50. My Sharona by The Knack

"My Sharona" by The Knack

Written by Doug Fieger, Berton Averre

Produced by Mike Chapman

Released on Get the Knack (June 11, 1979)

Released as a single, June 1979

Peaked at #1 on Billboard Hot 100

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I've been watching the television show This is Us. (I almost wrote here that it doesn't represent the typical kind of show I watch, but then I remembered that I watch Grey's Anatomy, so yes, this is the kind of show I watch.)

I was first turned on to This Is Us by a drunk woman at a trivia night who approached me out of nowhere to explain how much I looked like the dad from that show. She was convinced that I looked just like him, and that I must get that all the time. She was the first, and still only, person to ever tell me that. So I figured I'd give the show a try, and see who this guy was.

First of all, I would like to thank that random drunk woman for the compliment. Milo Ventimiglia is quite a comparison, but I'm not really sure it holds up. (It probably helped that I was wearing my winter beard at the time.)

So after a few episodes, I got hooked, and now, seemingly everytime I watch the show, my living room gets a little dusty. It must be a job requirement for the writers that they make the audience cry at least once an episode. It's impressive work.

What really hooked me to the show was when I realized that the three kids in the show are all my age. They were born in 1980. They don't have my exact birthday, but it's pretty close. (The character of Robin Scherbatsky from How I Met Your Mother was born on my birthday, but I think that character was a couple of years younger than me.) Seeing scenes from their youth are fun reminders of what being a child in the 80's and a teenager in the 90's was like. It's not exactly like my life. I didn't grow up in Pittsburgh with an adopted black brother, but there are enough similarities and clothes and songs and set decorations to generate that warm feeling of nostalgia.

That's what "My Sharona" feels like too. It came out just before I was born, but I definitely remember hearing it as a child. It feels like my childhood. It feels like the 1980's. It feels like short shorts and tube socks and being a latchkey kid and being out with the neighborhood kids and playing little league and generally being a kid at a certain time and in a certain place. It's warm and fun and puts a smile on my face.

My favorite part of the song is the bridge/guitar solo. The main verse and chorus are fine, but when they breakdown into that solo section, it absolutely rocks. Not every rock song needs a guitar solo, but this one is so much better for having it.

There are other songs like this: that are good, but have a particular part or section that is transcendent. (The most extreme example of this is probably "Dogs" by Pink Floyd, which is kind of a mess until you get to the two sections with David Gilmour's harmonized guitar interlude. If it's not the best guitar part he's ever played, it's certainly the most underappreciated.)

A little nostalgia and a great guitar solo. That's it. I guess I could have just written that. That's why I love this song.

Right now "My Sharona" by The Knack is (probably) my 50th favorite song of all time.