Cowboys have their fair share of heartbreak, providing plenty of fodder for songs that speak to the human experience. Some songs manage to combine the saddest of predicaments with the most joyful of tunes. That juxtaposition still thrills me, even when the thrill is gone. Check out this dastardly ditty by Sweet Megg, and then check out the rest of her repertoire – it goes wonderfully well with this Fall of the Cowboy.
Oh why did I trust you
I’m losing my mind
I should have seen through you
I must have been blind
I tried to be honest
I tried to be true
But what good did it do me
I’m bluer than blue
You left me to worry
You let me do pain
But still I’m not sorry
You know I’d do it again
It’s giving the same sort of gleefully-woeful lost love song vibe as some of Patsy Cline’s seminal work. Singing through the heartbreak is how the cowboy heals their wounds – well, maybe not singing so much as listening and hearing after the fall. And for those of us who have fallen before, no matter how long ago it might have been, a song and its primal attempt to reconcile what happened will always tug at the heart.
I told you I loved you
What good did it do
When you’re on my mind dear
I’m bluer than blue
I weep on my pillow
Then I walk the floor
I worry my heart out
Then worry some more
When you have a blue day or night, just hearing that someone else has gone through it, and put it to song and musical contemplation, eases the burden a bit – the way a shared heaviness disperses slightly when more people take up the weight. One of the most comforting thoughts on earth: we’re all in this together. The mess, the sadness, the loveliness…
It’s driving me crazy
This memory of you
I’ve got to forget you
I’m bluer than blue
