Play the Jukebox Top Ten: Jukebox in My Mind (#10)

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Happy colonoscopy prep day! Well, for y’all, that is. I’m certainly not having a happy day, with that awful combination of chicken broth and banana popsicles. As the Ames Brothers sang, it only hurts for a little while, and it’s much better than dealing with the disease. Let’s get to the top ten, with a band you probably never thought you’d ever see in one of my top ten lists. #10: Jukebox in My Mind - Alabama And Alabama’s grand The state, not the band (Robbie Fulks, “Cigarette State”) I never will forget the day I walked into my friend Clarence’s record store and asked him who did this great country sounding (this was 1990, remember) song that started, “In the corner of my mind stands a jukebox.” “That’s Alabama,” he replied. “It can’t be!” I said in disbelief. “It doesn’t sound like all the rest of their songs!” That’s always been my problem with Alabama (the band, not the state). They have that “mid-tempo to fast song with the fiddle break” song (“Mountain Music,” “Dixieland Delight,” “Tennessee River”); they have that “icky pop-like ballad” song (“Lady Down on Love,” “When We Make Love”); and, there’s the midtempo country-rock “we wanna be the Eagles in the worst way” song (“The Closer You Get,” “Roll On”). So when this came along, complete with that guitar lick in the opening chorus paying homage to Ernest Tubb (the four notes after “favorite memories” when the song opens), I figured it had to be some neo-traditionalist band I’d not heard of yet. But they fooled me. This is a great song. They proved that they could be really country when they wanted to be. I just wish they’d wanted to be a little more. Jukebox in My Mind Written by Dave Gibson and Ronnie Rogers Recorded by Alabama From Pass It On Down, 1990 JUKEBOX LYRICS: title I don’t need no quarter: