Two Country Songs

Playing a lot of weddings in more rural areas, I've been listening to some country music lately, and I kind of like it. There is a kind of stubborn insistence on clenching tightly to certain cliches (Jesus, Beer, Pick-up trucks), but I admire the literary quality of the lyrics. They seem to fit a lot more story into their songs than other forms do.

I was driving through Southern Ohio, where a lot of my family comes from, and I was really affected by the beauty of the place. It seems like that region is having a rough go of it right now, and though I don't agree with much of their politics, sometimes I'm jealous of their way of life. The first song is kind of about that.

MY HEART IS IN THE COUNTRY

My family moved up here from a town down south
Cause all the work dried up when the paper mill shut down
I want to move back to the country and find me a girl
Rip the boards off a farmhouse away from the world

Buy me a little plot of land
Plant some corn and watch grow
Dig my fingers in the soil
Feel my heart burn in my chest like coal

CHORUS
I want to move to the country where the girls are pretty
Their little jean shorts are teenie weenie bitty
My mailing address may be here in the city
But my heart is in the country

Have a stable full of horses and a house full of dogs
Wake up in the morning, get lost in the fog
Go swimmin’ in the earth, fishin’ in the creek
Show my boys how to shoot like my dad done with me

Well the smog climbing from the smokestacks
Look like Heaven flying up to the sky
And TV Tower on the hillside
Beside the cross, they shine so bright

CHORUS
I wanna move to the country where the speed limit is 50
But on them county roads at night you can be a little shifty
My F-150 may be parked in the city
But my heart is in the country

Down on Main Street it ain’t safe at night
The shop windows are broken, can’t afford the streetlights
Out roaming in the fields, you can sense the ghosts
In your headlights you can see the deers shredded in the road

The frozen wind is blowin’
Through the skeletons of abandoned cars
But the lights are so bright in the city
At night you can’t see the stars

CHORUS
You can tell them city folks that I don’t need their pity
High class ain’t got nothin’ on that down home nitty gritty
I may be pumpin’ gas up here in the city
But my heart is in the country

**************************************************

I've always had a kind of fantasy about being a truck driver, and many of the great musicians either were truck drivers, or sang about being truck drivers. This song is kind of about what that life may be like.

ENDLESS HORIZON

I’m burning down the miles, just torching them up
When I get behind the wheel of that big old truck
I’m a man on a mission, best get outta my way
I’m a concrete cowboy riding for my pay
And the days go by
like the painted lines
And all night I’m looking
for a lit-up sign
That says three miles left
to the roadside rest
I can lay down my load
Til the sun peaks the crest
Of that endless horizon
That’s just a-risin’ everyday

In the morning I’m plowing through the midwest corn
When the evening comes around I’ll be pulling my horn
For them pretty little women that they got down south
But the very next day I’m in the Rocky Mountain Clouds
And the days go by
like the painted lines
And all night I’m looking
for a lit-up sign
That says two miles left
to the roadside rest
I can lay down my load
Til the sun peaks the crest
Of that endless horizon
That keeps getting further away.

I got a beautiful wife and a baby back home
I heard his first words on a long distance phone-call
Sometimes I wonder what I’m missing on that road at night
As I’m staring at their picture in the soft-dome light.
And the days go by
like the painted lines
And all night I’m looking
for a lit-up sign
That says two miles left
until my hometown
And for a couple days
I won’t have to go down
That endless horizon
I’m gonna reach the edge someday

A Piece of Doggerel

What a joy it is to rise today!
To rise and meet the sun!
There’s no one I despise today!
I welcome everyone!

Exclamation points explode today
like fireworks in the sky!
Happiness comes easily!
I ask no questions why!

My poem tumbles freely now,
Not like a knot I must unlace.
The lazy battle’s shrugged away,
I withdraw from the race.

I take the lines as they come to me,
riddled with cliche.
I leave to write a real poem
to task another day

Suddenly I look to see
rain falling from the clouds.
Today’s not so nice after all.
No visitor’s allowed.

The Best Thing Around

People say that love’s the best thing around
so what does that leave you when you’ve finally found
that it’s often the finest who end up alone
and it’s the rotten bastards who can’t mute their phones?
Women know they go for the dangerous kind.
They say to themselves “Oh why can’t I find
a nice guy?” Why do I always fall for jerks?”
But they don’t want a man who’ll do all the work,
who’ll clean the house and make them dinner,
who’ll bring them flowers and be the breadwinner.
They want a guy who’s fucked all their friends,
Who’s rued by women, and envied by men.
Love is a game, and you gotta know how to cheat.
You can’t win the prize being honest and sweet.

REASONS FOR LIVING: Nov. 21st 2009.

Here's some media that I've been exploring/enjoying lately that I thought I might share with you.


Six Moral Tales: by Eric Rohmer
Criterion boxset

The title may be mistranslated/misleading, as these films aren't really parables of any kind, but instead are sure handed stories of people grappling with love and their own moralities. These films were first written as a series of stories (Collected in a book included in the box set) by Eric Rohmer, a somewhat neglected member of the French New Wave, and certainly exude a literary bone-structure. Either dialogue or voice over heavy, the films are a wonderful and unique marriage of visual poetry and oral sophistication which prove that neither dialogue nor narration is uncinematic.


Bob Dylan and the Band - The Basement Tapes

Saw Bob Dylan in concert a couple weeks ago, and although I am always listening to him, it inspired me to explore albums and songs I hadn't before. The man's body of work is staggering. I remember looking at my parent's copy of this album and thinking the song titles were incredibly bizarre, and probably covers of old Americana stuff. I am shocked to discover that the songs are all original. This album is an anomaly. A complete freak parade. Favorite tracks: "Odds and Ends", "Yazoo Street Scandal", "Apple Suckling Tree."

P.S.-Never liked The Band too much, but I can appreciate what they do. Robbie Robertson is one of my favorite guitar players, Levon Helm kicks ass ("Yazoo" is one of the best vocal performances I've ever heard), Danko and Manuel have beautiful voices and Garth Hudson is about the best rock organist ever. Still, something about their sound doesn't quite add up for me. I like them, but I'm not in love with them.

Here's a video example of Bob Dylan's unparalleled talent for being both a genius and completely weird at the same time.



Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Dir. Terry Gilliam
Maybe one of the best comedic performances ever: Benicio Del Toro as the Attorney. I think for a lot of the film you can see Depp's acting, his pretty good impersonation of Hunter S. Thompson, but Del Toro, perhaps having the advantage of playing a person who's not quite as visible a public figure, proves that the most bone-cutting comedy is played with serious gravity. This movie doesn't quite work in every way, but it is funny as hell.

Goldfish Hands - Bernard Diabolik
One of the great poet/shaman/seers/troubadours of our time, Bernard Diabolik drools this 16 minute epic devotional of unrequited love. Best lines:

Scar me with your flaming whip,
Lick me with your serpent tongue,
Bite me with your fangs,
I'm not gonna run.


Taylor Swift
May be the musical artist of her generation. A star with the talent, charisma and magnitude of Elvis, Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, anybody. She's gonna last. Or maybe I'm just in love with her.

The North Market
Cheap, good food, all conveniently located under one roof. I'm writing this upstairs compliments of their free wi-fi.

The Writer's Almanac podcast
Hosted by Garrison Keillor, a poem a day is good for you.

Bullet Park by John Cheever
I've read a lot of Cheever, which is surprising because I don't particularly love his writing. I really want to, but he's just so wildly erratic. He's very easy to read. Sometimes he's a genius, sometimes there's nothing there, but it always flows. This may be the best Cheever I've read yet. An interesting take on the 1960s from a reluctant lover/ poet laureate of the suburbs.