62. On My Case

62. "Watching the Wheels" by John Lennon

In high school, this was one of my favorite anti-seminary songs. It wasn't that I didn't like seminary. I mean, the building did have a foozball table, so it wasn't all bad. But there were times in class when I wondered why most of the adults in church that were constantly preaching at us always assumed the worst about us teenagers. Yeah, we weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we weren't evil either. That's right, Mr. out-of-town fireside speaker--Billy Joel songs are NOT evil!

As a farm boy that spent a good portion of his summer driving a big orange-red tractor, I also enjoyed hearing this song on the radio and singing along with the lines "I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round. I really love to watch them roll." In fact, I did like to watch them roll. And it's a good thing I did. Because if I hadn't learned to love watching tractor wheels roll for 16-hours a day, I would have lost my damn mind!

Also, as a fan of unintentional fart references in song lyrics, "I just had to let it go" is a pure musical gift--especially when that line comes after the high-pitched singing of "No longer riding on the merry-go-ra-HOUND!" It's kind of like you're riding the merry-go-round, and the centrifugal force makes you yoko your pants, and there's nothing you can do about it. You just had toooOOOOO let it go-ohhh-oh-oh-ohhh-OH-ohhhh.