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VC: lead & harmony vocals, Mosrite acoustic, Turner Renaissance guitar, Fender Precision bass, Yamaha CS1 (organ), drum programming; Anglea Hessler: violin & harmony, Mike Grow: lap steel

This song certainly is one of my greatest songwriting successes. I could never have imagined the events of the summer of 1992, not in my wildest dreams. My illusions about a past relationship had been painfully shattered when literally the love of my life walked right through my front door. Anna was the daughter of one of my housemates in north Berkeley and within five days of meeting we had fallen into bed together. This is so unlike me in so many ways since I usually become friends first before becoming intimate. But this was so right! As the weeks passed, Anna and I were struggling to find time to be together. There was a two-day period where I didn’t even see her. I found the situation nearly intolerable. I was surprised and frustrated that I had allowed myself to feel this way about another human being. In a stolen moment I told her how much I missed her…missed her every moment she was gone…missed every time she left the room.

I had the makings for a sad country song. There was a slow day at work where I was director of a new preschool. I had brought my guitar in to sing with the kids, as I was apt to do. I sat in the yard watching the three or four children that were there that afternoon. I picked up my guitar and thought…I wanna write a country song...hmmm….how about in the key of G…yeah…that sounds right….something about how much I miss my lover each time she’s away…something a la Hank Williams. Twenty minutes later (no exaggerations) I had succeeded.

I found myself hesitant to accept the realities that this song presented. Whereas it had been easy to play an earlier composition “Passion Kitty” for her right after I wrote it, it was not so with my new song. I was practicing it in the living room one afternoon when she walked in unexpectedly. “What’s that you’re playing?” she asked. I hesitated for a minute.
“It’s this old Hank Williams tune,” I lied. “It had been lost for years…they just uncovered it.” And so, for about week “Country Greens and Blues” was known as a lost Hank Williams song. I was beginning to realize that what had begun as a playful summer romance was deepening into something much stronger.

It finally gained the full arrangement it deserved with the New Americans and this recording shows that. I had dreamed for so many years of hearing violin on this song and as she has done with so many of my songs, Angela really makes this one great with her playing and singing.

Lyrics

I never thought that I could feel this way
I found it hard to smile even on a sunny day
(In the middle of the summer)
And for every moment that I had to keep the tears at bay
There are twenty more with a smile upon my face

Chorus:
I miss you in the morning, I miss you at night
I miss you every moment you're not by my side
And if there is one thing I will surely miss
It's the way you give to me your sweet kiss

And when you're back a-holdin' my hand
I'll squeeze you tight the way only I can
The green will sparkle brightly from your eyes
And I'll try to forget that we ever have to say good-bye

I go to work but I get the blues
Cause I miss you, I miss you
I take a walk wearin' my old shoes
And I miss you, I miss you
I see the sunset with the changing hues
Still I miss you, I miss you
I go to a bar- try to forget with booze
But I miss you

Well we may or may not have a lot of time
So I should not waste a minute with my cryin'
But the minutes seem like years while you're away
Yeah, I haven't seen you for nearly two whole days…

Chorus

I never thought that I'd....

VC
8/92

Vince Charming....Neo-Americana music for the New Millennium All contents copyright 2008 Charming Productions