LITTLE ROCK — It was on the commute home. Our friend was punching the buttons on his car radio, looking for something other than commercials.
He knew better, but he punched the NPR button anyway.
Sure enough, someone was going on about cap-and-trade and saving the planet and how we really know what's best for you masses, but are trying not to show it. After a tough day at work, who needs all that?
Not our friend. So he punched the button for classic country. And there was Johnny Cash, singing about Folsom Prison. They're probably drinking coffee, he sang of the passengers on the distant train, and smoking big cigars.
What a nice change, from pretentious to profoundly normal. How do you spell relief? J-o-h-n-n-y C-a-s-h.
Our friend cruised the rest of the way on country. Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, The Oak Ridge Boys.
Then he was home, with only one regret-no George Jones. Specifically, "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Intoxicated by the lyrics, he would have sung them (badly) to the woman in the kitchen. Because the way the poor feller in the song felt about the lost woman is the way he feels about the woman in the kitchen.
She's not much into country music.
But he is, and that's all they really need.
Maybe next time it'll be Willie Nelson's You Were Always On My Mind.
Editorial, Pages 18 on 08/28/2009