Since I posted about Cake’s “Ruby,” below, I was reminded about a similar guy you need to listen to. I first heard about Jim White from my mom some years back, who had heard him on our public radio station and immediately bought his CD. I listened to it and was stunned A) because this was a type of music that I had never even contemplated before, a kind of country melody with almost a spare, hip-hop leaning, and B) that I liked music that my mom liked.

The melodies are laced with folksy Southern wisdom and stories, and a healthy sense of humor, and make you feel like you’re hanging out at a gas station on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere. And that’s a good thing.

From his Wikipedia entry: White was born in Pensacola, Florida to a Pentecostal family, and was influenced in his childhood by gospel music. According to various sources, he has been a comedian, a fashion model, a boxer, a preacher, a professional surfer, and a New York cab driver.

Maybe that explains the mash-up of genres. So if you’re in the mood for something different, download the song below, “10 Miles to Go on a 9 Mile Road.” Or just pick up his whole 2001 CD, “No Such Place.”

They tell me miracles abound now more than ever, but I don’t care.

They say it’s better to be blessed than it is to be clever, but I don’t care.

‘Cause I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road, and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.

For life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you…you….

You don’t get nothing for free, ‘less of course you steal it, at least that’s what the people say.

The sad irony of Love is how so seldom you feel it, yet it’s all you dream about, night and day.

From the splinter in the hand, to the thorn in the heart, to the shotgun to the head, you got no choice but to learn to glean solace from pain or you’ll end up cynical or dead.

Me, I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.

For life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking and a’talking and a’walking, ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you…THERE!!!

Sometimes you throw yourself into the sea of faith, and the sharks of doubt come and they devour you.

Other times you throw yourself into the sea of faith only to find the treasure lost in the shipwreck inside of you!

There ain’t no guarantees, none of that nonsense like on tv, just gotta roll the dice, and take your lumps.

You’re gonna get yourself knocked down, so better learn to stand back up, for those who dwell on disaster let sorrow be their master.

Me, I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.

‘Cause life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there.

My buddy Phillip works as a gas station attendant.

Strangers call his name to him a thousand times a day.

They don’t know him, they’re just asking “Phillip” for a “fill-up.”

Funny how fate plays tricks on us…that way—through the power of Love.

———————–

See also: “Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi”

There’s a new radio station in our town that plays old country songs. And while I absolutely hate “new” country, for some reason I don’t mind some of the old stuff. One of the songs they play is “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” by Kenny Rogers. Now, Kenny and I have a special bond because we share an August 21 birthday. And even though he looks downright scary because of all the plastic surgery he’s had, how can you hate on somebody who told you the story of The Gambler?

Anyway, while his slow version of “Ruby” is a classic, I prefer Cake’s version. You might remember their slow-burning song “The Distance” (“Reluctantly crouched…at the starting line…engines thumping…and pumping…in time…”) or their later hit “Short Skirt/Long Jacket.” But their cover of “Ruby” puts them firmly in jangly country-rock territory, stays true to the original with just a slightly faster beat, and a nice touch at the end.

This is a band that has dabbled in all kinds of different genres, from funk to ska, and excels at all of them. “Ruby” was on their album “B Sides and Rarities” and of course needs to go on your ipod.

This is the story behind the song, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The song is about a disabled, dying veteran of “that old crazy Asian war” (the Korean War), who begs his lover not to cheat on him. Songwriter Mel Tillis based the song on a couple who lived near his family in Florida. In real life, the man was wounded in Germany in World War II and sent to recuperate in England. There he married a nurse who took care of him at the hospital. The two of them moved to Florida shortly afterward, but he had periodic return trips to the hospital as problems with his wounds kept flaring up. His wife saw another man as the veteran lay in the hospital. Tillis changed the war to the more recent Korean War in the song, and departed from the ending that happened in real life: the man killed his wife in a murder-suicide. This is however alluded to in the song, with the singer avowing, “If I could move I’d get my gun and put her in the ground.”

You’ve painted up your lips
And rolled and curled your tinted hair
Ruby are you contemplating
Going out somewhere
The shadow on the wall
Tells me the sun is going down
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

It wasn’t me
That started that old crazy Asian war
But I was proud to go
And do my patriotic chore
And yes, it’s true that
I’m not the man I used to be
Oh, Ruby I still need some company

Its hard to love a man
Whose legs are bent and paralyzed
And the wants and the needs of a woman your age
Ruby I realize,
But it won’t be long I’ve heard them say until I’m not around
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

She’s leaving now cause
I just heard the slamming of the door
The way I know I’ve heard it slam
Some 100 times before
And if I could move I’d get my gun
And put her in the ground
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

Oh Ruby for God’s sake turn around

—————————

See also: Cake’s “Stickshifts and Safetybelts”

I know autumn technically begins in mid-September, but Labor Day always tends to be the “unofficial” end of summer, just as Memorial Day “kind of” begins it. So with that in mind, I present highlights from my summer.

Pro: Went to tons of movies. I liked “Tropic Thunder,” “Wall-E,” (surprisingly) “The Incredible Hulk” and semi-liked “Step Brother.”

Con: Saw “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.” How did this movie even get made? Adam Sandler can (and should) do better than this.

Pro: Finally got braces.

Con: Miss nachos like crazy. I guess I could eat them if I was careful, but how fun would it be to break the nachos into tiny pieces and half-gum them so as not to risk losing a bracket? Maybe someday I’ll get braver but I’d rather just wait. For now.

Pro: Getting a new car stereo for my birthday.

Con: Having said stereo stolen from my car less than a week later. That was really crappy.

Pro: Going to the state fair.

Con: Being so exhausted from a bad night with allergies that I didn’t much enjoy the state fair. And I also didn’t get a ribbon for my entry. Sucks.

Pro: Getting into the Olympics. I’m not a sports person at all but there’s just something about a bunch of random sports (racewalking, anyone?) that just draws you in. I especially liked the rebroadcasts in the middle of the night, since I wasn’t home a lot when they were first aired.

Con: Olympic withdrawal after it was over. I have to wait another four years for this?? I know the Winter Olympics roll around in two years, but it’s not the same, dang it!

So that was my summer. This season’s kind of anticlimactic when you get out of school. When you’re a kid, of course you can’t wait for summer to get here, and are way depressed when it’s over and school rears its ugly head. Now, it’s like, “It’s too freaking hot outside!” and you look forward to crisp days and wearing sweaters. And Labor Day rolls around way early this year, too, cutting short the summer fun. But I know, at least here in the South/Midwest, we’re still going to have 90-degree weather for the next few weeks, I’m sure, so maybe summer isn’t really leaving us alone yet.