Hot and sunny: Mud to broken hearts
Sometimes dumb beasts aren’t so dumb. The cows are grazing at night and finding breezy shade during the heat of the day. Some like standing in the tank. (Texas word for “pond”).
Maybe we should take cues from cows and other mammals in case we lose power.
Remember when dogs lived outside and panted in hot weather? Didn’t they dig themselves holes so they could nestle in the cool earth? Flowerbeds suffered.
An equivalent strategy for humans might be simply to create a muddy spot to accommodate feet.
“It’s a treat to beat your feet in the Mississippi mud.”
Close your eyes, sing it and pretend you feel that cool mud between your toes. Feels good.
Oops! A look at the lyrics tells me I got it wrong. The song is about people having a good time after sundown, beating their feet “on” the Mississippi mud. I like “in” better. I grew up with mud puddles. Good for bare feet. In dry times, you could create a puddle with a water hose unless you lived in town and enjoyed paved streets – better for bicycles but not for mud puddles.
As for the Mississippi crowd, maybe they were just frolicking on firm mud and not trying to beat the heat, which, by evening, had abated. Either way, the thought of mud between the toes still comes to mind when I hear the song.
Not that anybody’s singing “Mississippi Mud” these days. We miss a lot.
If today’s lyricists would spend more time outside in the elements, they might be inspired to write more nature- and weather-related songs – like “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” or “(Tropical) Heat Wave.”
Disclaimer:
I don’t know what I’m talking about since I rarely listen to today’s music. I could be wrong.
It’s for sure love is still the main theme for popular songs. Right? Weather plays a supportive role. It’s a role that historically has not jibed with reality in places like Texas.
“You Are My Sunshine” is a crazy way to make somebody feel loved when the temperature is 106. When sidewalks are baking in the sun, who wants to be “On the Sunny Side of the Street”? (Not a love song, but still a song of the heart.) Yep, it’s a song rule that the sun represents good feelings and gray skies symbolize sadness.
“Stormy Weather” is another classic. “Since my man and I ain’t together, keeps raining all the time.”
The pathetic fallacy is at work. We humans give Nature a personality (to wit, Mother Nature) and think sunshine versus clouds somehow corresponds to our emotions. If nothing else, we are egotistical.
A good one is Paul Verlaine’s poem “Il Pleure dans mon Coeur.” My unpoetic translation of the beginning:
“It rains in my heart like it rains in the town; what is this languor that penetrates my heart?”
That’s not to mention Keith Whitley’s song “I’m No Stranger to the Rain.”
The pasture’s wearing thin. Rain rhymes with pain. We need more broken hearts.
Hanaba Munn Welch is a correspondent for the Times Record News who divides her time between Abilene and a farm north of Vernon. Her columns, as a tribute to the Childress Engine 501, always contain, amazingly, 501 words.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Hot and sunny: Mud to broken hearts Hanaba Welch column
