Maroon 5 "She Will Be Loved"

"Look for the girl with the broken smile and ask her if she wants to stay a while."

Maroon 5 "Makes Me Wonder"

My college roommate Brian joked that he graduated from the School of Hard Knocks. Brian epitomized laziness and blatantly flaunted it. While the rest of us attended class all day, Brian laid on our couch watching television. His filth from lack of showering led to there being an outline of Brian's body on our couch cushions. Unlike most people, Brian embraced his funk, filthiness and futile attempts at going to class. His secret was: show up on the first day of class to get the syllabus, make a note of when the tests are and only return to class on those days. Somehow, Brian navigated through the prestigious business program at Indiana University. During our senior year of college, recruiters filled up our voicemail each day with job offers for Brian. Unsettling is the kindest word I can use to describe how the other four of us roommates felt. 

Too drunk from the evening before graduation when we all played Family Feud and Brian pretended to be Richard Dawson in an effort to kiss all of our female friends, Brian slept through commencement. While Brian snoozed, his proud parents looked at each passing student at the Indiana University football stadium hoping to catch a glimpse of their son. My dad somehow spotted me among the thousands of other caps and gowns so I'm sure Brian's parents wondered where their son was. Moments before our respective families arrived for the reception at our apartment, Brian frantically barreled toward me asking what the commence address was about -- just in case his parents asked about it. While I shared my thoughts with him, I noticed his gown was on inside-out. Should I tell him, I wondered. Eventually, I did -- but part of me wanted his parents to question why he looked so disheveled.

A few weeks after graduation, we all lost contact with Brian. I assumed he accepted one of the numerous job offers extended his way and moved to Chicago. He never returned to clean out his bedroom -- which was a garage converted into a bedroom. On moving day, my roommates threw all of his forgotten items away -- including a pair of tighty-whitey underpants that had mushrooms growing out of them.

A few months later, I emailed Brian hoping to hear that he was okay and working. I never received a response. It wasn't until our 10-year high school graduation when I learned karma finally caught up with Brian -- apparently he flunked his senior year of college and didn't actually graduate for another five years (!). How he managed to be on the nine-year plan still baffles me today. In fact, I still wonder what became of Brian and hope he's doing ok...

Eric Clapton "Layla (Unplugged)"

When MTV revived their Unplugged television series in 2017, the cable network tabbed Shawn Mendes to perform on the reboot of the show. The series originally debuted in 1989 and featured big names such as Elton John, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and nearly 100 others, but less than 30 Unplugged episodes were turned into albums. One of the most successful Unplugged editions featured Eric Clapton. Originally taped in 1992, Clapton originally didn't want to release music from his performance, but later changed his mind. It's a good thing he did. Clapton's Unplugged album went on to sell over 26 million copies worldwide and earned him six Grammy Awards. His unplugged version of "Layla" was a night-and-day take on one of his biggest hit and gained radio airplay across multiple formats and introduced Clapton to a whole new audience.