A lost romance is probably the most common theme in all of country music, aside from whiskey drinking. The two often go hand in hand.
One song about lost romance is Same Old Lang Syne, by Dan Fogelberg, about two former lovers who run into each other and go out for a drink. It’s a depressing song, and I never much liked it. Even when I was much younger, I knew that looking back was a bad habit—though I certainly did my share of it when it was my turn.
The story is about a man who runs into an old lover at the grocery store.
“Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve”
They make some small talk and decide to go out for a drink. Because it’s Christmas Eve, nothing is open, so they buy some beer and sit in her car catching up. She’s in a loveless marriage, and he’s a successful musician who spends much of his life on the road. It’s not an encouraging setup. And the chorus sets the tone perfectly:
“We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence
Another auld lang syne”
There’s no story here of a rekindled flame—which would be a far less interesting song anyway—and then, predictably, it ends poorly:
“The beer was empty, and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
And I watched her drive away
Just for a moment, I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain”
Wow—thanks for nothing, Dan Fogelberg. Except for the lesson that it’s not a good idea to revisit old loves. What’s lost is lost.
The Okie band Turnpike Troubadours seems to have taken the same lesson I did about the poor wisdom of running into old lovers in the grocery store and chatting with them. In their essential and deeply moving song “7 & 7,” vocalist Evan Felker tells the story of a grown man thinking back on an old love from when he was seventeen, when life was simpler and less burdened.
He and this girl—and likely others—were running wild, drinking Seagram’s, and playing dominoes. Now she has moved on, and he has not. And then, like Fogelberg before him, he sees his old love in the grocery store.
“Well, that old scene is always comin’ to me, I
I see you standin’ with your husband and your child
And you’re a picture of strength, and grace and beauty
And me, I’m just a fool in a supermarket aisle
Well, I, well, I know hello would surely end up awkward
I never had the knack for talkin’ anyway
You’re not the kind for bendin’ over backwards
Smile and turn my shopping cart around and walk away”
This young man, for reasons unnamed, can’t grow up, and the mothers of the girls he dated back then knew he would come to nothing:
“Well, I had no clue, I’d be the boy who
Your mama warned you about
Well, I had no clue, I’d be the boy who
Your mama warned you about”
And now, he’s alone, out there on the road, a trucker perhaps, but clearly not a successful musician:
“And I still do my share of sleepin’ on the floor
I’m not sure if anybody knows me anymore”
As sad as this is, it’s still better than inducing an old love to badmouth her husband and then watching her walk away as the snow turns to sleet. This man may be lonely, but he kept his dignity throughout. As far as old flames and grocery stores go, I find this to be a far better outcome. Enjoy!