Maybe they'll name a county after me

It may be that I was born to be a music critic. I recently came across my sixth-grade diary and cringed as I found a series of lovesick entries detailing how I was sure I would die if I couldn't get Angela W. to marry me (by the way, I had completely forgotten Angela W. and reading about her did little to refresh my memory. I had to go look her up in an old class photo) and some very embarrassing . . . well, fiction, I guess, although I agree with you that fiction doesn't belong in a diary. And the stories I wrote with me as the hero usually "swooping" down to rescue Angela from a monster or a bully who didn't respect her "timeless beauty" don't belong anywhere.

But this volume is not all mooning and swooping. It's also the repository of my first forays into music criticism. Evidently I loved "Hee-Haw!" thought it was "hilarious" (which tells you everything you need to know about my sense of humor), but not Buck Owens, and I complained more than once that they showed him too much - I'm not sure if I realized that he was the host of the show or not.

And I couldn't figure out if I liked Roger Miller's new song "Tom Green County Fair" or not:

"WHSL finally played it again. Maybe they're tired of me calling to request it. I think I like it. Roger Miller to me sings so good he could be the next Hank Williams if he wanted to. But he always has to get ridiculous. I like 'Chug-a-lug' even though its kind of bazaar (sic) but 'My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died' makes no sense. The new song is about going to the fair. That's it, going to the fair. But it's kinda catchy and not silly even though I can't believe there's an actual county anywhere named Tom Green. That's a person's name not a county's."

Those of you who've read the column for any length of time know that my opinions about "bazaar" country music have changed dramatically. I now think Roger Miller should be canonized. Buck Owens too. It's interesting to me that even though my sentiments today are different than they were back then, one thing that hasn't changed is what I believe I believe firmly.

In other words I've been opinionated for a long time.