Let me give you guys a brief summary of what several of my evenings have been like for the past few months. MONTHS, I tell you. As many of you may not know, one of my favorite TV shows is "Friday Night Lights". Sure, go ahead, gab all you want about cheesy melodramas filled with teen angst, boyfriend jealousy, & football games (hello, I'm a Texas girl whose high school won the Football State Championship, wait, I digress), but I am the Queen of these shows. I'll take the pride over the bashing. Back to my story: I heard a song in one of the episodes that I adored, but could not find who the artist was or what the song was called. Hours I sat (okay, maybe not hours) with my laptop open, watching the same 3 minutes of the episode, headphones in, trying to hear a lyric, just one comprehensible phrase of a verse, of this song that was barely considered "background music." I mean, this song was so faint & quiet it was nearly impossible to decipher anything the singer was saying. Two nights ago, I wake up Ben at midnight. Did I say wake up? What I really mean is shove him & say, "Hey, put these headphones on & see if you can hear what this guy is saying in this song..." This was not the first time I had done this to poor Ben. Poor Ben indeed. So my tired, grumpy, just-being-woken-up-husband put on the headphones & what does he say?!? Wait for it, wait for it...he says, "I'll tell you sir...Rhondi, he's saying I'll tell you sir." Those four little words. I'LL TELL YOU SIR. Those were the only understandable lyrics "we" could identify.
About 10 minutes later, victory was mine. Willis Alan Ramsey. He only recorded one album in 1972 which had my song on there, "Angel Eyes". I nearly cried when I saw it. Only because this meant that I could call off the search & finally let it die. I had a vision of what the singer would look like...really sexy, scruffy, maybe some remnants of a beard, clearly a catch. But I was not prepared for this guy. Why would I be? I was not even a blip on the world's radar in 1972.
Here are 2 lessons to be learned from this little sweetheart of a story of mine:
1. Marry someone with really good hearing.
2. Don't judge an album by its cover.
We'll talk to ya.
10 years ago
6 comments:
I added sweet Willis Alan to my friends on MySpace. I noticed that "Angel Eyes" has been played 42 times. How many of those are yours? Just thought I should ask.
Jana-at least a couple were me! Rhondi, I like it...I like your taste!
ok, you know we love the show-
is there a box set of the first episodes yet?
AND by some mistake, we wre watching the MOVEI Friday night lights, and the WIFE in the show is the WIFE in the Movie! (We love her). AND Mr. Garrity is a radio guy on the movie.
ok, I'll stop.
ok so I am not quite sure that is how I pictured the cover when you explained it to me! Wow! I will go and listen to it. I love the story!!!
Glad to know there's a new Willis Alan Ramsey fan out there. You should know that he is a favorite of many other musicians, including Lyle Lovett and Shawn Colvin (they've each recorded covers of WAR songs).
Willis is still kicking around, doing concerts all around the country. He's been promising that there'll be a second album from him, but he's been saying that for 30 years.
wayne jones is so proud of you. we'll talk to ya.
todd & kris
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