1. Just Us Kids

James McMurtry. The singer songwriter son of the cowboy novelist Larry McMurtry was only familiar to me because of his song Choctaw Bingo. That song is a humorous song with a rollicking guitar riff and lyrics about a white trash family reunion that is filled with machine guns, drinking and rough edged family members from around the south and dusty Midwest towns. 

Just Us Kids is not that. I stumbled across this one when it randomly popped up on 93.1 WRXT which is really the only radio station in the Chicago market that plays anything resembling a well written song. This one appealed to me for many of the reasons songs that will appear on this blog appeal to me. It deals with the passage of time and coming to terms with growing older while chasing dreams. My mind never stops trying to stop the passage of time. Hell, my kids were just born, but one is halfway to 18 and the other is closer to driving than diapers.

The hook is the chorus about kids just hanging out and it lyrically adjusts with his life and goes from parking lot hanging out to dealing with work, kids and getting older. That is and was me. It drags you in hoping for some sort of joyous ending. Like life there is no storybook ending, but what you have is worth celebrating before it is over. Life is a "damn short movie" so just enjoy it as it happens before the credits roll.  #20songsfor2020 #2020 #JamesMcMcmurtry #justuskids #WXRT #choctawbingo