What?!?

If you've ever been in my car listening to the radio, or perused my CD collection, or read the music section of my profile, it won't surprise you to find that I enjoy me some classic rock. Don't get me wrong, I like other music, too. But it's always Classic Rock first, all else second.

The first CD I ever bought was Eagles Greatest Hits Vol. II (It's the one with "Seven Bridges Road," which WILL be the go-to lullaby for my theoretical children.) And I don't just love Classic Rock from a distance--I get involved. I sing along, often when the situation calls for a little more decorum than trilling along with Freddie Mercury allows. I once broke up with a guy because he thought The Who sucked. (Okay, there were a lot of other reasons, but I like that one the best.) I nourished the requisite "I wish he wasn't dead, and that he hadn't been a morally bankrupt egomaniac, and that he hadn't gotten all fat and hairy towards the end" crush on Jim Morrison. I think more colleges should offer classes on Bob Dylan's poetry and The Beatles impact on history and culture. I can name more Led Zeppelin songs than you. (Not you Rush).

Let me clarify one little point, though: I can't call myself a "fan" of most of the bands/musicians because I can't actually admire people who are by and large drug-addicted, sexually immoral egomaniacs. But, man, I love the music.

I said all that to say this: You've heard of this little band called The Rolling Stones, yes? They've put out a few albums here and there, put on a couple of rather enjoyable concerts. Well, one of their songs, "Brown Sugar" used to be my favorite. I mean, for YEARS this song was my very, very favorite. I would sing along and bop around, stay in the car to hear the end, get all excited if I heard it on a commercial or a soundtrack...

Then the Internet happened. And I looked up the lyrics. And I. Just. About. Died. See, sometimes I can't understand all the words to songs, even though I really, really like 'em. (Happens with Led Zeppelin all the time, and they're one of my uber-favorites. Come to think of it, maybe my lyrics-challengedness is one of the reasons they can still be one of my favorites--some of their songs are a little raunchy.) Anyway, that's what happened with "Brown Sugar." I couldn't understand all the lyrics, and it turns out that was for the best. Because I couldn't have enjoyed the song the same way if I had known it was about the Old South and masters treating their slaves like prostitutes.

Yikes.

No wonder people looked at me funny when I told them "Brown Sugar" was my favorite song.