he and me: not on the same musical page

Justin and I have vastly different musical tastes. The first time I heard him say he "hated" Lynyrd Skynyrd was this past summer; I almost fell out of the car. Our convo went something like this (as 'Simple Man' played on the radio):

He: "I hate them..."
Me: "What are you talking about?"
He: "That damn Lynyrd Skynyrd band. I hate them."
Me: "WHAAAT?! How can you hate them? They are the epitome of Southern rock!"
He: "So? I just don't like their music. Never have."
Me: "Nothing? Not even one song? Not Simple Man? Or Gimme 3 Steps? Or even Free Bird?!!"
He: "Especially Free Bird - that song is like 30 minutes long! All of their songs are too long!"
Me: "You should've said something a long time ago; we can't get married if you don't like Free Bird."
He: "Whatever, Mary Ruth."

WHAT KIND OF SOUTHERN MAN DOESN'T LIKE LYNYRD SKYNYRD? It still baffles me. For shame, my husband. For shame.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is Justin and I don't appreciate music in the same way. Justin says that he either likes a song or doesn't; it really doesn't have anything to do with who's singing it, what kind of music it is, or when it was made. He either thinks it's good or bad - there is no in between with him. I'm much more picky and in-depth with my musical selections. I have certain parts of songs I love and certain voices that resonate with me; bands that I worship and songs that I want played at my funeral because they just represent the soul of me! I'm in love with music - I always have been. It's not in the sense that I play music or appreciate the specifics of it (like notes and range and tone); I just love music as a generic listener, someone who hears what I want to hear from a song. (I swear I'm getting somewhere with all of this)

The other night, as we were watching American Idol, the last contestant was some good ole country boy who'd done jail time and who I fully expected to sing something Hank or Willie or Toby or Garth. But no, he sang "Trouble" by Ray LaMontagne - and I almost fell out of the chair! I shrieked and looked at Justin...

Me: "DO YOU KNOW WHO THIS IS?" 
He: "Didn't they say his name was Chris or something?"
Me: "NO - THE SONG HE'S SINGING! DO YOU KNOW WHO ORIGINALLY SANG THAT SONG?"
He: "No. Why, who is it?"
Me: "RAY LAMONTAGNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I might as well said something in German; he had zero clue who I was talking about. So I insisted he give me the laptop so I could show him who I was trying to talk about. I played Ray's cover of "Crazy", originally by Gnarls Barkley. I kept saying to him:

Me: "Doesn't he have the most amazing voice?"
He: "It's okay..."
Me: "OKAY?! It's a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Second only to Steve Perry."
He: "Who?"
Me: "OHMYGODJUSTIN! You don't know who Steve Perry is?"
He: "No. Should I?"
Me: "The lead singer for Journey!!!"
He: "Well then, why didn't you just say Journey?"
Me: "Because....because Steve Perry is the one singing."
He: "Well no one knows that - just say Journey."
Me: "EVERYONE KNOWS THAT!!! I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU DON'T KNOW THAT?"
He: "Whatever, Mary Ruth."


Point: I'm trying to make a point here, dammit! Musically, Justin and I are not meshing well. Apparently, we never have but now that we've been living together for almost nine months it's becoming crystal clear. We tried to listen to music the other night together - it started out okay. He played 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' by Hank Williams, and SidMo and I waltzed (she kept calling it 'walking' when I tried to tell her we were 'waltzing'). Then I asked him to play Janis Joplin's 'Me & Bobby McGee' - he wasn't buying it (I think he said something along the lines of 'screaming, ugly lesbian'). So then we tried a little Bob Seger, which was okay - except I like to sing along with the music and Justin does not. So there's a lot of "shutup" and "I'm trying to sing here" happening! Finally, I took control of the music and played a little Fleetwood Mac, Chubby Checker, Bette Midler, Allman Brothers ('Rambing Man' is my latest musical obsession) and Elton John. Somewhere in all of that, SidMo got tired of dancing and Justin got tired of listening.

So there I was, lost in my favorite music - begging either one of them to just *hear* how wonderful the songs were. But like 99% of the time, they both just gave me that "you're crazy, woman" look and continued on with their happy little lives. It's not my fault I'm so inspired by music - and that they're not.

Maybe one day we'll all get it together and form a family band. Then again, maybe not. At this point, I'd settle for all of us settling on a song we all like. But I don't see that happening anytime soon, either.

Whatever, Mary Ruth.