Country-Fried Brains

I'm About All WTF'ed Out.

So, I had this song stuck in my head. I probably haven't heard the tune in its entirety since I was a wannabe-cowboy in the early 1980's. (emphasis on BOY).

Yes, it's true, I flirted with Country & Western music in my youth... However, I walked away from most of it, and I never inhaled!

The early 80's were a weird time to be listening to C&W. The old school rhinestone cowboys & outlaw crew were slowly fading from the scene, but we hadn't yet seen the rise of the superstar "Hat Acts" like George Strait, Randy Travis, Clint Black & Garth Brooks. Alabama was about the biggest act around, with Hank Jr., Kenny Rogers and Eddie Rabbitt duking it out for #2.

I had a buddy in Junior High that was a hard-core hillbilly, and we used to head to his place after school and he'd spin his Dad's collection of classic LPs. Mostly old school Country. The Possum, Lefty Frizell, Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Hank Sr., that sort of stuff. There was a bunch of 60's era C&W, like Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and almost every album by Johnny Cash. The outlaws were represented... Waylon & Willie, Billy Joe Shaver, DAC and the CDB. A few of the 70's and 80's up & comers were there on cassette tape, like Vern Gosdin, Ronnie Milsap, and the Brothers bands Statler & Bellamy.

I didn't take the plunge into bluegrass until college. I never did get into CountryPop or anything involving line dancing. The Baptists were right about that one... work of the Devil indeed!

Anyway, back to this song... For some reason I had Merle Haggard's tune "Leonard" stuck in my head. It's a song written for & about Tommy Collins, a Nashville songwriter, and as I said earlier, I probably hadn't heard it since it was playing on C&W radio, circa 1981. I just had one line endlessly repeating in my skull... "but Leonard was a name he never used!"

I kept meaning to look it up on the web, but got distracted by one thing or another, so for two nights in a row, this song was pecking on my noodle.

In the wee hours this morning, I had the ultimate flash of weirdness. As I was tossing & turning and shoving assorted cats off my pillow, I dropped into one of those super-vivid dream states. I could hear the song playing in my head, and for some reason, I knew I was going to be able to remember all the words this time. I just needed a nudge. So, I look down, and I'm holding a piece of white paper with song lyrics typewritten on it. I could read them just as clearly as if I was awake in a well-lit room.

Problem was, they were the lyrics to "Old Dogs and Children & Watermelon Wine" by Tom T. Hall, a song I really don't much care for at all. Where the effin' hell did that come from?

Well, at least it wasn't his song about loving little baby ducks...