COUNTRY BOY

I came up with this riff in drop-D tuning on my Dad's old Martin acoustic guitar when I was living in San Diego back in 2012. I was homesick, but not for Ohio. I was far from home and thinking a lot about my father's hometown of Statesville, Tennessee and my extended family there. I cast my eyes around the guest room where I was staying in a friend's house and saw a book on the shelf about New Orleans gumbo. That gave me the first line of the song but the rest of the lyrics are about my memories of visiting family in Statesville, some of whom are mentioned by name here. It was years later when I randomly juxtaposed some old home movies with the song to make the "music video" you see attached below. The images don't really correspond with the words in the song but I like it. "Lee Ann", for the record, was a friend of an older cousin that I had a crush on when I was like 8 years old. I probably only met her one time. It's funny the things you remember.

-rh

***

Smell that gumbo boilin’ at midnight

Just like Mama used to make

Memories flash thru my mind ‘til first light

Dreaming of home but I’m wide awake

You can take the boy out of the country

But you can’t take the country out of the boy

See my Lee Ann’s face so clearly

Just like it was yesterday

Barefoot girl sundress so near me

Her long hair blowing in my face

You can take the boy out of the country

But you can’t take the country out of the boy

Uncle Bobby’s motorbike rumblin’

Cousin Rhonda’s wedding bouquet

Vanilla wafers in banana pudding

Up on the hill on Graveyard Day

You can take the boy out of the country

But you can’t take the country out of the boy

Feel like going, like going home…