"Backwards" and "Harley"

I'm not much of a country music fan, but my daughters are. Hannah recently purchased the latest Rascal Flatts CD, and I really enjoyed the words to their song "Backwards":

...
I was sittin' on a bar stool,
In a barbecue joint in Tennessee.
When this ol' boy walked in,
An' he sat right down next to me.
I could tell he'd been through some hard times:
There were tear stains on his old shirt.
An' he said: "You wanna know what you get,
"When you play a country song backwards?

"You get your house back, you get your dog back,
"You get your best friend, Jack, back.
"You get your truck back, you get your hair back,
"You get your first an' second wives back.
"Your front-porch swing, your pretty little thing,
"Your bling, bling, bling an' a diamond ring.
"You get the farm an' the barn an' the boat an' the Harley:
"First night in jail with Charley.
"It sounds a little crazy, a little scattered and absurd,
"But that's what you get when you play a country song backwards."

Well, I'd never heard it said quite like that,
But it hit me in the face in the face 'cause that's where I'm at.
I almost fell flat out on the floor,
He said: "Wait a minute, that's not all: there's even more.

"You get your mind back, you get your nerves back,
"Your first heart-attack back.
"You get your pride back, you get your life back,
"You get your first real love back.
"You get your big-screen TV, DVD an' a washin' machine.
"You get the pond an' the lawn and the bell an' the mower.
"You go back where you don't know her.
"It sounds a little crazy, a little scattered and absurd,
"But that's what you get when you play a country song backwards."

Which also reminded me for some reason of a great song written by Don Henry and sung by Kathy Mattea that we used to listen to several years ago...


Harley
Sung by Kathy Mattea
Written by Don Henry

There was a motorcycle mama and her man,
With a wind burn tan and a Harley.
Roaring through Bakersfield, when her water broke,
They pulled into a hospital and for a little joke:

They named him Harley,
They bought a sidecar and,
A small bandana band,
And they loved their Harley.

Sliding sideways up the coast, cruising highway one,
The side car came undone, no one noticed.
Thrashing through a golden meadow it came to rest right where,
A farmer's wife cried: "Jesus Christ has answered all our prayers."

And they named him Harley,
Because of a tattoo,
That claimed his name was true.
And they loved their Harley.

He was raised upon a farm,
Cradled in the arms of Beaula and Barney.
But then at a restless age,
They unlocked the cage and he became a Carney.

There was a motorcycle daredevil to luck.
Jumpin' fifty trucks at the fairground.
A middle aged hippie couple way up in the stand,
Heard the crowd chanting loud the name of this young man.

And they called him Harley.
And that hippie couple smiled.
Could this be their long lost child?
So they met Harley,
Convinced him of the news,
When they compared tattoos,
And they love their Harley.

Sometimes you just can't beat good country music.

But, usually you can.