"..kisses sweeter than wine.."
One thing I loved about working in the Paging Department was the discharge shift. Busy, fast paced, on my feet, always hustling, music fueled. We had a democratic music system there in the back room: whoever was at the discharge desk was in charge of the deck. So it was there that I discovered Jimmie Rodgers again, long after those long ago days when my pop would spin his hits on his portable record player.
Maybe it was music your people played, too, that you had fond memories of, no matter, there it was, softly playing in the background on your shift at the desk. It had been years since anyone I knew cared about that old pop singer of old folk hits. It was just another thing that I found endearing, if not plain old quirky, about you. We both grooved on his songs, cool, and if not together, at least there across the room from one another.
This weekend Jimmie popped up again. It wasn't really even noticed at the time, wasn't till I got back home and sat down and started writing this piece. What a weekend it's been, one filled with too much down time. Thank goodness for my movie shift this afternoon as I need a reason to make my way out of this house, out from behind the computer, back into the land of the living, and not just as a customer in the midst of a ten second exchange with a merchant. I need flesh and blood and plenty of real time, face to face, interchange.
All to the good considering I woke up this morning with heavy remnants of strange dreams still working their way through my head. Those late night visitations have been hard to shake and what's worse is that a song, a song we shared long ago, has kept them at the forefront of my mind.
It was probably the supper that did it. Might have been the day, too. Been five years now, five years on this path. I dodged the heaviness of it all all day long, kept myself busy, cooked, cleaned the fridge, wrote to folks, kept above it. But things have a way of catching up, of ambushing you, and so they did. I ate well, drank well, popped in a couple movies and then, sleepy eyed, turned out the lights.
So, enflamed by Riesling, approved by Bacchus, I went into vino fueled sleep, one tightened down and made easier by a heaping platter of cole slaw, lime and chili marinated flank steak and a fistful of baked potatoes. It wasn't a restless sleep until you appeared. Maybe it was my focus earlier in the day on the family decamping five years ago, maybe it was a case of just too much time spent on my own in this house, or maybe it's just because I am tired of the path I'm on and need someone, something, to give me some serious direction but nevertheless, there you were, center stage in my dreams, unbidden, unasked for, but a key player nonetheless.
Somehow the Estranged One's sister brought you to me, as you were both members of the same parish or church, something like that. She walked me through your house and there you were. Somehow I found you in the living room, partially clad, your long pale flank was exposed, but, once it was tucked away we went away, out the door, arm in arm. That stroll didn't last long as I woke up out of the dream, highly perturbed. My heart was racing and yet, strangely, I wanted to get back in, and somehow, I did. The second pass was stranger, as I kept having to dodge the Detective in your house. You were moving to Kansas in that dream, our kids, much younger, were interfiled, household things were scattered everywhere and somehow I was left in charge of pick up, all the while having to stay out of the way of you and your man.
That was enough for me, and thanks to the cat I woke up again, this time at a reasonable hour, six or seven, not so much refreshed but hungering for a real visitation, a honest to goodness siting. So I fueled up on coffee, put in a short road trip, hung out under the overpass and waited for nothing, then came home to face yet another day, but this one with the built in work shift. Thank god.
But what sealed that dream in concrete this morning was hearing Jimmie Rodgers sing Kisses Sweeter than Wine. It's the lead song on a compliation I picked up at Starbucks during that last heart rending road trip I made to Boise. I spun that cd this morning waiting for you to pass and song after song seemed to be so appropriate, seemed to conjure you up, seem to recall that fevered dream you were so recently part of. But that one particular song fairly reeked of long shelved sentiment and times spent wishing for, or maybe, just dreaming of, times long gone. Yeah, maybe, in this case, after seeing what I saw last night in those dreams, maybe those times, those memories, those emotions we shared, maybe were just plain made up, figments of my imagination, the stuff of hard charging, heavy sweating paging duties. Maybe, maybe not, but all I know for certain is that dream of you last night was most certainly fueled by a very nice, very sweet and lovely bottle of Riesling.
Ummm, ummm, baby, your kisses were sweeter than wine.
Peace, your WHMB
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
Words & Music by Paul Campbell & Joel Newman**Recorded by Jimmie Rodgers*, 1957 (#3)Also recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary; First recorded by The Weavers, 1951
Em D C Bm
When I was a young man and never been kissed
Am Bm7 Em
I got to thinking it over what I had missed.
Em D C Bm
I got me a girl, I kissed her and then, and then,
Am Bm7 Em
Oh Lord, I kissed her again.
Chorus:
G D9 Em B7 Em
She had kisses sweeter than wine, she had
G D9 Em B7 Em
Oh - oh kisses sweeter than wine.
I asked her to marry and be my sweet wife,
And we would be so happy the rest of our lives.
I begged and I pleaded like a natural man,
And then, Oh Lord, she gave me her hand.
Chorus:
I worked mighty hard and so did my wife,
Workin' hand in hand to make a good life.
With corn in the field and wheat in the bins,
I was, Oh Lord, the father of twins.
Chorus:
Our children they numbered just about four,
They all had sweethearts knockin' at the door.
They all got married and they didn't hesitate;
I was, Oh Lord, the grandfather of eight.
Chorus:
Now that we're old, and ready to go,
We get to thinkin' what happened a long time ago.
We had a lot of kids, trouble and pain,
But, Oh Lord, we'd do it again.
Chorus:
*While there's no question the Jimmie Rodgers version of the song scored higher on the charts, my personal preference for how to play it is fundamentally the Peter, Paul & Mary version. The choice of words and chording on the refrain is a synthesis of both. **The authors' names merit mention here, as well. The name "Paul Campbell" was the group pen name of the Weavers. The name "Joel Newman" was the pen name for Huddie Ledbetter, who was the source for many of Weavers' greatest hits in the late 40s and early 50s. The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.
Somehow the Estranged One's sister brought you to me, as you were both members of the same parish or church, something like that. She walked me through your house and there you were. Somehow I found you in the living room, partially clad, your long pale flank was exposed, but, once it was tucked away we went away, out the door, arm in arm. That stroll didn't last long as I woke up out of the dream, highly perturbed. My heart was racing and yet, strangely, I wanted to get back in, and somehow, I did. The second pass was stranger, as I kept having to dodge the Detective in your house. You were moving to Kansas in that dream, our kids, much younger, were interfiled, household things were scattered everywhere and somehow I was left in charge of pick up, all the while having to stay out of the way of you and your man.
That was enough for me, and thanks to the cat I woke up again, this time at a reasonable hour, six or seven, not so much refreshed but hungering for a real visitation, a honest to goodness siting. So I fueled up on coffee, put in a short road trip, hung out under the overpass and waited for nothing, then came home to face yet another day, but this one with the built in work shift. Thank god.
But what sealed that dream in concrete this morning was hearing Jimmie Rodgers sing Kisses Sweeter than Wine. It's the lead song on a compliation I picked up at Starbucks during that last heart rending road trip I made to Boise. I spun that cd this morning waiting for you to pass and song after song seemed to be so appropriate, seemed to conjure you up, seem to recall that fevered dream you were so recently part of. But that one particular song fairly reeked of long shelved sentiment and times spent wishing for, or maybe, just dreaming of, times long gone. Yeah, maybe, in this case, after seeing what I saw last night in those dreams, maybe those times, those memories, those emotions we shared, maybe were just plain made up, figments of my imagination, the stuff of hard charging, heavy sweating paging duties. Maybe, maybe not, but all I know for certain is that dream of you last night was most certainly fueled by a very nice, very sweet and lovely bottle of Riesling.
Ummm, ummm, baby, your kisses were sweeter than wine.
Peace, your WHMB
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
Words & Music by Paul Campbell & Joel Newman**Recorded by Jimmie Rodgers*, 1957 (#3)Also recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary; First recorded by The Weavers, 1951
Em D C Bm
When I was a young man and never been kissed
Am Bm7 Em
I got to thinking it over what I had missed.
Em D C Bm
I got me a girl, I kissed her and then, and then,
Am Bm7 Em
Oh Lord, I kissed her again.
Chorus:
G D9 Em B7 Em
She had kisses sweeter than wine, she had
G D9 Em B7 Em
Oh - oh kisses sweeter than wine.
I asked her to marry and be my sweet wife,
And we would be so happy the rest of our lives.
I begged and I pleaded like a natural man,
And then, Oh Lord, she gave me her hand.
Chorus:
I worked mighty hard and so did my wife,
Workin' hand in hand to make a good life.
With corn in the field and wheat in the bins,
I was, Oh Lord, the father of twins.
Chorus:
Our children they numbered just about four,
They all had sweethearts knockin' at the door.
They all got married and they didn't hesitate;
I was, Oh Lord, the grandfather of eight.
Chorus:
Now that we're old, and ready to go,
We get to thinkin' what happened a long time ago.
We had a lot of kids, trouble and pain,
But, Oh Lord, we'd do it again.
Chorus:
*While there's no question the Jimmie Rodgers version of the song scored higher on the charts, my personal preference for how to play it is fundamentally the Peter, Paul & Mary version. The choice of words and chording on the refrain is a synthesis of both. **The authors' names merit mention here, as well. The name "Paul Campbell" was the group pen name of the Weavers. The name "Joel Newman" was the pen name for Huddie Ledbetter, who was the source for many of Weavers' greatest hits in the late 40s and early 50s. The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.
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