August Video Challenge: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Never Had It So Good / Shut Up and Kiss Me

Picking just one Mary Chapin Carpenter video turned out to be impossible. She just has so many good songs.

But since this week has been about country love songs – for certain definitions of “country love songs” – I picked two of those, one for the broken-hearted and one for those in the first flush of passion.

The sad song is first, and it is Never Had It So Good from State of the Heart (1989). The blue filter is perhaps a tiny bit dated (it was the ’80s, is all I can say) but the song itself is timeless.

Listening to it now has just reminded me how satisfying singing along to all that bitterness could be. And the thing is, even when she’s bitter, Mary Chapin Carpenter is a breath of fresh air.
 

 
And then to go into the weekend on an up-note, the one for people with stars in their eyes and sexy activities on their minds: Shut Up and Kiss Me from Stones in the Road (1994).
 

 
Also, she’s on tour for a big chunk of the fall. Check her listings and get out and see her if you can!