Country Roads, Happy Easter, and Sally Lives On

by Cousin Geoff:

I hope you all had a nice holiday weekend.  I spent mine in northern Michigan, all day out in the woods on snowshoes, shot some guns, found the best walking stick ever off a downed oak branch, and spent time with family.  I also gave away one of my dogs.  Sally the hound, gone, too much for me and my wife now with baby Ella.  Despite her bad behavior (constant nervous energy, getting up on the couch, in the garbage, that old coon-hound howl at all the wrong times) I was sad to see ol’ Sally go.  We’ve had a lot of good times in the past four years, but she’s just an up north dog, and not an Ypsilanti dog, and that’s just the truth.  My other dog Zoe we’re keeping, but she’s feeling down and out because Sally was her constant companion.  A sad story, but they are afterall, just dogs. 

Driving home today, I heard Toots and The Maytals sing Country Road on XM, and I realized that a good song is a good song, and a good friend is a good friend, even if it ain’t nothing but a hound dog.  Ann Arbor’s The RFD Boys (been meaning to write about these guys for a long time, and I will eventually) do a great version of this, more true to John Denver’s original, and very different than Toots and The Maytals, but still the same song. 

The RFD Boys version:

Toots version:

It’s Easter and I missed church today but I haven’t been in forever anyway.  So I’ll make up for it by including a few Jesus songs in this sermon.  More proof that a good song is a good song - Jesus is a Soul Man.  One of the Cousins’ favorites is the version by the Pathway Quartet - I compared it to the Otis Williams version in a previous post. 

As for Sally, I think she’ll be happy up north.  For some reason the Harry McClintock, Hallelujah I’m a Bum song pops in my head.   Hallelujah, I’m a bum.  Hallelujah, bum again.  HalleluJAH, give us a handout, to revive us again.  Well, as Bunny Wailer says, Time Will Tell.  Good luck Sally, may Jesus and St. Patrick lead you down a good Country Road to help you be Reborn.  Maybe there’s hope for you afterall.  Then again, maybe Elvis was right.