islands in the stream

this song is the karaoke version of itself but still does some thing to me that i can't ex plain. dolly's vocals are surprisingly light yet precise & kenny responds accordingly, holding back just enough to let dolly soar--a gentleman holding the door open.  the love feels true.

is this hold music? it's very margaritaville here where we've decided codependency isn't hot. we're not one island, we're islands--we each get half of the basement for our knick-knacks. the song is set in c major which is really the basic bitch of scales. no sharps, no flats. as uneventful and boring as a relationship with proper boundaries and good communication. it's the same chord progression as son of a preacher man or r-e-s-p-e-c-t which really shows you where this song could have gone. instead it's a polished diamond waiting to be strangled to death by the tongs of a wedding ring.

the only thing i've ever set out to get with a fine tooth comb was lice, but it's true, tender love is blind. more than professing love, this song seems hellbent on making the lonely feel utterly useless. "everything is nothing if you've got no one," sing the duo, sniping single beachgoers from their lifeguard chairs. if your love doesn't smolder like a skidoo in the sunset, dolly & kenny don't have time for you.

(this is the part in this blog post where i acknowledge how many times people have walked in on me with the lyrics to islands in the stream open. folks it is alarming. i must conclude this blog post soon...)

what is it about beach country? one youtube user comments "Okay, I changed my mind. Country music does not suck." another comments that she is 9 years old and will be singing it to her brother tomorrow for his birthday. it's a universal feel good song--"we ride it together" which might be figurative or might be filthy. we don't even mind that these islands are merely in A STREAM. still, it's undoubtedly a beach country classic--toes in the water, ass in the sand. kenny chesney fans unite under the banner of "no shoes nation" & in doing so, give themselves up to this same cult of eternal, unending shore. on the beach, we are free. all of the dreary country music cliches could be alive and well (lord knows I've cried on vacation) but somehow they really seem to dissipate. all you're left with are even-keeled professions of happiness & a beverage held inside a coconut.

the bottom line is this song is both perfect & disgusting, just like couples holding hands in public or men carrying pictures of their wives in their wallets. this song was made for first dances at weddings and dentist office waiting rooms yet for some reason i still want to huff it like it's the only thing that's gonna get me through science class.