I Love a Bunch of Genres

Love You Inside Out
The Bee Gees
Spirits Having Flown

I think I’ve bought, maybe, five or six CDs in my entire life. I have an extensive music collection, and the Compact Disc is my audio medium of choice, but I never just buy a CD with my own money. I might buy one if I have a gift card, but otherwise, I rely on other people to present CDs to me as presents.

I don’t know exactly why this is. I suspect it’s because my musical passions extend to far beyond my limited, or often non-existent, income. If I ever got in the habit of buying CDs for no other reason than being madly in love with a band, I would very quickly put myself in debt. Or put me more in debt - thanks, college!

So instead, I leave it to Jolly Old Saint Nick and other benevolent gift-givers to supply me with the tunes I crave. Twice a year - once for Christmas; once for my birthday - I make a giant list of all the CDs I think might possibly be good. Everything that comes to mind. Dozens of albums, and all without any indication of preference.

It’s really fun. I never know what I’m going to get, or if I’ll get any CDs at all. Sometimes the list is ignored altogether. For instance, I got some sort of Bob Seger B-sides album from a cousin this Christmas, which was sort of weird, as I could not tell you the name of a single Bob Seger song. It turns out I don’t like Bob Seger, but I might never have learned that if a Bob Seger CD hadn’t dropped by chance into my lap.

I have my copy of The Bee Gees’ Number Ones for similar reasons, which is to say there’s no real reason for me to have this album. It was a present for, I think, my 16th birthday. My mom and little sister had gone shopping, but forgotten to bring the list, as I was later told, and since they were out anyway, they tried to remember anything that might have been on it.

My little sister insisted that I wanted nothing more than a CD by the Beastie Boys; my mom was sure it was The Bee Gees. Easy enough to confuse the two, even if I hadn’t asked for either. They went with The Bee Gees.

So, flash forward to the morning of my birthday. I start tearing into this thing, and before I’ve even finished removing the wrapping paper, my mom and sister start giving me apologies and explanations, and asking if I hate the CD, and asking if I hate them for giving to me, which was so weird, but it’s one of those things my family always does. Some people give cards with presents; we give apologies and explanations. Seriously, though, how mean and spoiled do you have to be to hate someone for giving you a gift?

Let me get to the moral of this story: In all honesty, a lot of The Bee Gees’ songs are bad. Bad bad. That’s the truth. But nobody - nobody! - could ever be disappointed to get a CD featuring a song this good.

And the Feist cover is even better.