Silence On The Line |
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Favorite Line(s): | |
I guess that now’s the time | |
I’d better tell her | |
“Hon I’ve got this friend | |
That’s here with me | |
He used to be a cowboy | |
And a good one so they say | |
But now his legs are crippled | |
He can’t walk, you see” | |
“But hon you ought to hear him tell his stories | |
Sing the old songs play the guitar too | |
And I’d really like to show him Colorado | |
But I thought I’d better leave it | |
Up to you” | |
. | |
On This Day In: | |
2019 | 2019 49ers Season Starts 5-0!! |
Will Any Republican Senator Vote For Impeachment? | |
2018 | VOTE – We Need A Wave |
2017 | Soothe, Inspire And Recharge |
2016 | Aren’t We? |
2015 | Cold Embrace |
2014 | Delightful |
2013 | Apprenticeship |
2012 | Curtain Rods |
2011 | A Living Force |
2010 | BART Rides – A Tipping Point |
You Ought To Hear Him Tell His Stories
October 13, 2020 by kmabarrett
love these lyrics
Hi Beth,
I don’t know how familiar you are with Chris. He’s one of the few “REAL” cowboys in country music. Actually, “was”. He passed away several years ago. Lots of his stuff is available on YouTube. If you have a chance, you should check him out. This song was sooo sad, it became an instant favorite of mine.
Kevin
New to me and I will
Hi Beth,
Make sure you check out his bio on wikipedia, too. He has a bunch of “hits”, but one of his “non” hits really tells you a lot about him: “Western Skies”. I don’t know if you ever heard of the TV show “Longmire”, but every time I watched an episode, it reminded me of Chris’ song. If you haven’t seen any of that series, you might check it out, too. I didn’t care much for the last two seasons, but the beginnings were really great (well, to me anyway).
Kevin
I like country music👏👏😉
Hi Mamen,
I’m glad you liked the song. Do you have any favorite country artists? I’m currently running through a bunch of songs I’ve liked over the years – mostly older songs.
Thanks for the visit and for taking the time to leave a comment!
Kevin
Hi, Kevin ..
Thanks to you for sharing interesting post ..
My favorite country music singers are: .. Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain and my beloved Dolly Parton ..🤗❤
What do you think of my selection?😀
Kisses and hugs for you😘🤗🌟🍂🍂
Hi Mamen,
This is an excellent list! I’ve listened to all of them at one time or another with the exception of Harris, who I’ve never been able to get into. I’m not sure why, I just never have liked any of her “hits” enough to listen to any of the rest of her body of work. Dolly Parton is one of, if not my all time favorite females of any genre. There’s just something about her voice that resonates with me. With the exception of Tim McGraw (and Dolly), most of your fav’s are not “really” Nashville “Country”. Rogers was “pop” before he transitioned into country. Willie is more “Texas” country than Nashville country, but he (Johnny and Merle) definitely paid their dues in Nashville – particularly early on in their careers.
I think it’s really a credit to you that you’ve learned an appreciation of depth (multiple generations) as well as breadth (different country sub-genre). Most people don’t have any appreciation for the “roots” of the music they’ve listened to for the last 20 years. I consider Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson to be national treasures. I guess “was” is more appropriate for Johnny since his passing, although his legacy remains a treasure. When I say “most people” I mean regular listeners outside of music teachers and performers in the same genre who get more deeper into the music and styles.
Well, hopefully, you’ll listen to some of my future posts and enjoy them too. You can also go to my “Poems” page and find a sub-list of songs which “became” a part of my life. Most (but not all) I’ve listened to over a hundred times and they “touched” me at a point in my life when I need “a gentle breath” (LoL – or a good shove). If you have time, check it out and let me know your thoughts.
Regards,
Kevin
Hi, Kevin ..
I’m not from your country, maybe that has to do a lot with my lack of knowledge about the purity of the country genre, but it pleases me to know that my country musical tastes are not very distant from yours.
I will read your poems and listen to the songs to see what they suggest to me.
Thank you very much for responding so generously..
Kisses and hugs😘🤗🌟🍂🍂🍂
Hi Mamen,
LoL!! I’m not sure “purity” is the word I was trying for. The “Nashville” sound is the “traditional” eastern / coastal sound of “country” music. It tends to have the “twang” in the vocals you hear from both male and female singers. It also tends to slide guitars and banjos. It was mostly (in the old-old days) “hillbilly” music. Believe it or not, almost 100 years ago, Nashville got one of the first radio stations which could broadcast from coast to coast (3,000 miles). They played a barn dance kind of music. Because practically everyone could hear the station, it more or less became the national trend-setter for music entertainment during that hour each weekend. You have to remember back then even radios were fairly rare. Anyway, the location became what we now call the “Grand Ole Opry”. The “original” Nashville sound was Black Gospel, but that wasn’t going to make it on the air back then. It influenced all the music in the area (anyway). Hillbilly mixed with blues and jazz and became “rockabilly” and along came Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc and rock and roll was born. Of course, all of this is a tremendous oversimplification, but there is a kernel of truth in it. (LoL.)
Gospel singing is about praising the Lord. Country music is a mix of that plus patriotism, farming, living and growing up in small towns, loving, losing, cheating girlfriends and drinking. Once you get on the western side of Appalachia (that’s a mountain range which runs up the east coast of the U.S.), country music begins to include cowboys and Indians (Native Americans), cattle, and settling the “West” (which is really the Great Plains in the middle of the U.S.). Far West country tends to be about getting high on drugs and enjoying the view (John Denver) in the Rockies. Modern country (most of the last 30 years or so) is about drinking (beer and whiskey), chasing college girls, partying in the summer (Florida beaches and Mexico), and remembering how much fun you had back in high school (14-18yrs old), before you had to grow up and get a job. (Kenny Chesney, et al). Tim McGraw (one of you “Favs”) is one of the stars who’s grown out of this (somewhat) and is slowly moving into “mature” themes (“My Next 30 Years”). Garth Brooks is another maturing artist. Interestingly, the trend isn’t really age based. I’ve found it’s “Life” based. The singer gets married and after about 10yrs and two kids, they start recording about raising families – that’s a SURE sign of maturity. The flip side is (of course) drugs (Lynyrd Skynyrd), alcohol (Hank Williams Sr.) and dying young (Buddy Holly). They are remembered for what might have been as much as they are for what they’ve left behind.
Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings are two who made it big in Nashville and then went back to their roots. Willie has a big “country” music concert every year called “Farm Aid”, which moves around the mid-west states and raises money for financially distressed family farmers. It’s been going on for over 20 years now. Willie has been based in Texas for years, although he still goes to Nashville frequently.
Anyway, I hope my history lesson hasn’t bored you to tears. Like Gospel, Soul, R&B and Rock / Pop music, country music has lots of nooks and crannies that you can spend decades exploring. Thanks for giving me a reason to put some of these thoughts down in writing. I’ve been meaning to explore these topics in my blog posts, but I was never confident there was much interest. I’m still not convinced you’re interested, but I thought I’d throw it out there for you to think about when you are listening to your playlist(s).
Cheers!
Kevin
Hi, Kevin
I already knew some things despite not being an American, but I really appreciate your explanation, I like to learn new things …😉🤗
Does your country have the same kind of thing? I mean, do you have “folk / traditional” music which is still “pop” but which has geographical differences (north / south or east / west)? Some don’t. I guess because the country’s are too small or because the traditional music isn’t really “pop” music any more. Let me know and I’ll try to find time to check it out.
In my country, Spain, there is a lot of musical tradition and a lot of cultural wealth of centuries … Outside my country the music that is best known is flamenco, but there is much more than that … My country is divided into regions or communities (a total of 17), and each one of them has its own cultural and musical identity. For example, in my region or community, which is called Aragon, as folk music there is the one called Jota, which encompasses traditional music and dance. . I’m gonna put an example:
Thanks for your interest, Kevin😉😘
Is this something you would teach children in school or is it only for professionals performing on a stage? The singer / singing appeared operatic rather than “folksie”. Do you have folk music families would sing around summer / fall backyard or camping gatherings. When I was young, they taught us “square-dancing” which was a form of group dancing to country music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMOXxHanNY (but we did it to “barn-dance” country music)
This was back in the early 1960’s. I’m 99% sure they don’t do this very much (if at all) anymore. As a matter of fact, they don’t have much “dance / art / music” classes any more as we have slowly cut back on everything not reading and arithmetic’s. I thought it was stunning to learn (about 10 years ago) they don’t even teach cursive writing any more – only printing and typing. (Since it’s [the dancing] on YouTube, they must still do it somewhere – obviously.)
Back to music… Is flamenco national or does it have regional variations (like our various styles of country music)? Does Spain have Mariachi music or is that just a Mexican thing? Finally, Mexican culture was heavily influenced by Spanish culture. Did the reverse also happen (still happen)? Do you find Spain listens to Mexican “pop” music. I know there is a difference between “Castilian” Spanish language and “normal” Mexican Spanish. Do you have regional variations there, too? We have a LOT of local idioms which you would only understand (in context) if you grew up or spent a good deal of time in a given area. TV and movies spread a lot of them around the country, but certainly not all of them. I know Aragon is in Northern Spain. Do you have a lot of Basque influence or are they further north? I’m asking because the dress / costume in the video reminded me of a scene in a TV show I watched many years ago. In the show, they were having a wedding or a party (it’s hard to remember because it was decades ago) and the clothing was similar. We would call it “gypsy” back then. (I hope that isn’t an offensive term to you.) It was a cowboy show and set in the 1870’s, so it may just be faulty memory. The family claimed to be wine (maybe it was olives?) growers back in their “old” country and they were starting vineyards in central California.
Thanks (in advance) for taking the time to educate me about Spain and some of you music culture.
Kevin
Hi, Kevin ..
I see that you do not know the history of my country and therefore of the region where I live.
My country is a place full of ancient history, with a rich cultural diversity of centuries. It is not a country of gypsies, although there is a gypsy ethnic group living with us for a long, long time, the majority being integrated into our society..
Your comment doesn’t bother me, precisely because I see a certain ignorance in your words about my country, Spain.
I invite you to browse our fabulous history just as I have done yours, first as a subject at school and later on a personal level because I like to learn about the countries that I like the most.
a greeting
Mamen An
Hi Mamen,
You are correct. I have very little knowledge of Spain or of your region (Aragon). I am aware Spain has a long history with rich and diverse culture(s), but the specifics of Spain are not covered much in our education. I think that is mostly because the U.S. did not have to fight through Spain in WWII, like Italy, France or the northern lowlands, and therefore your geography and history is not covered in our “current” history (the 1900’s). Most of what we learn about is Franco and (probably) most of that is because of one author (Hemingway), which many of us are forced to read in our teen years. I escaped it (Hemingway) back then, but read it (“The Sun Also Rises”) a few years ago to try to gain some culture. I simply found both the French and the Spanish portions too far beyond my personal experience to relate to it (the book or the author).
I did not mean to be insulting in any way referring to Spanish Gypsies (or any Gypsies at all, really). I was trying to make a reference to what seemed to be the style of clothes worn by the dancers in the video you suggested I view. Outside of theater / musical productions, we (everyday folks) would only wear that kind of “costume” at events we call a “Renaissance Faire”. Of course, ours would tend to look more English / Colonial. I guess my point “really” was the example appeared to be a stage production, whereas I have the impression (again correct me if I’m wrong) that Flamenco dancing is something non-professionals can dress up and do. Similar to our formal ballroom dancing. In the vid-link I sent you, you can see the children are wearing “normal / everyday” clothes for their class. If it were a performance, they would probably have been dressed in little cowboy / cowgirl outfits.
Anyway, again, I hope you haven’t taken any permanent offense at my earlier comment. I apologize for the apparent slight / insult and I hope you believe it was unintended. Take care and I hope to continue following your posts.
Namaste,
Kevin
Hi, Kevin ..
I was not offended, but I did think it was convenient for you to know how to distinguish between a gypsy ethnic group and my Spanish culture.
Here in my country, as I already told you, we are divided by regions and each region has its own dances, its own songs, and also its characteristic clothing … All this with a great popular tradition of centuries …
The video that I sent you was only a more dramatized sample of the cultural tradition of my region, (it is called zarzuela), Aragon, but it does not differ so much from our popular dances and songs.
For us, dressing in the traditional costume is not like dressing up on Halloween, it is a pride to do it and more so on the day of El Pilar or Hispanic Day which is October 12, in which an offering of flowers is made to the Virgin of the Pilar, who is our patron saint for the Catholic religion …
Don’t worry, I think that with my explanation you can understand a little more my vision of this topic.
Fortunately, the internet gives us, with a single click, infinite information on the subject that interests us the most.
Kisses and hugs of light.
Mamen An
🙂