Hard one today, I thought I’d go with just “If I Had a Pony” and stay somewhat short for a change, but I keep thinking of a few others to add. Got to the drinking songs and decided to end it there.

Feeling virtuous after a run yesterday and an hour in a Boot Camp workout today. Don’t need the temptation to rummage around for Old Granddad or go hunting for Turkey.

We start with the funny-looking fella (not the one from Fargo).

If I Had a Pony

This song just makes me happy. Lyle Lovett’s music in general makes me happy. Great musicianship. Easy and mellow to listen too. Fantastic songwriting. For years I only knew him as the funny looking fella that married Julia Roberts.

And he’s possibly better live than on his albums. I think it was Theresa Resek who got me hooked on Lyle.

Sometimes this song makes me remember Pepper, Meme and Pawpan’s pony. He lived in the bard on a couple of acres they owned behind our house in Carlyss. They had two quarterhorses for Aunt Lila to do barrel riding (I think). I remember two things about Pepper:

1. If you dangled a can of coke over the fence, he’d sneak up, snatch it in his teeth, and drink it.
2. I could ride him to the corner of the field, yell suppertime, and he’d gallop like hell to the barn. He’d fall for this twice, the third time he’d half ass it, there was no fourth time – he’d give you this fuck you look and not budge. However, those first two times were awesome – got to feel like John Wayne in a Western.

Same field, I also stepped on a 4 foot Copperhead. Thankfully, was chilly and he was sluggish. I think my feet touched the ground twice running back to the barn where the grass was beaten down. One last memory, a rat ran up Meme’s pants leg once. She caught it knee-ish area. She wasn’t letting it get any further and it wasn’t moving back down. Pawpan had to cut her pants to get it out. One of the regrets in my life is not having witnessed this firsthand.

Anyway, one day I’m buying a boat. Probably not a pony though.

I Am Changing

I’ve always thought this was one of the better songs from Dreamgirls (and there’s a lot of good music there). Jennifer Hudson owns this (how’d she not win American Idol again?).

And good words to live by, “I am changing. I’ll be better than I am.”

Had never heard this, but her live on Letterman is excellent.

I Ain’t Drunk

One of the great drinking song lines: I ain’t drunk, I’m just drinkin’.

Hell yeah, huge difference there.

I Drink Alone

One of the two great drinking songs by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. I grew up thinking, for no good reason, that drinking alone was a sad, sad thing to do. And I suppose that it can be.

And then I started imbibing alcholic beverages, and sometimes you just want to sit and have a bit of a drink and nobody’s around to have one with you. Quickly changed my mind.

Everytime I hear someone say drinking alone is pathetic now, I think of a scene from Mad About You (Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt sitcom in the 90s). Ira, Paul’s cousin, had just been dumped/left at the alter or something like that. So they’re talking and Reiser’s character gets up to leave and asks Ira if he’s just going to sit there and drink that bottle of champaigne. Ira says yep. To which he replied something to the effect of “that’s a little sad.” I love the response, “Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.”

Prost.