It’s Saturday night and I am sitting at my keyboard, listening to the rain and thunder outside.1 I am hoping it won’t turn to hail. It could, of course; it’s been that kind of a week.
I won’t bore anyone by recounting the myriad of little things that made this past week “that kind of a week.” Instead, I will move straight to the conclusion, which, taken here from Hank Williams, is “Everything’s Okay.”
Hank Williams and his life story are pretty well known. He began his career in 1937, when he was 14 years old. By the time he died, on January 1, 1953 (at age 29), he had become the most popular country singer in the USA. He had his demons, along with his successes. Those demons included alcoholism, abuse of prescription drugs and a failed marriage. Hank was born with a type of spina bifida – a spinal disorder – that caused him back pain throughout his life; and that was one of the reasons he sought relief in painkillers and alcohol.
The pain was also evident in many of Hank’s songs, though at a tempo that made the listener feel good – songs like “Hey, Good Lookin'”; “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)”; “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Lovesick Blues.”
During the last three years of his life, Hank recorded some songs with a different feel to them, under the name of Luke the Drifter. Luke was a character that he and his producer created, envisioning a haggard drifter moving along from place to place and collecting the stories of the people he meets and the things he sees. Many of the Luke the Drifter songs are spoken rather than sung; and nearly all are moralisitic, and stand out as religious or philosophical cautionary tales.
The album entitled Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter was not released until after his death. All of those songs in one place is an overpowering recognition of the essential goodness of humanity, but The Drifter did not sugar coat the pain that allowed such recognition. If a depressed person sat down and listened to the entire album, he could potentially be pushed “over the edge.” It is difficult to think of sadder songs than “Men With Broken Hearts” or “Pictures from Life’s Other Side” or “The Funeral.”
One of the most upbeat songs on The Drifter’s album is this week’s Song of the Week, “Everything’s Okay.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuFwHJ52iQo
Everything’s Okay
By Hank Williams, Sr.
I went to the country just the other day
To see my uncle Bill and sorta pass the time away
I asked him how he’d been since last, I’d passed his way
He rubbed his chin, here’s what he had to say
My wife’s been sick, the young ones, too
And I’m darn near down with the flu
The cow’s gone dry and them hens won’t lay
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
The hogs took the cholera and they’ve all done died
The bees got mad and they left the hive
The weevils got the corn and the rain rotted the hay
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
The porch rotted down that’s more expense
The darned old mule he tore down the fence
The mortgage is due and I can’t pay
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
The cow broke in the field and eat up the beans
The darn rabbits they got the turnip greens
And my ma-in-law just moved in to stay
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
My land’s so poor so hard and yeller
You have to set on a sack of fertilizer to raise an umbreller
And it rains out here nearly every day
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
The wells gone dry and I have to tote the water
Up from the spring about a mile and a quarter
My helper, he quit for the lack of pay
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
The house it leaks it needs a new top
When it rains it wets everything we got
The chimney fell down just yesterday
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
The corn meals gone and the meat’s run out
Got nothin’ to kill to put in the smokehouse
The preacher’s comin’ Sunday to spend the day
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
The canned stuffs spoiled else the jar’s got broke
And all we got left is one old Billy goat
We’re gonna have a new baby about the first of may
But we’re still a-livin’, so everything’s okay
My crop it rotted in the ground
I asked for another loan but the banker turned me down
But we’re still a-livin’ and we’re prayin’ for better days
So after all, everything’s in pretty good shape
© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
_______________________________________
- I am not surprised about the rain. We took care of that in last week’s post. Still, I do hope it doesn’t hail.
Sorry to hear about the personal nearly-hail of last week, and hope this is the beginning of a calmer week for you. Perhaps it is true what my coffee cup this morning says.
As near as I can figure it, it’s a saying going back to Lao Tze’s mentor, Mrs. Marietta Cosmopolite of 3 Quirm Street in Ankh Morpork, Discworld. It seems to have been channeled to my cup here by way of Mary Engelbright, and reads:
“If you pray for rain, be prepared to deal with some mud.”
Just another way of saying that every silver lining has a cloud, and every bright morning a dark night, and even a stitch in time saving nine still means a wound has happened. I have added an addendum to my cup with a permanent Sharpie as a result of your experience and it reads: “Or hail.”
None of which, no matter how deeply philosophical, eases the pain of the lumps we take from existential hail storms. I hope you are recovering and will be OK. A mantra app like “Everything’s OK” will help, and rubbing your hand in circles on the top of your head while patting your tummy from time to time will also help with the itching.
Your mention of Hank Williams reminded me of my own Mrs. Cosmopolite, Bob Emmitt, who once lived in Hank Williams Sr.’s cabin in Franklin, Tennessee. Bob was managing editor of the Vanderbilt University Press in those days. He told me that at night, sitting out on the front porch, he could see and hear and feel the world that moved Hank to write the song “I’m so lonesome I could cry.”
I Googled the cabin and learned that it has sort of survived down through the years, but the porch has not. The place of course appreciated in ascribed value due to its dead-celebrity factor and has sustained some internal renovations, but some restraint is evident there. The porch has not fared as well. The cabin now has a bright white, pillared, ante-bellum Southern portico slapped on it face fronting the weathered gray logs. It is a tasteless, out of place architectural pimple slapped onto the face of an ancient temple. You can form your own opinion by viewing the pictures at: http://hookedonhouses.net/2013/07/29/faith-hill-tim-mcgraw-selling-farm-in-tennessee/
Below the picture of the view from the front porch there is a picture of the entry hallway, and there’s a story there not many people know. Bob used to leave the front door open on warm Tennessee nights, and one night he heard some sounds downstairs and went to investigate. He walked into a pair of cottonmouth snakes in that hallway, was bit twice on his calf, and nearly died. Venom kills the surrounding flesh and in his case left him with deep cratered scars that were impressive.
I also Googled Bob and learned that he has mostly passed from human historical memory and is mainly remembered in biographical sketches attached to his book “The Last War Trail.” So it goes. I don’t think it would bother him. He was a guy who loved the calm after a storm.
Hang on to whoever loves you, Louis. It helps.
———
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I’m so lonesome I could cry.
I’ve never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide its face and cry…
Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
Like me, he’s lost the will to live
I’m so lonesome I could cry.
The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I’m so lonesome I could cry…
First, let me say that I agree with your appraisal of Hank’s old cabin. The pillars are out of place.
Next, I think that your observation that “every silver lining has a cloud” is an apt summary of the philosophy expressed in Hank Williams’ “Luke the Drifter” songs. It often seems that way in most people’s everyday lives, and the position could even be supported by Chapter 2 of the Tao Te Ching. However, that is an illusion arising from the way our brains (especially mine) are wired to perceive and judge.
I don’t want to make light of Bob Emmitt’s snake encounter, but let me add that wild animals have been showing up in my life of late. One night last week I let our dog, Darcy, out into the backyard and she immediately went into the crouch she assumes when she is intending to chase something like a rabbit or a squirrel. Looking out to the far reaches of the area illuminated by the porch light, I saw not a rabbit or squirrel, but a skunk. I said, “Darcy, COME!” in my most authoritative panicked voice, and luckily she came right back to me. We just let the skunk wander away at its own leisurely pace. Two days later we were out for a dog walk when a lady on a bike stopped to tell us that she had seen a mountain lion on the trail about half a mile from where we were. We proceeded cautiously from that point, but the lion was long gone by the time we reached that area.
So, everything’s okay . . .
Living with wildlife can be exciting. Charlie charged a bear once in the backyard and, like Darcy, stopped immediately when I called him back. No skunks seen here yet – we just smell them from time to time after they’ve passed through. Lenore and I got chased by a raccoon last year, a lost adolescent who charged us in the driveway and we had to beat a hasty and hilarious retreat to the porch. There have been bear and cougar sightings in the area where we take our walks recently, but they tend to avoid people here.
The deer here have been pretty active. A month or so ago we had one outside about 10 feet away from the back door. He hung around long enough for me to go carve up an apple and feed it to him. Last week I went out on the front porch with my coffee and there was one just on the other side of the railing, browsing on a hosta and a hydrangea. We had coffee and hydrangea leaves together for about ten minutes. They must like hydrangeas – this morning Lenore discovered one of our hydrangeas in the back yard was leafless, browsed right down to the stems. It looked great yesterday. We’ve decided to plant more hydrangeas, we like having the deer come in. I’m glad Darcy is such a good dog and no tomato juice bath was necessary. Bet you are, too!
Also, In RE “Everything’s OK”, it seems only right to include:
End of the Line
by The Traveling Wilburys
[Chorus 1: George Harrison]
Well it’s all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it’s all right, if you live the life you please
Well it’s all right, doing the best you can
Well it’s all right, as long as you lend a hand
[Verse 1: Tom Petty]
You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring
Waiting for someone to tell you everything
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring
Maybe a diamond ring
[Chorus 2: Jeff Lynne]
Well it’s all right, even if they say you’re wrong
Well it’s all right, sometimes you gotta be strong
Well it’s all right, as long as you got somewhere to lay
Well it’s all right, everyday is Judgment Day
[Verse 2: Tom Petty]
Maybe somewhere down the road away
You’ll think of me, and wonder where I am these days
Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays
Purple haze
[Chorus 3: Roy Orbison]
Well it’s all right, even when push comes to shove
Well it’s all right, if you got someone to love
Well it’s all right, everything’ll work out fine
Well it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line
[Verse 3: Tom Petty]
Don’t have to be ashamed of the car I drive
I’m just glad to be here, happy to be alive
It don’t matter if you’re by my side
I’m satisfied
[Chorus 4: George Harrison]
Well it’s all right, even if you’re old and grey
Well it’s all right, you still got something to say
[Jeff Lynne]
Well it’s all right, remember to live and let live
Well it’s all right, the best you can do is forgive
Well it’s all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it’s all right, if you live the life you please
[George Harrison]
Well it’s all right, even if the sun don’t shine
Well it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line
Was that George harrison? THE George Harrison? I always thought it was Nelson Wilbury.
Dogs and wildlife are things with which I have had experience. Here is an excerpt from a piece I wrote about our dog Emmy back in March of 2013:
The place near Idaho Springs sounds like it was a great place to be. Perfect for people – and “people in dog suits” like Emmy.
We have black bears here, and they are fairly timid (unless with cubs) for the most part. They get quite active around here in the fall looking for food to fatten themselves up for the winter, and they come to eat the apples on some trees nearby, raid suet feeders, gorge on black-oil sunflower seeds if they can find them. And yes, hummingbird feeders. Sugar is like crack cocaine for bears. We live near an old bear trail which comes down into the valley from a mountain to the west of us, and so we have them around, but mostly just in the fall.
As luck would have it – or the principle of “watch out what you talk about, you may make it real” – last week, the day after I posted my reply above, I was out on the front porch just before dawn with my cup of coffee when a bear came moving through here from the west at a good clip, probably headed home to the east before sunrise. We were about 20 feet apart but he didn’t notice me on his way through. We have fuchsias on the porch for the hummingbirds instead of feeders, and that probably saved me from a close encounter. Last year there was a feeder there. This year, nothing of interest to a bear as far as diet goes other than me, but I’m low-fat content, stringy and tough, and not very sweet.
The same morning a raccoon and I scared the heck out of each other when I first went out on the porch. I jumped straight up about two feet as it high-tailed it out of there.
Sometimes I don’t need coffee in the morning to wake up, adrenaline seems to do the job just as well…