He’s got great taste.
Movie star Matthew McConaughey is currently out promoting his new movie is currently promoting his new movie The Rivals of Amziah King, which included a stop at The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where he performed a viral bluegrass cover of Ella Langley’s hit song “Choosin’ Texas.”
And during a chat with Rolling Stone, he shared the top ten songs that have changed his life, and of course, the Texan included a classic Willie Nelson love song called “I’d Have to Be Crazy.”
The song was written by Steven Fromholz, recorded by Willie Nelson and included on his 1976 album, The Sound in Your Mind. It peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, and remains one of his most underrated love songs, in my humble opinion.
McConaughey explained that he likes that it’s a bit of a different kind of love songs, which centers on the idea that, no matter how crazy the love makes you feel, it’s real and it’s something worth holding onto:
“Yeah, what a beautiful love song this is. It’s not your typical romantic love song, being in that place where you’re kinda going mad. I’ve been there, ‘falling ants as they crawled across the ground,’ ‘burning your hand on the lamp when you’re rubbing the bottle hoping a genie will come out and save your a**.’ It’s kinda you know what those times when you’re like, I think if I’m gonna leave my bed today, I need to put on a helmet, a chin strap and a cup.
And ask if the walls are insulated, and don’t get me around motorized vehicles or glass. I don’t know, I think we’ve all had those days. I know I have. But in the middle of all the madness and the implosions, when the subplots are become a little unmanageable, the love of somebody that you have is something you can rely on. That you go, nope, I know that’s real. I know that’s true, even though I’m losing my mind right now. I can rely on that.
So don’t forget that anchor, and that’s where the song goes. Yeah, but you know, I’d have to be crazy to fall out of love with you.’ I am crazy, but I’d really have to be crazy fall out of love with you. I’ve had those people in my life, and times where that was the anchor to rely on by hook or by crook, no matter what that just kept my sanity just enough.”
It’s a brilliant pick, and every song he chose was stellar in my humble opinion.
And speaking of Willie, in another recent interview, McConaughey was asked what his favorite memory of hanging out with Wille Nelson was, and his mind immediately went to a tour bus story. It sounds like he and the country music icon were partaking in… we’ll just say one of Nelson’s former favorite past times, and that eventually led the movie star to completely freak out about his cooking responsibilities:
“The first time I was on his bus – and you know what happens on his bus – I was hosting. So I’ve got my steaks all marinated; I’m going to be cooking the ribeyes that day on the grill. I get on his bus and partake of what you partake of when you’re on Willie’s bus.
All of a sudden, it hits me: “Oh, s***! The steaks are burning!” I jet off the bus, I run over to the grill … I hadn’t even lit it yet. The subplot becomes unmanageable! Yeah, that’s a good Willie story.”
You’re not a bona fide celebrity until you have a good Willie Nelson story, I’m convinced.
He also listed songs like John Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses,” Steve Miller Band’s “Take The Money And Run,” Janet Jackson’s “That’s the Way Love Goes,” Tears for Fears “Shout,” Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and more:
Turn it up:
“I’d Have to Be Crazy”
