Created for Crumplstock 10 as a long standing request from my wife.
Darius Rucker - Wagon Wheel
Wally Pleasant - Stupid Day Job
Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1.000,000
Living in Nashville, TN, it's kinda hard to ignore the steady stream of "Wagon Wheel" blaring out of bars downtown on Broadway. It is inescapable. As with any song you are mercilessly subjected to against your will, you have to find a way to subvert it and turn it into something more digestible, before you reach your wit's end.
So, to take back control over it reverberating in our heads, I mashed it with one of our favorite songs from the humorous pseudo-folk / college rock troubador Wally Pleasant, who used to play shows at Lucy's Record Shop (a now defunct, but legendary Nashville all ages punk rock venue) back in the 90's.
Dedicated to everyone who's ever worked a really stupid day job for low wages and endless grief, and to the musicians who moved to Nashville to make it big, only to find they're grinding for tourists and forced to play Wagon Wheel for throngs of drunk bachelorettes day after day, until the end of time. Woooooo.
I hope this mashup helps dull the pain.
Couldn't help but throw in the Barenaked Ladies, who, let's be honest, are the first thing I start singing when I hear Wagon Wheel. But Wally Pleasant really shines on this track, and it was the song my wife consistently sings over top Wagon Wheel to save her sanity. So, I had to listen to wagon wheel over and over until I could make this mix a reality. The things you subject yourself to for the people you love. ;)
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One last fun fact: Nashville's Broadway hasn't always been a thriving success. Before the honky-tonks and retail behemoths took over it was kinda dead during 80’s & 90’s. Within that dreary period there was an adult book store with peep show booths called "The Wheel" that had a big neon wagon wheel on the front of the store. Sometimes, I like to pretend that all these beer soaked musicians on Broadway are playing it to give a knowing wink and nod to that old seedy establishment.