Challenge...Answered!

So music is art. I don't think we'll get many arguments. But it's not often that we find poetic lines amidst a down and dirty country song that speaks of rolling joints and sticking your ass in the sand.

Truth be told, I don't listen to country music anymore. I hail from Music City: Nashville, TN. But I grew up in the suburb of Brentwood (not exactly rural, more where country stars live than where they are born) and knew only the society side of the city. This is just background for my annihilation of the song I am about to present.

Here are the complete lyrics:

"I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. Life is good today.
Well, the plane touched down just about 3 o’clock
And the city’s still on my mind
Bikinis and palm trees danced in my head
I was still in the baggage line
Concrete and cars are their own prison bars like this life I’m living in
But the plane brought me farther.
I’m surrounded by water
And I’m not going back again

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. Life is good today.

Adios en vaya con dios
Yeah I’m leaving GA
And if it weren’t for tequila and pretty senoritas
I’d have no reason to stay
Adios en vaya con dios
Yeah I’m leaving GA
Gonna lay in the hot sun and roll a big fat one
And grab my guitar and play

Four days flew by like a drunk Friday night as the summer drew to an
end
They can’t believe that I just couldn’t leave
And I bid a due to my friends
Because my bartender she’s from the islands
Her body’s been kissed by the sun
And coconut replaces the smell of the bar and I don’t know if its her or
the rum

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. Life is good today.

Adios en vaya con dios
A long way from GA
Ay, and all the muchachas they call me “big poppa” when I throw
pesos their way
Adios en vaya con dios
A long way from GA
Hey boss dome a favor and pass me the Jaeger
And I’ll grab my guitar and play

Adios en vaya con dios
Going home now to stay
The senoritas don’t care-o when there’s no dinero
You got no money to stay
Adios en vaya con dios
Going home now to stay

Just gonna kick it by the lake
Put my ass in a lawn chair
Toes in the clay
Not a worry in the world a PBR on the way
Life is good today. Life is good today."

It was Thursday and I had the unusual freedom to be flipping through radio stations in the car. The second verse of this Zac Brown Band song caught my ear. Not having heard the first parts I was immediately swept away to the islands. Smells of coconut and buttery rum and visions of brown-skinned women with come-hither eyes beckoned me to the singer's dream. And I repeated the words into memory.

And then I found the song.

The words I picked out are orchids among carnations, flowers on dirt. I love that this band is capable of such imagery, and I love that these images are the few I was able to hear in a song of so much crassness.

Honestly, I had more to say tying this in with writing, but my head isn't in it today. Maybe a commenter can do it for me?