The Myth of the Penn.

I woke up this morning with a decades old song stuck in my head.  It came out in '89 when I was in college and it really is a great song.  I love this song, but it doesn't play very often.  It just reminds me of a pretty much care free life.

I must admit, that was the hardest part of college; that I had a "carefree" attitude about it.  The only thing that made college harder than high school was that I was carefree and didn't have teachers holding homework over my head or parents holding a schedule over my head.  Growing up and becoming a responsible adult (sorta) was the greatest education I got out of those years on campus.  Of course, I feel whenever anybody leaves the "nest" and is suddenly on their own without their parents standing over them, whether they join the work force, or the military, or get married, the hardest part has got to be the whole "becoming a responsible person!"

Kind of deep huh?  Well, that's all you get for this particular post.  I'm focused on the song from '89.

All I knew was that it was a catchy little tune by Crowded House.  I can just see the Brother's Finn strumming the acoustic guitar standing outside somewhere. I'm sure I'd seen exactly that in the video for the song, but, honestly, I didn't really know. 

In High School a dear friend of mine introduced me to a little known band from New Zealand known as Split Enz.  I loved their stuff and even have their Greatest Hits album; "Six Months on a Leaky Boat" and "One Step Ahead" and "Hard Act to Follow...." it goes on.  Their music was great!  The Finn's were a part of this group and I loved it!  Split Enz eventually broke up and one of the Finn brothers went off and started Crowded House.

I loved their music and it followed what seemed to me to be the logical evolution of Split Enz.  However, I own not one (in fact none) Crowded House Album.  They've had quite a few.  All of their stuff has been great and often is too catchy to the point that if someone even says the words "!revO s'tI maerD t'noD" (not backwards), that song will be stuck in your head all day.  HEY NOW!!!

So, for me personally, Crowded House's greatest flaw was that their hits were just too darn catchy!  And this particular mystery song was my favorite of theirs!

Which brings me to this particular morning in 2012 when I have a song of theirs from 1989 stuck in my head.  It's driving me nuts.  I have called friends and sung what I think the words are and they say (politely) "ummmm yeah... that might sound familiar..."  Then I fear they hung up with me and deleted me from their contact lists.

Of course in typing it, I may sound crazier, especially if I type the guitar part to you and then the only words I think I know, but it goes a little something like this (hit it):

Guitar- "brummmmBOP bedop b'dop bop
              brummmmBOP bedop b'dop bop..."
Lyrics-  "What if I had Romeo in Cashmere?
              Something something something something cold beer
              something something something else
              someone to laugh with?"
Guitar- "brummmmBOP bedop b'dop bop
              brummmmBOP bedop b'dop bop..."

Anything?  Know what it is?

HAH!!! Well guess what!  I WAS WAY OFF!

I caved and I went to Google and I searched for "what if I had Romeo in Cashmere."  I even went to search YouTube for "Crowded House Romeo in Cashmere."  I even tried spelling it "Kashmir!"

I GOT BUTKUS(the first one)!!

Then, I saw a teeny tiny eency weency reference to "Romeo in Black Jeans!" 

"What the hell?"  I thought, have I been singing this Crowded House song incorrectly for the past 23 years?  I could believe I would do such a thing.  After further investigation I discovered that I had in fact NOT been singing a Crowded House song incorrectly.

I had been singing a Michael Penn song incorrectly?  Who the HELL is Michael Penn?  Did he quit Crowded House and start his own career or something? 

Well, NO, no he didn't.  As best as I can tell, he might've heard one of their songs once and decided to base his first (and only) greatest hit on their sound!  There, I said it!  This guy, who is a successful and talented musician has taunted me for 23 years by writing an excellent song that sounds like Crowded House. 

What really sucks, is that THIS WAS MY FAVORITE CROWDED HOUSE SONG!!!

No Myth (aka, Romeo in Black Jeans)



So, there you go.  Now you have endured the torment I have suffered all day.  I am greatly humbled by the revelation that the last 23 years of my life have been a lie thanks to Michael Penn. 

On a really cool note, he's Sean Penn's brother and also the brother of that other famous Penn brother. 

Sorry if this is stuck in your head now.