4:38 PM :: Stephen (contact)

A Good-Timin' Man: In my last few days in Oxford, my friend Rhett introduced me to the music of country legend Waylon Jennings. It's just terrific -- there's a foot-stomping joy in each song that I hadn't heard in a while. You can listen for the nuggets of earthy wisdom in "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)":

The only two things in life that make it worth livin'
Is guitars that tune good and firm-feelin' women

Or for the grasp of human character in "Good-Hearted Woman":

She's a good-hearted woman in love with a good-timin' man
She loves him in spite of his ways she don't understand
Through teardrops and laughter they pass through this world hand in hand
A good-hearted woman, lovin' her good-timin man

He likes the bright lights and night life and good-timin' friends
When the party's all over she'll welcome him back home again
Lord knows she don't understand him but she does the best that she can
This good-hearted woman lovin' a good timin' man

Or just for the fun of singing along with Waylon and Willie Nelson in "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys":

Cowboys like smokey old pool rooms and clear mountain mornings
Little warm puppies and children and girls of the night.
Them that don't know him won't like him and them that do
Sometimes won't know how to take him.
He ain't wrong, he's just different, but his pride won't let him
Do things to make you think he's right.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks.
Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such.
Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
'Cause they'll never stay home and they're always alone.
Even with someone they love.

If you see Josh and me on the New Haven Green next year, playing croquet, drinking Pimm's, and belting out "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to cowboys!", now you'll know why.