Bowling For Soup - Ohio (Come Back To Texas)

Bowling For Soup are back with increasingly razor-sharp wit accompanied by state of the art punk pop thrash. It's starting to look like these 4 guys from the lonestar state will be around for awhile. It's not necessarily that difficult to toss off parody, but it is difficult to be genuinely funny in a storytelling pop song. Bowling For Soup have the gift, and we're the lucky recipients.

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With last year's "1985" Bowling For Soup managed to poke fun at and be gloriously nostalgic about the 80's all at the same time. It's a long way from the simple parody of Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69." This time around they are back to telling funny stories about girls and manage to be simultaneously hilarious and a bit poignant. The story is more complex than their classic "Girl All the Bad Boys Want" indicating Bowling For Soup are showing more depth in their songs, but, fortunately for us, as pointed out on their web site, they avoid too much maturity.

"Ohio (Come Back To Texas)" details the story of the narrator's girlfriend who said she needed a break and then left Texas for Ohio with a guy she met at the local bank. That bit is enough material for a typical pop song, but this time around it's not about being left in the lurch, it's about the efforts to get her back. Somewhere along the way the entire state of Texas is brought along to serenade the lost girlfriend...and we're consistently reminded "the Mexican food sucks" north of Texas. By the end, it's hard not to have a soft spot for our musical hero.

Bowling For Soup are the closest we get to genuinely funny standup comedy in a pop song. Like the best standup, their best songs aren't parody. Instead, they're about recognizing the humor in the everyday. I'm looking forward to what happens in the life of Bowling For Soup tomorrow.