Carole King, David Allen Coe and Us

I just heard a story about Carole King on NPR. I have always loved her. She asked never to have to sing "It's Too Late" ever again. But she does and once she begins she feels the crowd, each different and each loving her, singing that song. So, she continues to sing it. My favorite is You've Got A Friend. Memories flood back when I hear her music. Mostly good....

She is apparently doing concerts to pay tribute to the private homes and small venues she sang in for environmental and political events. She thought she could do more good in larger venues and give it a living room feel. Gotta love that. Called The Living Room Tour. I think that is very clever. I would love to see her. I doubt that I will. However, I would love to get her new 2- CD set being released on July 12th. It has two new songs and seven of her top rated songs. Twenty one songs in all....Appropriately called The Living Room Tour. Her website is a bit confusing, as it shows 21 songs, but the article says there are 27 songs. They will be sold at Starbucks too. Another reason to go in for a half caf blended mocha. One other thing that caught my eye in the article was that the writer said, "No one performs Carole King's classic songs better than she does."....DUH

In other news, My cousin and his wife and daughter are coming over tonight. We always have a ball and laugh our heads off. Ronnie and Lindsay were in the raft that overturned in the Kern River a couple of weeks ago. Since then ten more have done the same thing, and most did NOT survive. But, I digress. Lindsay is going to spend a week with us. It will be fun to have Lindsay for a week. Pam and Ronnie will surely miss her.....I think this is the third year she has stayed with us for a week. She looks forward to it, and until this year, I wondered why. This year she is as into Anime as my daughter Zoe.

Ronnie and Pam are bringing a mega lobster and crab legs for dinner. And a pot big enough to cook the shelled creatures. Sounds yummy, yes? If it doesn't, I don't want to hear it!

We will sing, lots and lots of songs. We love to sing mostly country songs. But we also sing themes to dumb old comedies, Green Acres, Gilligan's Island among them. Never leave out Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody... Not a wonderful singer, but what I don't have in ability, I make up for in enthusiasm. Of course we will sing, "I'll Never Swim Kern River Again." We always sing a song, generally toward the end of the night, by David Allen Coe, called "You Never Even Called Me by My Name." It is well known in our family and everybody joins in. Newcomers get a kick out of watching us stumble through the words, but we ALWAYS get the last verse right! Here it is....


SPOKEN:
WELL, A FRIEND OF MINE NAMED STEVE GOODMAN WROTE THAT SONG AND
HE TOLD ME IT WAS THE PERFECT COUNTRY & WESTERN SONG. I WROTE
HIM BACK A LETTER AND I TOLD HIM IT WAS NOT THE PERFECT COUNTRY
& WESTERN SONG BECAUSE HE HADN'T SAID ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT MAMA,
OR TRAINS, OR TRUCKS, OR PRISON, OR GETTIN' DRUNK. WELL HE SAT
DOWN AND WROTE ANOTHER VERSE TO THE SONG AND HE SENT IT TO ME,
AND AFTER READING IT, I REALIZED THAT MY FRIEND HAD WRITTEN THE
PERFECT COUNTRY & WESTERN SONG. AND I FELT OBLIGED TO INCLUDE IT
ON THIS ALBUM. THE LAST VERSE GOES LIKE THIS HERE:

WELL, I WAS DRUNK THE DAY MY MOM GOT OUT OF PRISON
AND I WENT TO PICK HER UP IN THE RAIN
BUT BEFORE I COULD GET TO THE STATION IN MY PICKUP TRUCK
SHE GOT RUNNED OVER BY A DAMNED OLD TRAIN

AND I'LL HANG AROUND AS LONG AS YOU WILL LET ME
AND I NEVER MINDED STANDIN' IN THE RAIN
NO, A' YOU DON'T HAVE TO CALL ME DARLIN', DARLIN'
YOU NEVER EVEN CALL ME
WELL I WONDER WHY YOU DON'T CALL ME
WHY DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME BY MY NAME

Now, doesn't that sound like one hell of a ending to a funfilled night? LMAO...As I will be doing tonight!