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My Country and Western Song
by
Frank Blacharczyk
I want this to be my country and western song
A little twang brim of my cowboy hat hiding my eyes
tears in beers and lots of good-byes
And I’ll throw in a dash of truck with a dog and rifle
to add flavour
My guitar is my life I write songs that sound familiar
and different words that mean the same thing
My guitar is my life story it has tears in my beer tunes
Some of the strings are broken like my life
Only one string remains and
even that is a bit unsettled
I lost my first string
It was a gospel song when royalties were more
important than singing for God
Jesus was in a business suit expecting his
followers to meet their revenue target
nobody reads God’s words they are re-translated to satisfy
The second string broke
My daughter went to hell and I don’t know why
She was a tornado stripping our lives
leaving our bodies miles apart
and the dead were still breathing
My third string broke
When a new friend wetted my lips and shrouded my view of
the tornado’s damage
Unstoppable tears self-pity this was becoming a something done me wrong song
My fourth string broke
My lips hugged my friend she drowned my thoughts
She was my momentary joy my past present and future jailed
My woman was lost in the debris and we rarely talked
The words dropped to the pedal they picked up speed and
I attempted to stop them but I screeched and swerved the obvious
We were apart for a long time yet we saw each other everyday
Somewhere sometime the jukebox ended
I just don’t know when
I tried to plug it back in but no electricity flowed
Our music couldn’t play anymore
I don’t see the tornado anymore in fact I don’t see my woman
If only she left me for another man
I could tell the story over and over again over many beers
with many tears and fears to many ears
I am very sure Jesus was born but
I don’t know when our love was torn
When it went from real to reel
I hoped to re-wind and re-write
I’m still waiting by the phone to hear her voice say
I miss you
The fifth string trembles
Life breaks a string when you least expect it
The mind gets tired from lifting the debris
and like a puzzle searching for the right place
confused the pieces pile up with no destination
Life may play that Country and Western Song
on your jukebox leaving tears in your beers
and ears may get tired of hearing that same old song.
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