Today is my birthday. I’m 50. The BIG 5-0! I’ve been going back and forth about what song to choose, feeling like my choice should be deeply symbolic, what with the Song of the Day falling on such a big day (50! Did I mention that?). I was leaning toward Bessie Smith’s Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan), but it’s too specific to the South and I don’t live there (South St. Louis, sure, but not THE South). Then I was feeling a connection with Watching the River Flow (the mellow Leon Russell version, not the mumbly, amped up Dylan original), but ultimately it was too….sedate. I haven’t been sedated, yet; hell, I’ve barely grown up.

So instead, I’m pulling a song out of the William Elliott Whitmore well. This song in particular is a pretty good match for how I feel about turning 50 (at least for today). I’ve used this once before as the Song of the Day, but, hey: it’s my birthday and I get to play whatever the hell I want. Don’t Need It was part of Whitmore’s 2011 CD called Field Songs. If you’ve never seen him perform, well, I’m sorry.