Phat Phrases
Words. Sentences. Name calling. Some things said or written amongst us deserve a special place and this is it. Ha. Or not. But let’s pretend this is it.
Some of my favorite examples of good word play have come from my family.
Songwriter and Uncle Guy (Clark), pictured above with Aunt Susanna in the 70s. Pardon me…I know there’s a universe more from Guy, but I like, “She’s Crazy For Leavin’”…Rodney Crowell sang it.
“So I kicked and I cussed
That old east Texas road
I throwed rocks at my truck
Which had busted my nose
You add insult to injury
What do you get
You get a bus stop full of honkies
That don’t ever forget.”
Aunt Susanna (Clark): “You’re a hard dog to keep under the porch.” And, “Quarter moon in a ten cent town.”
CT: “Shakespeare makes my head hurt.”
Suzie Talley: “I couldn’t stay with him. He sucked my aura.”
February 25th, 2008 at 10:09 am
LindsAy: “At least I wasn’t named after a girl with her fist up a lamb, Sherri…”
February 25th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I like it when Meteorologist Joe Haynes says:
“Pesky upper level low” and
“Patchy dense fog”
February 25th, 2008 at 11:46 am
And my favorite of late:
Tommy: “Hilarity ensued.”
Tommy, I’ve been using ‘ensued’ on the air where appropriate. “Violence ensued”, etc.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
your welcome to it, glad i could help.
tommy to ex-wife: “im naming my next stray cat after you.” hilarity ensued !
February 25th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Sher, I like it when Joe says “High priority vehicles”…now THAT’S some good-hiliarity ensuin’, gurl!
February 25th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Guy Clark is one of those singer/songwriters(like the late great Townes Van Zandt) who has never gotten anywhere near the recognition he deserves. I think the first songwriting success he had was when he wrote “L.A. Freeway” and “Desperados Waiting For a Train” for Jerry Jeff Walker in the early 70s.
True fact: Jerry Jeff Walker’s real name is Ronald Clyde Crosby and he grew up in Watertown, New York.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I wish I had a dime for every bad time
But the bad times always seem to keep the change
February 26th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
“Deadly lightning” is a favorite phrase of mine. You know, as opposed to the ‘non-deadly lightning’.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
bc317: I love both of those songs. Did not know that about Jerry Jeff. Townes Van Zandt and my aunt (Susanna) used to talk on the phone at exactly 8:30 every morning. Love his music, too!
February 26th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
sherri …your uncle wrote “shes crazy for leavin..”?thats one of my favs….back when you had tape decks i had that and played it on drives back and forth from ruston/latech…withwindows down as fast as my old 76 ford could go
February 26th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Also worth hearing or reading the lyrics:
Susanna Clark: I’ll be your San Antone Rose
The Cape (co-written by Susanna)
Come From the Heart (sung by Kathy Matea)
Guy: Boats To Build
Heartbroke (sung by Ricky Skaggs)
Dublin Blues
Baby Took a Limo to Memphis (I asked Guy if he wrote this about his wife. He said, “No, I wrote this one about your aunt!”)
Black Diamond Strings
Coat from the Cold
Townes: Poncho and Lefty
February 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I have always loved this one!
Too hot to fish, and too hot for golf
And TOO COLD AT HOME.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She’ll beat you if she’s able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet
Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get
February 28th, 2008 at 9:39 am
I saw Guy Clark in concert WITH Sher.
Yes, I’m THAT cool.
Oh, we were also stopped by the cops on the way home. They thought Sherri was driving “irregular”. Truth is, we were just laughing way to hard.
The conversation btw. Sher and the cop went a-little-something-like-this:
Officer: M’am (
February 28th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Darn it, I typed the whole convo out…let me try again.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Officer: M’am, I stopped you b/c you were driving a little funny.
Sher: Oh, we’re just laughing!
Officer…reaching out his hand…
Sher…reaching out her hand…”Sherri Allen, nice to meet you!”
Officer: Uh, no m’am. I need your driver’s license and registration please.
(In the meantime, I’m hunkered down in the front seat just a-laughing away. Trust me, MAJOR ensuin’ hilarity!)
February 28th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
“Your kiss is like the innocence of a prayer nailed to a door.”
–Radney Foster
February 28th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Pray that it’s raining on Sunday
And whatever comes on Monday
Can take care of itself
February 29th, 2008 at 9:24 am
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East and Juliette is the sun.
Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon
Which is already sick and pale with grief.
March 1st, 2008 at 7:17 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fBj2wsimvQ&NR=1
March 1st, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Trivia: Richard Leigh, who wrote, “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” (Crystal Gayle sang it), told me he wrote the song about his dog.
March 1st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxaQZX10jes&feature=related
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I remember the first time we met; you and two others (I believe perhaps; Casey Habich, & Jill Davies) had just finished a bike ride and I had just finished a three mile run.
Unfortunately due to lack of oxygen and being awe-struck by beauty I was incapable of coherent speech.
Something I have contemplated of late: “what does it profit a man to covet desire yet lose his soul”
Shalom