Ella Fitzgerald – "Sunshine of Your Love" (1969)

I’ve been waiting so long

To be where I’m going

One of the particular behaviors that experts say may be symptomatic of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder – or “OCPD” – is list-making.

It just so happens that I am a list-maker par excellence.  For example, I started recording all the books I read shortly after I took my last law school exam in May 1977.   

Me too!

It took me 20 years to fill up my first notebook, which lists about 1200 books.

The second notebook covers the next 25 years, and it lists some 1500-odd books.  That means that I averaged reading about five books per month from 1977 until 2022:

I’ve slowed down since moving into my 16th-floor apartment in the 2 or 3 Lines World Headquarters Building not quite three years ago.  I managed only 21 books in 2023 and 24 books in 2024 – that’s about two a month instead of five.

I’m doing a little better so far this year – but that’s not the point.  The point is that I’ve kept a list of every book I’ve read – plus the name of its author, and how many pages it had – for over 48 years!

Do you wonder why I’ve maintained that list?  Well, SO DO I!

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My ostensible reason for keeping a list of all the books I’ve read is that I don’t always remember whether I’ve already read a particular book I see at the public library.

That’s a real problem with certain authors.  For example, John Sandford’s Prey series consists of 34 books with very similar titles – Shadow Prey, Silent Prey, Sudden Prey, Secret Prey . . . you get the picture.  Having my list enabled me to avoid starting a Prey book that I’ve already read.  

But because my list is handwritten, finding a particular title required me to flip through my notebooks and scan the twenty or so books listed on each page – a time-consuming and not entirely reliable process when you’re as easily distracted as I am.  

That’s why I’m creating a searchable computer list of the books written by some of my favorite authors so I won’t waste so much time doing manual searches in the future.  

That doesn’t seem like an unreasonable thing to do, but there’s something more going on here.  

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In addition to my list of all the books I’ve read, I also have a list of every streaming TV series I’ve watched.  I recently expanded that list to include movies.

I also keep track of all my bike rides in a weekly appointment book.  I got in the habit of buying one of those books each year to keep track of my legal work for billing purposes, but now all I use them for is to note where I ride and how long each ride is.  (I’ve never added those distances to see how many miles I logged in a certain month or year – I just stick each book in a drawer at year end and order a new one.)

When I began to play competitive trivia a few years, I created a spreadsheet so I could keep track of my team’s weekly results – how many points we scored in each round, our final score, where we placed, and so on.

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List-making helps those with OCPD to satisfy their need for structure and control.  Such people may focus more on the process of list-making than the practical reasons for making the list.  

For example, rather than creating a simple shopping list that helps him remember what items he needs to buy, a list-maker with OCPD may spend excessive time working on an overly-elaborate list that fulfills his need to achieve perfection in every aspect of his life. 

(That’s a really good idea!)

I don’t think that’s what causes me to keep so many lists.  My theory is that my somewhat obsessive list-making is related to a deep-seated fear that I’m wasting my life – that I’m not going to do anything of significance before I die.  

My lists record some of my accomplishments – books read, movies watched, miles ridden on my bike, trivia victories.  

I know those accomplishments are of no great importance.  But at least they’re tangible, and quantifiable.  They’re better than nothing.

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Before we move on, here’s something I read on the website of a group of Los Angeles psychologists:

Did you know that autism and the love of lists often go hand in hand?  Many autistic people create lists of their favorite songs, shows they want to watch, or recipes they want to try, among many others.  This affinity for lists is common enough that many people wonder whether making lists is a sign of autism.

However, that website goes on to say that “there are many allistic (non-autistic) people obsessed with lists.”  

Based on my research to date, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder seems like a much better fit for my particular brand of weirdness than autism.  So I’m going to continue my trip down the OCPD rabbit hole, eschewing any further exploration of autism for the being.

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Speaking of weirdness, I’m currently watching the Apple TV series Severance – which is about as weird as TV gets.  Today’s featured recording accompanied the closing credits of the Severance episode I watched today.

In 1969, a German jazz label released an album featuring Ella Fitzgerald performing with Ernie Hecksher’s big band at the legendary Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco: 

The first track on that album is . . . “Hey Jude”?   

AllMusic’s review accurately described Ella’s performance of that song as “border[ing] on the embarrassing.”  But her take on Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” isn’t too bad.

Click here to listen to Ella Fitzgerald’s recording of “Sunshine of Your Love.”

Fun and Games – "Grooviest Girl in the World" (1968)

You’re the grooviest girl in the world

And I’m a guy with impeccable taste

A few nights ago, I went online to shop for a fleece throw that I could use to make watching TV in my apartment a cozier experience.

I’m usually pleased with the stuff I get from L. L. Bean, so I went to their website first.  Their “Wicked Plush Throw” – which was touted as a New York Times Wirecutter pick – seemed to fit the bill.

Are you familiar with Wirecutter?  They test and rate a wide variety of products – everything from televisions to winter boots for kids to boxed macaroni and cheese.  

I discovered Wirecutter a couple of years ago when I was shopping for an electronic keyboard.  I picked the keyboard that they recommended, and have been very pleased with my choice.

The Wirecutter review of the L. L. Bean throw – which cost $32.95 – made it sound perfect for my needs.  But the “Wicked Plush Throw” wasn’t in stock at the nearest L. L. Bean retail store, and I hated to pay eight bucks in shipping and handling to have it delivered.

I did some more looking around online and decided to look for a throw at the Target store that’s near my gym.  I found a nice plaid one – it was much nicer looking than the solid-color Bean throw I had considered – that cost only $15.

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When I showered after undergoing a minor medical procedure recently, I ended up with a little blood on my bath towel.  I spritzed the towel with some laundry stain remover and dropped it into the washing machine with the rest of my laundry.

While waiting for my washing machine to do its magic, I decided to see if Consumer Reports had anything to say about laundry stain removers.

It turned out that Consumer Reports had tested a half-dozen different laundry stain removers a couple of years ago.  I was pleased to find out that my brand I had been using – OxiClean Max Force – was the magazine’s top choice.  (It did particularly well when it came to removing blood stains.)

I’ve made a mental note to pick up a bottle on my next visit to Walmart.  (I could have picked one up the next time I went to the grocery store, but OxiClean Max Force costs $4.49 at the local Harris Teeter and only $4.39 at Walmart.)

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Was it really necessary for me to go to product testing websites and then compare prices at various retail stores before purchasing a fleece throw and laundry stain remover?  

As a matter of fact, it was.  Because in each case I wanted to get the perfect product.  And I wanted to get it at the best price possible. 

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder – or “OCPD” – is characterized by excessive perfectionism.  Based on my description of the effort I put into shopping for a couple of simple and inexpensive products, do you think I sound like someone who suffers from OCPD?  Or am I just a little (or a lot) weird?

We’ll continue to chew on that question in the next 2 or 3 lines.

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One final thought before we get to today’s featured record.

This may sound paradoxical, but I don’t think my need to get the lowest price for everything I buy has anything to do with money.  I’m comfortable financially – but even if I wasn’t, we’re talking about very small amounts of money here.

I could give you many more examples of the lengths I go to in order to save money.  For example, my car takes 89 octane gasoline, and I figured out a long time ago that I can save a couple of bucks each time I fill up by mixing 87 octane regular and 93 octane premium in a 2:1 ratio instead of pumping 89 octane gas directly. 

Sure, that requires spending more time at the gas station to save an insignificant amount of money.  

But there’s a very real psychological reward for my effort.  Humans have an innate desire to master skills and achieve competence.  Figuring out a way to save money without sacrificing quality makes me feel like I feel when I solve a sudoku puzzle or finish first at trivia.

What is more satisfying than knowing that you’ve beaten the system!  

And so am I!

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The Fun and Games were a short-lived Houston group that broke up shortly after releasing their one and only album, Elephant Candy, in 1968.  

Click here to listen to their recording of “Grooviest Girl in the World,” which stalled out at #78 on the Billboard “Hot 100” in early 1969.  

The song’s lyrics contain references to three well-known sixties records – “Judy in Disguise” (by John Fred and his Playboy Band), “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (by the Beatles), and “Up, Up, and Away” (by the Fifth Dimension).

A cover of “Grooviest Girl in the World” by a New Zealand group, The Simple Image, was a #3 hit in that country later that year.

Click here to buy The Simple Image’s cover of “Grooviest Girl in the World” from Amazon.

Johnny Burnette – "You're Sixteen" (1960)

You’re sixteen

You’re beautiful

And you’re mine!

My wildly popular little blog is sixteen years today! 

That’s right, 2 or 3 lines is turning sweet sixteen – hard to believe, but true!

To mark the occasion, I’ve decided to give myself a long-overdue checkup from the neck up.  I'm hoping to be able to answer this question: am I suffering from a scientifically recognized mental disorder, or am I simply weird? 

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It’s obvious to anyone who knows me well that I’m something of a hot mess.  But there are many different kinds of hot messes – which kind am I exactly?

To answer that question, I turned to the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ("DSM-5") – that’s the standard reference work used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental illness.

I’ve been described as “a little OCD” in the past.  So I first checked out the definition for obsessive-compulsive disorder to see if it might fit.  

But while I lean toward being obsessive, I’m not really compulsive – I don’t engage in excessive hand-washing, or repeatedly check that I’ve turned off my appliances and locked my doors.  

Then I read the criteria for a somewhat similar condition called obsessive-compulsive personality disorder – or “OCPD” – which seemed to describe me pretty well.

My therapist pooh-poohed my diagnosis.  She pointed out that people with OCPD have little, if any, self-awareness concerning their condition, while I am very aware that I am one messed-up dude.  

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The DSM-5 defines OCPD as “a persistent pattern of preoccupation with order; perfectionism; and control of self, others, and situations” that manifests itself by early adulthood.

Experts say that obsessive-compulsive personality disorder – which is sometimes called anankastic personality disorder – is the most prevalent personality disorder, affecting somewhere between 3% and 8% of the population.  It is believed to be responsible for greater direct medical costs and productivity losses than any other personality disorder, but is largely ignored by researchers.  (Borderline personality disorder is the subject of over 30 times as many published scientific papers as OCPD, while there are about 100 times more papers about ADHD than there are about OCPD.) 

According to the DSM-5, an OCPD diagnosis requires the presence of four or more of the following behaviors:

1.  Preoccupation with details, rules, schedules, organization, and lists

2.  A striving to do something perfectly that interferes with completion of the task

3.  Excessive devotion to work and productivity (not due to financial necessity), resulting in neglect of leisure activities and friends

4.  Excessive conscientiousness, fastidiousness, and inflexibility regarding ethical and moral issues and values

5.  Unwillingness to throw out worn-out or worthless objects, even those with no sentimental value

6.  Reluctance to delegate or work with other people unless those people agree to do things exactly as the patient wants

7.  A miserly approach to spending for themselves and others because they see money as something to be saved for future disasters

8. Rigidity and stubbornness

We’ll do a deep dive into those OCPD criteria in the next few 2 or 3 lines posts.  

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“You’re Sixteen” was written by brothers Robert and Richard Sherman, who wrote the scores of dozens of movies – including The Parent Trap, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and several other Disney classics.  (The Shermans also wrote “It’s a Small World (After All),” which some consider to be the most performed song ever written.)

Johnny Burnette’s recording of “You’re Sixteen” peaked at #8 on the Billboard “Hot 100” in December 1960.  Ringo Starr’s cover of the song did even better, going all the way to #1 in 1973.  

Starr was 33 years old when he recorded “You’re Sixteen.”  I don’t remember anyone criticizing him for singing about a girl who was half his age back in 1973, but some more contemporary writers have found his recording to be a little creepy.  

“Maybe people thought this sh*t was cute then, but it's not cute now,” one reviewer wrote in 2019.  “I won't be sad if I never hear ‘You’re Sixteen’ again.”

Click here to listen to Johnny Burnette’s original recording of “You’re Sixteen.”

Click here to buy that recording – which was featured on the American Graffiti soundtrack – from Amazon.