RECORD STORE TALES 1237: Good Times Don’t Get Better Than This

Do you ever have a song that you really like, so you show it to your friends, in hopes that some will also dig it?  It’s nice when a song connects, but sometimes it is more memorable when it doesn’t.  Many times people say “Sure, it’s OK, not for me though.”  That’s easy to understand.  We’re all different.  What can really stick in the memory is any time a song you like elicits a violently negative reaction.

I’m thinking back to 2004.  I was working one afternoon with my full-timer, Kevin.  We rarely saw eye to eye on music.  He was into…I don’t know, I guess you’d say he was into “Indi” music?  He’ll hate me forever for not remembering anything about his musical tastes.  I remember a band called Death Cab For Cutie and I’ll always associate that name with Kevin.  What happened was, I was really enamored with the Helix documentary 30 Years Of Helix.  A very slick and well made DVD, I watched it many times that summer.  The end credits went to a Brian Vollmer solo song called “Good Times Don’t Get Better Than This”.  It’s an upbeat acoustic song from the Vollmer solo album When Pigs Fly.  I hadn’t played that album in ages and had forgotten all about the song, until I saw that DVD.  The song was in my head; stuck in a good way.

I put the song on a mix CD, one of my “integrity mixes” (which my old co-worker Kam called generally “quite great”).  One night I was playing the mix CD with Kevin, and asked him to listen to the Vollmer song.  There is a whistling part at the end that just killed me.

It was a dark time in my life and to find music that made me feel good and positive was rare.  Maybe that’s why Kevin just didn’t appreciate “Good Times Don’t Get Better Than This”.  For me, it allowed me to envision myself camping outdoors, by the fire, with the best friends, and playing a great song.  I hadn’t had that experience yet, but it seemed like a cool setting for a great song.

“What do you think?  Great eh?” I asked him

“That…was not good,” he told me bluntly.

“You don’t like it at all?” I asked.

“No, that was a terrible song!  It was so cheesey!  It sounded like bad campfire rock!”

I was shocked at just how much he hated it.  Genuinely shocked.  Crushed, even?  Maybe it was the campfire singalong quality, but that song was definitely not his thing.  I really hoped he’d appreciate it but you can’t force people to like things that they just don’t like.  After all, I didn’t like Death Cab For Cutie, and I definitely disliked that Franz Ferdinand they were always playing.

Funny these things that stick in our memories over 20 years later.  I can’t remember a single song from a mix CD that he made for me in ages past, but I remember that one song he hated.  Psychologists, have at it.

 

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“Good Times Don’t Get Better Than This” lyrics

From When Pigs Fly (1999)

(Gadd, Palleschi, Vollmer, & Weir)

 

And I said hey!  I can’t complain,
I’m lucky to be here,
With all my friends, good times,
Don’t get better than this!

I’ve got a friend,
His name his Ed,
He accidentally lost his head,
You’ll never see him with a frown,
‘Cause he’s positive the negative will never get him down.

And he says hey!  I can’t complain,
I’m lucky to be here,
With all my friends, good times,
Don’t get better than this!

And then there’s Joe!
He sold his soul for rock and roll,
The devil made him do it,
Can’t you see?
He ain’t gettin’ rich, uh-uh,
But he gets around,
And there’s a winkle on his face for every road that he’s been down.

And he says hey!  I can’t complain,
I’m lucky to be here,
With all my friends, good times,
Don’t get better than this, ah!

(Whistling)

And I said hey!  I can’t complain,
I’m lucky to be here,
With all my friends, good times,
Don’t get better than this!
And I said hey!  I can’t complain, uh-uh!
I’m lucky to be here,
With all my friends, good times,
Don’t get better than this!
Well they don’t get better than this!