Wednesday 14 July 2021

Mid-Life Crisis Songs #65: Shopworn


I wanted to dig into Porter Wagoner's back catalogue and found myself irresistibly drawn to his 1967 album, The Cold Hard Facts Of Life, which surely has one of the greatest album covers of all time. If a picture's worth a thousand words, this picture's worth a thousand country songs. Although the ending of this story is much darker than you might expect...


Shockingly though, that isn't my favourite track on the album. Instead, I point you towards a classic spoken word Mid-Life Crisis misery-ramble... they don't make 'em like Shopworn anymore.

Did you ever think of life as just a shop along the street
And yourself as a product displayed in easy reach
And you laid there for some quite some time now and pondered at your fate
Then you begin to wonder if maybe you'd hit the market late
Wealth had looked you over once and seen you at your best
But somehow you didn't fit his needs so he took one of the rest
Love had read your label and you lingered in her mind
But the competition caught her eye and she left you there behind
Fame had brushed the edges or the counter where you lay
And she pondered for a moment but then she walked away
Lady Luck had even picked you up but then you heard her say
I just can't afford you so I'll have to let you lay

This one has a slightly happier ending though...

5 comments:

  1. Speaking of misery-rambles, howzabout George Jones "Things Have Gone To Pieces"? Or "Seeds And Stems (Again)" by Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen.

    Tears tae a glass eye, I tell ya.

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  2. "Well, my dog died just yesterday and left me all alone
    The finance company dropped by today and repossessed my home
    That's just a drop in the bucket compared to losing you
    And I'm down to seeds and stems again, too..."

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  3. Blimey, what a cover that is.

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  4. Committed to Parkview is my favourite Porter song
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zuo7U0ZEeYI

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  5. Aw, what an ending, and what an analogy. And of course from 1967, my favourite year to return to it seems. So many genres back then but so many great songs.

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