The Memories Came Flooding Back

Damn I love old country music. I'm not a country music fan generally, but the stuff from when I was little still sound so awesome to me. Don't you love it when you hear a song you haven't heard since you were, like, five? Last night I was at the music store where I used to work buying random items. I ended up coming home with the following: the George Strait boxed set, the new 'Nsync CD, a packet of Britney Spears postcards, Marilyn Manson poster, and a CD called "Only Country 1980-1984." I refuse to take shit from anyone for any of my purchases, I listen to what I like, dammit, and if that means being seen in public buying 'Nsync's "No Strings Attached," then so be it. But that's not the point of this article. The point is that when I popped that country CD into my stereo, I was flooded with memories from my childhood. You can scroll down to the bottom for a complete list of songs that were on it, along with some sound files of the ones I really like.

The second I pushed play, the keen sounds of the Oak Ridge Boys' "Elvira" filled my house. You can bet the volume knob went all the way up and stayed there. My heart was, without a doubt, on fire for Elvira. I can remember being in elementary school, 2nd grade perhaps, and doing a dance to this song in P.E. It was during the time that the rodeo was in town. (Do they have that in other places besides here? Just to clear up any confusion, every year the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo comes to town and school children all over the city are forced to do Rodeo-themed projects for its entire duration.) Anyway, in PE they had all the kids line up on the floor in formation to spell out the initials of my school. We sat on the floor and did sit ups to the beat while waving our arms in a lasso motion. I was absolutely humiliated to do it at the time, but I found myself so excited to hear that song again that I laid down on my living room floor and did the dance with much more enthusiasm than I ever did at the actual rodeo dance competition. Afterwards I called Siren and played her part of it. We hooted and hollered for at least 5 minutes about that hilarious part where the guy with the low, low voice goes "Giddy-uppa-oom-boppa-oom-boppa-mow-mow!" She said the memories came rushing back for her, too.

Country music fan or not, everyone who has ever had "too much tequila last night" has to know this song. "Jose Cuervo, you are a friend of mine! I like to drink you with a little salt and lime! Did I kiss all the cowboys, did I shoot out the lights? Did I dance on the bar, did I start a fight?" Of course, I was only four years old when the song came out, so at the time I didn't quite understand what it was about, but that didn't make me like it any less. It should be a law that every bar in America be required to have this song on the jukebox. "Who is this cowboy who's sleeping beside me? He's awful cute, but how'd I get his shirt on? I had too much tequila last night."

"And we were swingin!" Now...this is one of the dorkiest songs ever written, but DAMN did I love it. I used to "know" it by heart... and I put "know" in quotation marks because when you're a little kid, you sing it wrong. So I knew what I THOUGHT were the words by heart, and I imagine lots of grown-ups used to laugh heartily at me as I belted out the lyrics wrong. I think the lyric about "eating chocolate pie" was the only part I had correct.

Now, I've already covered the fact that when you're younger, you don't quite get what they mean by certain things. This song is a perfect example. It's "Somebody's Knockin'" by Terri Gibbs. The lyrics go, "Somebody's knocking, should I let him in? Lord, it's the devil, would you look at him. I've heard about him, but I never dreamed he'd have blue eyes and blue jeans." I got the funniest mental picture of Satan standing at her door, with his pitchfork in hand and his pointy red tail sticking out of a hole in the back of his Levi 501 blues. I should illustrate that and put it on here.

Only Country 1980-1984

!. Elvira by the Oak Ridge Boys
2. Looking for Love by Johnny Lee
3. Jose Cuervo by Shelly West
4. Baby Bye Bye by Gary Morris
5. Drivin' My Life Away by Eddie Rabbitt
6. The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known) by Juice Newton
7. Southern Rains by Mel Tillis
8. Crying My Heart Out Over You by Ricky Skaggs
9. One of a Kind Pair of Fools by Barbara Mandrell
10. Pancho & Lefty by Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard
11. Swingin' by John Anderson
12. You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma by Dave Frizzell & Shelly West
13. Slow Burn by T.C. Sheppard
14. Always On My Mind by Willie Nelson
15. Somebody's Knockin' by Terri Gibbs
16. Talk To Me by Mickey Gilley
.......................(p.s. all of you owe this guy a big salute for opening Gilley's way back when)
17. Long Hard Road by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
18. Beneath Still Waters by Emmylou Harris
19. Lovin' Her Was Easier by Tompall and the Glaser Brothers
20. Slow Hand by Conway Twitty