HOW TO WRITE A COUNTRY SONG: [F, 7-2-21]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter

HOW TO WRITE A COUNTRY SONG: Just in Case You Were Wondering…and Because I Like It…  [F, 7-2-21]

 

Old trucks, old dogs, and weary women

Summer’s here and the days are gittin’ long

Dirt roads, fishin’ poles, & holes for swimmin’

That’s how you start a country song

 

Somebody done somebody wrong

That’s why you write a country song

 

There’s a burning and a yearning in the pocket and the soul

That’s how the singing and the living move along

There is doping and there’s hoping to try to make things whole

That’s how you live a country song

 

In stony lonesome the days are long

That’s why you write a country song

 

A little solo by the fiddle in the middle

As the tempo slides on down from quick to slow

Corn grits on the table and hot cakes on the griddle

And the singer’s trembly voice gets soft and low

 

Men are weak so women must be strong

That’s why you write a country song

 

There’s the home place on the hillside, just beyond the light

As the day is getting dark with shadows long

There’s the family, in a circle, just barely out of sight

That’s how you end a country song

 

Thank you, Jesus, to you we all belong

That’s how you end a country song

 

John Robert McFarland

“When you’re happy, you enjoy the music. When you’re sad, you understand the lyrics.” George Jones