Country Song
written by: Silvana McGuire
The crowd is looking up at the dimly lit stage where the band had just finished an energized presentation of their latest dance hit. Round sweaty faces, beady eyes and broad smiles filled the space. The guitar echoed a few strikes and the screaming erupts in pace with their arms waving up in the air. A few of them are jumping in place, clenched fists puncturing the sky dome.
The lead voice can be heard from somewhere in the shadows, from beyond the dry ice fog that permeates the upper podium.
“‘Tis just a little song I made for you to remember me by…
‘Tis just a little song I made for you to think of me from time to time…
It goes like this, this little song of mine…”
The guitarist strikes a few cords to tune his girl in prep and the voice comes out husky as a lover in the morning after.
“As you drive away and watch the cars and trucks pass by on the road that leads you far
Far away from where we were
Don’t look at me getting smaller in your rearview mirror
For I wish you nothing more
There is nothing else I wish for
Than to see you succeed, honey”
The guitar picks up tempo as the drums and bass join in to switch into a rhythm that entices the crowd to swing as leafs in the wind, couples tighten their embraces, friends hugging in trios and quartets, all lip syncing in unison.
“As you drive away and watch the cars and trucks on the road that leads you so far from where we once were
Don’t look at me getting smaller in your rearview mirror
There is nothing else I wish for you
Than to see you succeed, honey
In the long road of life ahead of us
I want to hear that you’re happy
That your life panned out
Just like we had planned together under the summer stars
I want to hear that you carry no sorrows from your past into tomorrow
Babe”
A single flash of light beamed down onto the lead singer, a shy smile accompanies a few words, a whispered apology, “that was an easy one.”
The crowd below erupts in cheers, waving their cells phones for candles, young women crying, young men holding them tight around their waistline, their heads put together in adoration, all pairs of eyes moist while turned upwards facing the light on the stage.
“‘Tis song that I’m making
Is just so that you remember
How we weaved our hands and fingers together as we laid down on the lawn under the stars in summer camp
But now that we’re older I guess it’s ok that we part ways”
The choir joins in, three females moving in the cadence of the guitar chords. Their tight dresses, their silky skin, their carnation lips, their hearts are doing the singing.
“Don’t look at me in your rearview mirror
There is nothing else that I wish for you
Than to see you succeed, honey
In the long road of life ahead
I want to hear that you are happy
That your life panned out.”
Both bass and guitar players are now front and center, the lead singer slowly walking down a set of steps from backstage towards the middle of the ensemble. Every corner of it is now lit up in bright colors.
“You go where your dreams will, I am sure, come true as you drive away
Don’t look in your rearview mirror for I am not getting smaller I am just getting started honey.”
The guitar echoes every word, stringing a facsimile of the words just breathed by the singer. He kneels down and extends a hand to the public in the lower level.
“Since when we first met I knew you were the one for me, the only one I knew how my life would be
If we had the courage and the heart, a little luck maybe, together we would be
Invincible
But it was not meant to be, you said so sweetly, your faith in us one day, vanished
Suddenly
So today I helped you go, I watched you leave…”
Getting up, arms open enveloping the whole crowd, all voices in a chorus repeat one last time.
“As you drive away and watch the cars and trucks on the road that leads you away so far
Far away from where we once were
Don’t look at me getting smaller on your rearview mirror
There is nothing else that I wish for you
Than to see you succeed, honey
In the long road of life ahead
I want to hear that you are happy
That your life panned out
Don’t look in your rearview mirror for I am not getting smaller
I am just getting started
Honey!”
Lowering the voice, the head, the mike, the stage goes dark again as the last strings cry the band’s signature goodbye.
- Mais Que Presentes - December 15, 2019
- Spotlight On Writers – Silvana McGuire - February 9, 2019
- The Inn Bard - January 17, 2019
