This probably should be included as part of the “back-fill” since it relates to something that happened last week, but I’m figuring no one is actually going to read anything but the new stuff, so I’ll date it today.
Anyway, last weekend I was in Cape Cod. On Saturday, I went to see a play in New Bedford, MA (on the mainland, just south of the Cape), and on the way back to my stepmother house (where I was staying), a thunderstorm started — Lot’s of rain, and lots of “sheet” lightning.
“Sheet” lightning (also known as “heat” lightning) is a flash that fills sky, and often without audible thunder. Actually, it just regular lightening, it’s just further away from the viewer, and the light is more diffused.
So, when I finally got home and was getting ready for bed, I open the shades on the window so I see the flashes of lightening, ‘cause it was a good show. This reminded me of another misheard lyric.
In the song “Okie From Muskogee” (The only version I’m familiar with is the Phil Ochs’s rendition from his album “Gunfight at Carnegie Hall”), there’s a line:
- Where Lightning’s still the biggest thrill of all
Basically saying “You big city folks can keep your fancy fireworks – here, we enjoy nature’s light show”
But it just sounds that way when Ochs sings it. If you listen real closely, it turns out what he’s actually singing is:
- White Lightning’s still the biggest thrill of all
In other words, it means “You big city folks can keep your fancy marijuana —here, we get plastered on our own home-made hooch”.
Like “Honest Illusion”, I kind of like my version better, and, now, it’s given me something to replace “A Demo Blog” as the subtitle this website.