Ever notice how exciting it is when you hear a song you really like on the radio? You’re driving along in your car listening to song after song of schlocky garbage and then BOOM! something awesome finally gets played. You bop and you sing and you drum the steering wheel, all with a huge goofy grin on your face. But the weird thing is, that very same song could be on a CD in your car somewhere, right at your fingertips. In fact, it could even be sitting in your CD player … all you have to do is press play. But somehow having it magically played over the airwaves is more exciting. Why is that? Is it the element of surprise? Is it that you feel some kind of vindication? “See? I told people this song rocks! Now here’s proof!” Or is it that the song seems that much more special because it was played between a crappy Celine Dion song and a cheesy Lionel Richie tune, a rose among thorns, if you will.

Sometimes, the song that excites you the most is one you would never listen to normally. Picture yourself driving down the highway and, say, Abba comes on. Admit it, you’d voulez-vous with the best of ‘em. Uh-huh.

If I was driving down the highway and Anne Murray’s Snowbird came on I would do my best Tom Cruise impersonation – I’d jump up onto my seat (adopting a poop-in-the-woods squatting position), pump my arm as if I’d just won a million bucks, and yell YES over and over again until it starts to feel awkward. (Yes, I realize I’d be driving but I’d still do it, it’s SNOWBIRD for God’ sake.) The volume would be cranked way up and I’d sing at the top of my lungs: Spread your tiny wings and fly away, and take the snow back with you where it came from on that day.

I do not own, nor would I ever own, a CD with Snowbird on it. But believe me, I’d belt ‘er out if it came on while I was driving the car. Weird, huh? I am willing to bet that there are many people out there who have never owned a Queen album in their life, but on hearing Bohemian Rhapsody would spontaneously reenact that famous scene from Wayne’s World, even if they’ve never seen that scene. I am convinced that head banging to Bohemian Rhapsody is natural human tendency.

For some people, however, having their favourite song played on the radio has the opposite effect. These people are music snobs. I know a music snob. I know one very intimately. I won’t name names. (Rob) If a music snob’s favourite song is played on a mainstream radio station you might as well rip their heart out and stomp on it while doing the Birdie Dance. For a music snob, hearing their favourite song on the radio is a soul crushing experience. A music snob’s favourite song should only be reserved for the listening ears of the musical elite because if Joe Blow down the street suddenly discovers it, and God forbid, LIKES it, the music snob’s favourite song loses its power … it shrivels up, withers away and dies.

And on that note I leave you… with Anne Murray’s Snowbird stuck in your head. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!