puddle of mud

It rained again today. Probably not coincidentally, I have the Ralph's World song Puddle of Mud stuck in my head.

I believe this is very close to being a perfect pop song. It reminds me of the Beatles at the height of their story song-writing abilities. Like "Penny Lane", "Puddle of Mud" draws simple but powerful images with the lyrics. Musically there's a lot more happening than the typical pop 1-4-5 stuff. The snippet linked above is from the beginning of the song, but it's the ending that really rocks.

Is it pathetic that I like this "children's" music so much? I don't know. Ralph is pretty sophisticated, musically, even if his lyrics are targeted to the elementary school set, or younger. We listen to his CDs over and over in the car, not just because the kids like them (and they do), but because I don't get tired of them easily.

I'll listen to just about anything once, but to listen to it over and over again, there has to be, well, something to listen to. A lot of music is just so much filler, so much pretty noise with nothing thoughtful or thought-provoking (or feeling-provoking) behind it. I'd just as soon have silence than music like that.

If ever a movie were made of my life, "Puddle of Mud" would definitely be on the soundtrack.