place says they can't get the part to us by festival weekend when weeks before they said it would be no problem...I hear this song more than I'd like. But it is quickly followed by The Beatles' 'It's getting better all the time, better, better, beeeeettter'!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL6XwAl_hNo
I Got Stripes
This Johnny Cash song pops into my head just about every time I drive past one of the two Stripes convenience stores in Marfa. Both are on highway 90, the main street that goes through town, so you're going to pass one of them just about every time you're in the car. This is one of those free-association songs; I certainly don't feel like I'm in prison, but I am listening to a lot of Johnny Cash these days. It wouldn't even matter, as my brain seems to have an endless number of songs cataloged by odd lyrics, filling my head with music at random moments. When Adrian was younger, I made him crazy singing these songs out loud as I drove him to school. 'Do you have a song for everything?,' he would ask. I'm afraid so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5yZlk1Tz0A
My Own Space
This is not one of Steve Miller's better songs, but it was on the one album of his that I owned while growing up, Book of Dreams. Sometimes I hear it when I'm driving through the endless, open landscape; sometimes when I'm in my little casita, enjoying a moment to myself. It's got to be the corniest song I could possibly summon in these times, and maybe talking about it will make it stop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6NJBjbO8LM
Move Me On Down the Line
This is the first song on side two of the ZZ Top album Tres Hombres, a record that gets some regular play at Padre's in both jukebox and vinyl form. I select this particular track often, and I hear it sometimes when I'm doing the drive between Austin and Marfa. It makes me think of moving to a new place, and just moving in general. ZZ Top seems to be a unifying force around here, everyone enjoys them. It's.like Ty, owner of the Lost Horse Saloon, said: 'If you don't like ZZ Top, you can just get the f* out of Texas'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjdiWGB8d28
Cool Water
Jon Aielli played this song like a million times on KUT during the drive back to Marfa after my first Austin visit. As he is known to do, he played different versions, read and re-read the lyrics, and was generally pretty obsessed with it. My dad listened to a lot of Marty Robbins when I was growing up, and his is the 'real' version for me, although I think Jon left that one out. Being in the middle of the desert, Marfa is dry and dusty like the images in the song. At the same time, it's a dreamlike oasis, sitting on a plentiful aquifer rich in minerals and home to the most interesting community of people you'll find in the whole state.
This song also reminds me that I need to drink more water!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ewWSMNoHI
Ramble On
It wouldn't be right to leave Led Zeppelin off this mixed tape, as they have got to be the most-played band at Padre's. Just last Sunday, Rocky played his ipod during his bar shift and we had six straight hours of Zep with no repeats! They are another of those bands that just about everyone can agree on, and now that we are coming upon the one year anniversary of Mr. Plant's visit to Marfa, I'm hoping our eternal flame will draw him back to us. If you play it, he will come.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ddD9efO1Hc
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