Friends in Low Places

I'm not generally a big fan of country music, but some songs are just plain great, regardless of the genre in which they get stuck. What's funny about this song is that, while of course I had heard of Garth Brooks and probably this particular song, I never actually heard the song until one of my musician friends incorporated it into his set list, which was in 2007; the song came out in 1990. The best part was that he would twang the hell out of certain parts, shooting a wink my way because he knew I loved it. Over the course of several years, I heard him sing that song so much that I learned all the words, and I still remember every one. This song just delights me.

It could be that I just love the sound and lyrics, but it isn't. I've always had friends in all walks of life; if I got along well with someone, it didn't make any difference to me where they were from or what they did for a living -- and, really, don't we all have our own ideas of what "low places" are anyway? My brother used to say I had the best parties because all kinds of people from bikers to lawyers showed up, and that was literally true. (I've written in previous posts about being famous for parties at my house when I lived up north.) However, I'm not sure whether that's actually a spectrum. In other words, I don't know that bikers should be at one end and lawyers at the other. Regardless, knowing people from a variety of backgrounds is not only great entertainment; it's also a great education.

One last thing about this song . . . if you know my love for boots, you know how much I love that the first line is, "Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots and ruined your black-tie affair." My roots have nothing to do with my love of boots, but I have a lot of them, and no place -- no matter how high-class -- is too good for my boots! But some of them are really high-class boots.