Good Times - Charlie Robison

Good Times - Charlie Robison

3:56

Good Times, 2004

Written by Charlie Robison

A quite funny declaration of hedonism: drinking, music, and carpe diem.  You know the song doesn't take itself seriously when the opening lines are "Pick up a pizza, pineapple ham / And put it in the back of a Good Times van."  This is pure Texas honky-tonk country blues with piano and guitar, and it takes itself less seriously than even those sly rascals in ZZ Top.  "I'm gonna start singing so don't interrupt," Robison counsels, and it's good advice; his witty lyrics deserve to be heard.

New Year's Day - Charlie Robison

New Year's Day - Charlie Robison

3:54

Good Times, 2004

Written by Charlie Robison

I never heard of this guy but based on this song, he's my kind of alt-country outlaw.  From the opening lines ("I woke up early Sunday morning, had myself a piece of toast / Had fifty dollars in my pocket, gonna chase myself a ghost") to the fascinatingly ambiguous final lines about an alleged transvestite bar (the Dallas Cowboys, in Laredo), this is not your typical Texas road trip tale.  Toe-tapping weirdness.