Been sorting through old notebooks, and such, these last two days. In my Nashville journal I found some collected quips from books I'd read back then, such as:
Hank Williams said, "You have to plow a lot of ground and look at the back side of a mule for a lot of years to sing a country song." I wonder if driving tractors while listening to the soundtrack to Breakin' on my walkman counts?
Oscar Wilde wrote, "To be natural is such a hard pose to keep up." I think Buck Owens stole Wilde's idea in his (Owens') song "Act Naturally." I'm currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray (by Wilde).
Gene Autry sang, "Now you can feel my legs and you can feel my thighs / but if you feel my legs you gotta ride me high."
And Roy Acuff, "I wish I was a diamond ring upon my Lulu's hand / Every time she'd take a bath I'd be a lucky man."
Them old cowboy singers were perverted.
In 1933 John Wayne was cast in the Western film Riders of Destiny, as Singin' Sandy the Reluctant Singin' Cowboy. My favorite quote from it: "I've had it. I'm a god damned action star, you son-of-a-bitch. I'm not a singer. Get yourself another cowboy singer." I, Chris Sand, would like to be an action star as well someday. Just once at least.
Tomorrow I take a train westward to soggy, sensual Olympia. I've heard that crocuses are already pokin' up.
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