While channel surfing on New Years Eve I came across a Hee-Haw marathon on CMT. While I am not a fan of country music and I normally would have kept flipping I had to stop and watch.
When I was a kid growing up in Talladega, AL Hee-Haw was a primetime mainstay at our house. We watched it almost religiously. I was too young to fully appreciate the genius of that show as a kid but over the years I have had occassion to think of it and wonder if it still came on and marvel at how good it really was.
I remember when I first met my Canadian friend Marc Emery and he told me that when he thought of Alabama he thought of it being like "Petticoat Junction". I remember laughing and asking him if he had ever watched Hee Haw and he said no. I told him that he should because it gave a much more accurate representation of what Alabama is like. Unfortunately, Canada does not carry Hee Haw. I pity the citizens who will never get to see it. They have not lived.
Last night was absolutely fabulous. I got to see the crazy old housewife with rollers in her hair tell her husband (who is always drunk) that she felt like having some animal passions since it was New Years Eve...to which he responded "Why me too...so let's split up and I'll see you in the morning." Later on the old drunk husband and Junior Samples were laying around with the old hound dog and Junior says, "You was about half drunk when I first saw you this mornin'....now why's that?"
Old drunk man says, "I musta run outta money."
I also got to see Loretta Lynn in her much younger days sing "Hey Loretta, I love you more than my Irish Setter, I'll buy you a new pair of over-hauls if you'll only come back home." I was also treated to Bill Monroe and his bluegrass band singing a gospel song. I don't care for gospel music but if Bill Monroe and the bluegrass band are playing then I am listening. I love bluegrass.
I also got to see Jerry Clower talk about Marcel Ledbetter who I had not thought of in years. Man Jerry Clower is a funny guy.
So, I know some folks will think me odd because I like Hee Haw....but I don't give a damn! Are there any other Cornfield County fans in my reading audience?
2 comments:
It brought back so many memories for me from my childhood. Wow! It is so funny how memories are triggered.
My kids haven't had the pleasure of watchng yet...but they soon will. They will probably think it is corny...and I guess it is but that is what makes it good.
One thing I tripped on last night was how much skin them gals was showin'! I had forgotten about that part and, looking back, I suspect the only reason we were allowed to watch it was because it had gospel music blended in with all them 'titties & beer' :)
Loretta:
I remembered seeing Hee Haw when I would be in hotels on the way to Miami Florida. I'm talking about my childhood in the 1960's [1968-1970].
[I was born in Ohio [1962] and [every summer] I would pass through Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The Hotels there had Hee Haw].
Hee Haw was great and funny. What I saw in Hee Haw were the sincere people of America and the South. It was one of the reasons why I loved the South more than the North.
It was one of those things that for me symbolized the American Spirit [including the South]: The Down To Earth Mentality missing in our world, The Comedy which was clean, the sense of family and home.
Many of the women in the South did complain about "dumb blondes" yet they would watch the show.
There was also an area where Grandpa Jones would direct a Gospel Chorus. That touched a cord in me because I never had a relationship with my Grandparents [because of the Cuba/USA Fracas I only saw my grandfather briefly in 1973 and my grandmother brielfy in 1994].
I still remember when Jerry Lee Lewis sung: "The Green Green Grass of Home" in one of the Hee Haw Episodes. [That song touches another cord in my soul because I think of my wife and daughter [as well as other members of my family, other reasons was this song was my High School Anthem in Venezuela and it was an unofficial hymn in Ohio].
My 45 RPM of the above song by this artist survived the wreckage of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and of the Hurricane Seasons of 2005.
I could not forget the appearances of Johnny Cash and Freddie Fender.
I think I wrote too much, but Hee Haw brought back these memories that I want to share with all of your readers.
As a gift for The Three Kings, [we in the Latin Community] have this as the official end of Christmas, I give you, and the American People this blog [which I also published in Amazon and Helium].
http://alvarezgalloso.blogster.com/alternative_usa_politics.html
Thanks for bring back my memories of Hee Haw.
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