Heard It on the X

Ever get a song stuck in your head? We usually associate this phenomenon with a new song that is so damn good it just won't leave you. Well, what about when a song that you absolutely despise keeps lingering in the dark recesses of your mind, like the acrid smell of burned popcorn? This happens to me on occasion, but the last few weeks it has been a real problem: I can't get Steve Winwood's 1986 hit "Higher Love" out of my head, and it's driving me crazy. It's not that I hate Winwood; I dug the stuff he did in Traffic and Blind Faith, as well as his early solo stuff like the album Arc of a Diver. But he really hit it big with "Higher Love," which was a much more commercial, dance-friendly song featuring Chaka Khan on backing vocals; aided by a video that played constantly on MTV, the song went to number 1 on the singles chart. I didn't mind it much at first, but after the 3,000th time I heard it, I had heard enough. The song is 20 years old, so it was essentially a distant memory until a couple of weeks ago, when I had to stop at CVS to pick up a prescription and it was playing there. After I left the store, I found that the song would keep repeating in my head. No biggie, I used one of my old tricks to banish unwanted songs. I just started thinking of something I liked with a simple riff; lately, it's been Deep Purple's "Woman From Tokyo." (I even had Triumph's "Lay It On the Line" in my head after seeing a video of the admittedly cheesy song on VH1 Classic, and I was okay with that.) But the Winwood song kept returning. Then a few days later, we were shopping at Shaw's when the store's sound system started playing "Higher Life." And since then, I haven't been able to shake it. It's usually a problem when I'm not listening to music; the whole 90 minutes I played hockey the other night, it was going through my head. Not exactly motivational. I'd much rather have Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" on repeat mode. Damn you, Steve Winwood, and your stupid catchy song.

Kibbles and bits:

• I'm just hanging out with a cranky Lily while Deb and Hannah are headed out to the hills of the Boston Marathon route, where a bunch of Deb's fellow M.A.R.E. team members are training today. They're going to bring Gatorade to give to the runners as they do an 18-mile run that culminates with Heartbreak Hill. Deb's not running because we're both doing a 15K (9.3 miles) race tomorrow morning in Lynn. It'll be my first race as a member of the North Shore Striders, a running club based here in Beverly. I just joined a few weeks ago. I had always known folks on the Striders, but had resisted joining because I felt I wasn't a serious enough runner. But recently, I realized that was just foolish. They do regular runs on Sundays, sponsor local races, and other cool stuff.
• After a couple of weeks off, I'm taking Hannah skating again this weekend. I found a rink in Peabody that has milk crates that Hannah can push around as she skates, which is much more preferable to me holding her up the whole time. It was good to see my recent post mentioning Hannah's first skate inspired Briggy to take Owen out for his first time on the ice. Someday we'll have a whole team of skaters.
• I grew up as a teenage metalhead, but I never got into the death metal bands that started springing up in the wake of Metallica's success. A primary reason, as the Wall Street Journal, of all publications, noted this week was the phenomenon of "Cookie Monster" vocals in death metal. It's just so stoopid. The best thing about the article was the writer talked to Frank Oz, the originator of Cookie Monster's voice (link courtesy of ILM).
• Just to reiterate regarding Super Bowl Sunday: Go Seahawks! After listening to Joey Porter shoot his mouth off all week, I want Seattle to win even more than before.