What should I do, Americana UK?

It’s been a slightly longer pause than anticipated since the last attempt to answer all conundrums posed in a song through the words of another song.  But here we are, back by the clamour of popular demand. And it’s a strange difficulty that we’ve faced this week.  The advice offices were visited by Brett and Rennie Sparks, better known as The Handsome Family.  And it was a truly heart wrenching story that Brett regaled us with – it seems that he was at a Carnival or State Fair, and didn’t visit all the sideshow tents he could have.  Between the hypnotist and the forgotten country stars was “Tiny Tina,  the world’s smallest horse – just a dollar to go see her just a dollar to see that little horse.”  The opportunity of a lifetime, and he’d blown it “Tiny Tina…why didn’t I go see her why didn’t I go see that  little horse?

Whilst it’s perfectly understandable to suffer from diminutive equine regret, in this particular case we had a suspicion that it was mixed up with selective amnesia. Or, as agony Uncle Tom Russell put it: “it’s one thing to recall not seeing a god-damn tiny horse, but it’s quite another to remember the gut-wrenching fear of facing Spanish Johnny the pugilist for two rounds. The pony was just for the kids, god-damn it“.  We checked our carnie records, and he was right.

Of course” he added with a drawl, “sometimes the fight is just a metaphor for something more basic to the human experience.  I mean love, god damn it.”  And he was right, as usual.   So, what had we learnt?  Don’t pass up on love and explain it away as a small pony you never saw.

Photo: Jesse Littlebird

 

About Jonathan Aird 2877 Articles
Sure, I could climb high in a tree, or go to Skye on my holiday. I could be happy. All I really want is the excitement of first hearing The Byrds, the amazement of decades of Dylan's music, or the thrill of seeing a band like The Long Ryders live. That's not much to ask, is it?
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