The Random iTunes Fairy has a knack for serving up songs I’ve never heard. That’s a neat trick given that the source of these songs is my own music collection, and you’d assume I’ve heard most of that.
But over the years I have, through one way or another, come into possession of a number of albums or singles that I’ve never played. And if Random Weekends are the way to remedy that, so be it.
Today’s example is a Jon McLaughlin track called ‘Beautiful Disaster.’
Jon McLaughlin is not be mistaken for John McLaughlin, of The McLaughlin Group, nor with John McLaughlin, the 74-year-old English musician.
Jon McLaughlin is an Indiana singer-songwriter who has released a half-dozen studio albums and toured with the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Sara Bareilles. I don’t know how this song, a cut from a 2007 EP, made it into my iTunes library.
This is a nice song, though it feels much more like a 1997 release than one from a decade later. It has that earnest alternative romanticism that was big in the late 90s.
And hates the sound that goodbyes make
She prays one day she’ll find someone to need her
She swears that there’s no difference
Between the lies and compliments
It’s all the same if everybody leaves her
And every magazine tells her she’s not good enough
The pictures that she sees make her cry
Chorus:
She would change everything, everything, just ask her
Caught in the in-between a beautiful disaster
She just needs someone to take her home
She’s given boys what they want
And tries to act nonchalant
Afraid they’ll see that she’s lost her direction
She never stays the same for long
Assuming that she’ll get it wrong
Perfect only in her imperfection
She’s not a drama queen
She doesn’t want to feel this way
Only 17 but tired
Chorus:
She’s just the way she is but no one’s told her that’s okay
Chorus:
She would change everything, for happy ever after
Caught in the in-bewteen a beautiful disaster
She just needs someone to take her home
She just needs someone to take her home
Meet Me In Montauk 
Here’s an example of a pop song that, with different production, instrumentation and vocals, could be a country song. As recorded, though, this sounds more like Richard Marxx than Keith Urban.