"Everybody's looking for the same thing," Marcia Ball sings in her song of the same name. Any Tin Pan Alley songwriter would know what that thing is: "Huggin' and a-kissin'." But Ball takes the cliché and wittily has her way with it: "The rooster's out looking for a hen ... me and the Marines just want a few good men." She delivers the line in a salt-of-the-earth Texas twang and sets if off with a bluesy, rollicking piano style. The song, from Ball's new Roadside Attractions, should encourage America to create a Roots Music Hall of Fame and make Ball a charter member. Since her first recording in 1978 — and most likely since she began playing piano at age 5 — she's sung soulful, New Orleans-tinged music that's great fun to hear.
It's great dance music, too. "Everybody's Looking for the Same Thing" has a chunky, mid-tempo beat, suitable for those who like to two-step — or, as Ball says, "just sway back and forth." As for the playful words, she says she drew inspiration not from people but from her "dawgs," who are always digging in the yard and dreaming of a good meal and lots of love.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
