Nobody Gets Off

Got to thinking about Garth Brooks and his music after his live concert show aired last week. 

We only caught parts of the show – we were watching the Barbra Streisand concert on PBS, and whenever they cut to Channel 8 to beg (and beg, and beg) for money, we would switch to the Brooks show.  Actually caught a lot of it that way.

I’ve always been a Brooks fan.  Honey not so much, and she just about wrote him off entirely when he dumped his wife for Trisha Yearwood.

If you are not already in the Garth Brooks camp, it might be hard to explain his appeal.  He is far from being the best guitar picker to come down the pike, and his voice – even for a country music singer – is mediocre at best, but he has a way with a song that is remarkable. 

I think it all comes down to timing. His phrasing, like certain old jazz singers – Frank Sinatra comes to mind – makes his rendition of a song more dramatic, more compelling, than any other version.

Brooks has also written some of the best country songs of the last 30 years, songs that were strong enough to transcend the Country market and become pop hits. 

Oddly enough, my favorite Garth Brooks song is one he did not write, isn’t in his concert repertoire, and is one you may have never heard.  Written by Dewayne Blackwell and Larry Bastian, it was track #2 on the 2006 album titled Garth Brooks -

Nobody gets off in this town
Trains don't even slow down
My high school sweetheart's married and gone
They met on a bus to San Antone

The Greyhound stops, somebody gets on
But nobody gets off in this town

Nobody gets off in this town
Old folks 'round here wear a frown 
Now let me see if I can set the scene
It's a one-dog town and he's old and mean

There's one stop light but it's always green
Nobody gets off in this town

Nobody gets off in this town
High school colors are brown
They can't drag Main because it kicks up dust
Their cars and their dreams are all starting to rust

The high school dances are always a bust
Nobody gets off in this town

Nobody gets off in this town
They oughta just tear it down
'Cause in the winter, you freeze
And in the summer, you fry

Utility bill's the only thing that gets high
I'd go for a drink but this county is dry

Nobody gets off
Nobody gets off
Nobody gets off in this square, old merry-go-round
No, nobody gets off in this town