Vignette 6

On Christmas day, over lunch with my brother W, a remake of "Time After Time" came on the radio. Some girl who sounded really bubbly.

"Who is this?" Asked W.

"No clue," I shook my head. "Again, nothing beats the original." Referring to a previous discussion we'd had on the dozens of covers and versions of "Last Christmas" by Wham!

"There are exceptions," said W.

"Such as?" I asked.

W pondered for a moment. "Whitney..." He frowned, deep in thought. "Aah... What's that one called?"

I knew immediately he meant "I'll Always Love You".

"True, true," i concurred. "I did not enjoy the Dolly Parton version."

We decided that there was such a thing as "too country".

"I don't hate country as a genre," i said. "There are country songs i like... if the melody and the rendition is right."

"Name something," said W.

"I like Carrie Underwood," i said. "The first album anyway. It's not your typical country delivery."

W was skeptical.

"It's in the delivery, right?" I continued. "Recently i heard this one Christmas song by Dolly Parton, and it was refreshing. Her voice is quite nice." I couldn't remember the title "Hard Candy Christmas".

W was in accord. "Then there are the lyrics," W went on. "They're always much of the same."

"I know!" I exclaimed.

"Don't take my man," ventured W. "Don't take my cattle..."

I chuckled. "More like," i said. "Take my man but leave the cattle."

We cackled for like 50 seconds straight. W laughed so hard he turned red and teared up. I love when that happens.