No question about it, Keith Urban is my all-time favorite guitarist, and Wasted Time is his latest fun, feel-good song.  Ripcord came out in April 2016, but Wasted Time was released, ahead of the album, in November 2015.  The song immediately captured my attention.  As I listened, it took me back to younger days.  Fresh out of high school, the song transported me back to a small town in Texas.  It allowed me to recall cruising down the main drag and being out at the lake. on my daddy’s Deckboat, drinking vats of Mountain Dew, skiing and partying with friends.  It was fun at the time, but then I grew up.

It’s funny where a song can take you.  Wasted Time, as the song says, is some of the best times of life.  Vibrant moments of music and song, youth and freedom.  A time to get lost in fun.  It recalls a time when the smell of coconut oil and coconut rum were the fragrances of my weekends.  In other words, its that period before responsibility becomes the next logical step to adulthood.

I was raised in a fairly strict household, so after I graduated high school, I was a bit of a wild child.  Wasted Time could have been my middle name.  I had a job and I attended Eastfield community college when I felt like going to class.  But I was more about the jazz quartet I was in, and going sailing in the afternoon on White Rock Lake or sitting around with a friend, listening to Steely Dan and basking in the “coolness” that was my life.  Or so I thought.  This song reminds me of those times.  I must say however,  I don’t  miss those years of my life.  Sure it was fun, while it lasted, but I’m so glad that those times have passed.  Hindsight is 20-20, to say the least.  If I knew what I know now, I still would have wasted time, but probably not as much.  I finally realize whats truly important, and that once that moment is gone, you will never get it back.

Wasted Time, although full of fun and great memories, is not the best times in life.  Sure those times have their place in molding and shaping us.  But, if that was all there was to life, then it would be a WASTED life.  Growing up, and getting married, and having a son.  Those have been the best times of my life.  It’s a fun sentiment to think that wow that was great, but at the same time, those moments, as I reflect,  were pretty meaningless.  When I heard this song, it did cause me to reflect on those summers and my college days and it was fun for about a minute.  But I can say I see the growth it compelled me to make, and that actually fills my soul.

Songs About Growing Up and Reminiscing Letter to Me – Brad Paisley Circle Game – Joni Mitchell Cat’s in the Cradle – Harry Chapin 1979 – Smashing Pumpkins Good Riddance(Time of Your Life – Green Day Photograph – Nickelback Glory Days – Bruce Springsteen You’re Gonna Miss This – Trace Adkins