In case you had noticed, and you probably did because DN readers are a pretty sharp bunch, there's been a longer than usual delay between when songs were submitted for the Ultimate Misery Mix 2011 Track 11 challenge and the results. I can explain.
Sometimes in life we're happy because good things happen to us, but sometimes we're happy because disappointing or irritating things happen to people who annoy us. Sure, it's petty, and wrong to feel that way, but it happens. It could be when you see a person who cut you off stopped by the Highway Patrol further up the road getting a ticket. It could be when somebody who made fun of you in high school goes bald. It could be when a person who snores ridiculously loudly has to share a room with another person who snores ridiculously loudly. Well, here's when it happened for me.
You don't need to shame me, I know it's not nice. But there I was feeling mellow and at peace with the world, and I found it difficult to dive into the list of 36 song submissions for the Track 11 challenge, a song for fans of the 3-13 Minnesota Vikings to drown their sorrows in. If ever a fan base deserved a good drinking song, it's the Vikings fans, those hardcore fans who have stuck with this ill-fated team for the last two seasons. And yet, I just felt too good to listen to sad or angry drinking songs.
Join me after the jump for how I refocused on drinking songs and the Track 11 winners.
But nothing in life stays the same too long and, just like that, out of the blue an ex-boyfriend started barraging me with emails. Nothing quite blots the sun from the sky like having an ex who ripped your heart out and stomped on it thinking it's a dandy time to be pals. Seriously, pals? What are we going to do, hangout at a coffee shop and talk about our relationships? It boggles the mind but it put me in the right mood for these songs. So, courtesy of my ex, I finally bring you the UMM2011 Track 11 results.
Holding down fourth place we have vikings68's submission "I Drink Alone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers and we have Ryan Aeschliman's submission "Beer" by Reel Big Fish. Both good songs, and it makes me laugh to think of George Thorogood hanging out with Reel Big Fish in any capacity.
Third place goes to a couple of songs about locations-kind of. CanadianViking submitted "Whiskey River" by Willie Nelson, and PurpleValhalla submitted Jimmy Buffett's classic "MargaritaVille." If I had to go to just one of those places it would be MargaritaVille becaue it sounds warmer and I'm getting tired of dressing for an Arctic expedition every time I step outside.
Second place delivers the blues. This song might not talk about drowning your sorrows at the nearest watering hole, but it's what might be playing on the jukebox when you get there. Letting us know just how bad things have gotten is BB King backed up by Eric Clapton and Phil Collins, "The Thrill is Gone" submitted by michiganpat.
Normally, I wouldn't do this, but first place is a tie. When I asked the other DN writers to weigh in on the Track 11 challenge they answered back unanimously. And, although the song they picked is a fantastic song, I disagreed with them about it having sole-possession of first place. There are two reasons for this: 1) Ted already used this song in the SMR this last season and 2) I liked another song better.
The other DN writers chose Admiral BigGun's submission "Man of Constant Sorrow" from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou. Great song and, if you were a Vikings' fan in 2011, very appropriate.
My choice goes to a song submitted by Beserker, "Lord We Get High" by The Fox Hunt. This song is perfect, but there isn't a good recording of it on YouTube. Very annoying. The best I found is a shaky recording from somebody's phone during a performance. I can understand if you don't have the patience for it because it takes awhile for the song to get going and there are a lot of shots of shirtless guys in the audience singing along. But if you can tough it out, you'll be rewarded with a pretty good song that will get stuck in your head.
"And it's just an old drinkin' song/
Everybody knows the words sings along/
Now none of us are religious men/
But if you heard us sing you'd think we were singin' a hymn.
Lord we get high/
Lord we get low/
Where we'll end up lord only knows..."
Congratulations Admiral BigGun and Beserker on their great song choices! Enjoy the Burger King crown. My thanks to my fellow DN writers and to everyone who submitted a song for this challenge. Lots of good music.
This brings us to the Track 12 Challenge. Since Track 13 is already spoken for, Track 12 will be our last Ultimate Misery Mix 2011 challenge and I'm a little stumped as to what it should be. So let me know what you think the Track 12 Challenge topic should be. I'm accepting topic submissions until January 27, 8pm.