She stepped out in the alley with her single shot .410

Maybe we've been too serious here, too much "gravitas" (remember THAT meme?). Well, since I'm all healthy mind in a healthy body grand-kilted-theory-of-everything I am going to steal a few minutes to brag on Texas.

Now, my kind of patriotism, or nationalism, or regionalism, isn't about "Yay we're great and you guys all suck!" So bear that in mind, while I tell you how much Texas kicks ass.

I guess you could file this one under "My long hair just can't cover up my red neck."

The clip above is the Highwaymen doing a song written by Joe Ely and popularized by Robert Earl Keen, and everything about it gets me going like bagpipes skirling and a good cup of hot coffee.

The Highwaymen? Johnny Cash. Waylon Jennings. Kris Kristofferson. Willie Nelson. Great jumping hornswaggles! These men wrote the soundtrack for my youth, and to this day I am "infused" with some of their spirit. Hard living Christian redneck commie pinkos, pretty much, with an anti-imperialist little c conservatism that helped form how I see the world. I'll modestly point out that not all of 'em were born in Texas---Johnny Cash was born in Arkansas, after all. (Let me lift a pint to diversity!)

Waylon Jennings was born in Littlefield, Kristofferson in Brownsville, and Willie Nelson in Abbot. Those are all in the GSOT, y'all, in case you didn't know.

Robert Earl Keen? Houston native (GSOT).

Joe Ely? Amarillo (GSOT).

Singer-songwriters, every one of 'em. They don't just sing their own songs, but they've written songs that just grab you, if you're Texas-inclined.

Let's take this song.

Here's the lyrics:

Sherry was a waitress at the only joint in town
She had a reputation as a girl who'd been around
Down Main Street after midnight with a brand new pack of cigs
A fresh one hangin' from her lips and a beer between her legs
She'd ride down to the river and meet with all her friends
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

Sonny was a loner he was older than the rest
He was going into the Navy but he couldn't pass the test
So he hung around town he sold a little pot
The law caught wind of Sonny and one day he got caught
But he was back in business when they set him free again
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

Sonny's playin' 8-ball at the joint where Sherry works
When some drunken outta towner put his hand up Sherry's skirt
Sonny took his pool cue laid the drunk out on the floor
Stuffed a dollar in her tip jar and walked on out the door
She's runnin' right behind him reachin' for his hand
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

They jumped into his pickup Sonny jammed her down in gear
Sonny looked at Sherry and said lets get on outta here
The stars were high above them and the moon was in the east
The sun was settin' on them when they reached Miami Beach
They got a hotel by the water and a quart of Bombay gin
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

They soon ran out of money but Sonny knew a man
Who knew some Cuban refugees that delt in contraband
Sonny met the Cubans in a house just off the route
With a briefcase full of money and a pistol in his boot
The cards were on the table when the law came bustin' in
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

The Cubans grabbed the goodies and Sonny grabbed the Jack
He broke a bathroom window and climbed on out the back
Sherry drove the pickup through the alley on the side
Where a lawman tackled Sonny and was reading him his rights
She stepped into the alley with a single shot .410
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

They left the lawman lyin' and they made their getaway
They got back to the motel just before the break of day
Sonny gave her all the money and he blew her a little kiss
If they ask you how this happened say I forced you into this
She watched him as his taillights disappeared around the bend
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

Its Main Street after midnight just like it was before
21 months later at the local grocery store
Sherry buys a paper and a cold 6-pack of beer
The headlines read that Sonny is goin' to the chair
She pulls back onto Main Street in her new Mercedes Benz
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

Now, if that doesn't capture the zeitgeist for you, I don't know what would. There's the desperation of small town America. There's the redneck outsider, the rebel in trouble with the law. There's the pernicious influence of "city folk." (Hey, it WAS a "drunken out-of-towner" who put his hand of Sherry's skirt.) There's doomed love, and ruthless pragmatism, and shotguns and dead cops.

It is as perfect as "Breathless." Heck, I think it's the redneck Breathless.

And no matter which version I'm listening to, Ely or Keen or the Highwaymen or anyone else who's done it, I just about always get goose bumps over the line "She stepped out in the alley with her single shot .410."