From today's Times and News-Star
Went
to El Paso and San Marcos in the past month. If these were the only towns in
Texas you’d ever visit, you’d swear the state bird was a rock and the state
flower was a Mexican restaurant. These parts of Texas have depth at both,
especially around El Paso, where a brown suit is called “camouflage.”
This
is an entirely good thing: I’ve always been pro rock – you know it, I know it,
the American people know it – and I could take Mexican food daily through a
tube to a vein in my arm. Good stuff.
But
a lot of Louisiana people don’t like Texas, something I’ve never quite
understood. It’s probably just competitive border rivalry. I say a state that
gave us Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Willie Nelson and the log ride at Six Flags is
a keeper any day of the week.
Texas
has also given us country music star and authentic cowboy George Strait, surely
one of the faces on the Mount Rushmore of Texas singers. Strait is in he middle
of his “Cowboy Rides Away” tour, which will end 30 years of getting jiggy with
it in a country kind of way out on the road. Those driving from north Louisiana
might already know that the closest concert stops in early 2013 are Oklahoma
City, North Little Rock, New Orleans, Houston and San Antonio’s Alamodome,
where tickets cost an arm, a leg, two steers and Hoss Cartwright’s 10-gallon
hat. The tour is to finish with 20 more dates in 2014, giving us time to save
up some pesos.
I
am trying to achieve liftoff on a pair of tickets but am not holding my
Louisiana breath. After looking at prices, well, this is where the redneck
rides away.
BUT,
a guy’s got to make a living and George certainly has given me and his other
fans our money’s worth over the years. In honor of this real-life rodeo roper,
rancher and Texas singer, here are the Top 10 George Strait Songs According To
Me. Keep in mind that this challenge is too big for me: I never thought any
person or group would break Conway Twitty’s record of No. 1 hits, but Strait,
with 59, got it done.
1. Amarillo
by Morning: Strictly a peer pressure choice, though I like it. Country Music
TV picked it as the No. 12 country tune of alltime. (He Stopped Loving Her
Today by George Jones was No. 1.) Also chosen by “The Austin Chronicle” as the
No. 7 song about a place in Texas. (El Paso by Marty Robbins was No. 1 –
Amen, brother! -- if you’re keeping score at home.)
2. She’ll
Leave You With a Smile:And your Stetson, but that’s about it.
3. Honk
If You Honky Tonk: Written by stud Dean Dillon, who also wrote the
following:
4. The
Chair and
5. I’ve
Come To Expect It From You, and
6. Easy
Come, Easy Go: I hope George is giving Dillon free tickets to the concerts.
This guy writes songs like Charlie Daniels plays fiddle.
7. The
Cowboy Rides Away, by Sonny Throckmorton. Strait knows where the best
songwriters hang out, rest assured.
8. Give
It Away: The boy in the song can’t even give his broken heart away. Bummer.
9. Go
On: It’s a happy song!, at least sort of.
10. Designated Drinker (with Alan Jackson): When
the guy hands over his keys in the first line, it’s NOT going to be a feel-good
tune.
Adios,
George.
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