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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 9:40:13 GMT -5
I've been posting a song on facebook every week on Mondays. Sort of my Quarantine Thing. This week I resurrected an old song that some of you might remember; Redneck Wedding. It was based on a story Johnne Coston told about a wedding she went to in rural Georgia. She called it, The Mother of all redneck wedding." It was a fun and touching story. So I wrote this song.
As I remember it, Johnne burned a CD from an mp3 I sent her and she gave it to the bride and groom. The loved it.
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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 9:42:20 GMT -5
PS - About 6 months later the bride gave birth to bouncing baby. Johnne suggested maybe I should write an addendum to the story. . . . , but that never happened.
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Post by coachdoc on May 11, 2020 9:51:49 GMT -5
Sounds good, but I can't make out the words. Post the lyrics?
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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 10:19:45 GMT -5
Get the mud out of your ears. ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) (or out of my mouth) Redneck Wedding - by Marshall Hjertstedt and Johnne Coston
Two balloons are hanging there. Like the invitation said And a piece of plywood with; “WEDDING” painted red Drove around the back to find no one I recognized. Just some redneck biker types. The father of the bride.
Groom’s wearing denim and white Bride’s in her bare feet steps light Preacher gets up to invite Papa leads the bride in “Good luck, my Darlin’. “
Music’s wafting through the air. A karaoke sound Hank Jr is singng how, “ his rowdy friends settled down” There’s barbecue for everyone, a toast that waits on ice. Arms entwined he’ll chug a "Bud." She’ll slug down her "Bud light."
Groom’s wearing denim and white Bride’s in her bare feet steps light Preacher begins to recite Couple says with a grin “I do, my Darlin’. “
(INSTRUMENTAL)
Groom’s wearing denim and white Bride’s in her bare feet steps light Sweet children prance down the aisle Couple says with a grin “Luv you, my Darlin’. “
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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 10:29:26 GMT -5
Here's the original post from Johnne (which I save in my Word file)
The Mother of all Redneck Weddings
Or how I spent my Saturday afternoon.
A few weeks ago we got an invitation to my best friend's daughter's wedding. Jessica is 23 and has a seven year old daughter. She has been in and out of relationships for the last seven years. I think she finally got one that will stick with her. Swinneyways, the invitation included a map to their mobile home, which sits behind his parents house. The map indicated that there would be "baloons" on the mailbox. Yes Bill, we do know how to spell balloon.
Well, you may be picturing a balloon bouquet tied to the mailbox, as was I. There were two balloons, baloons if you will, tied to the mailbox. Not floating above the mailbox, just hanging there tied to the mailbox. And then there was the sign. It was a piece of worn and weathered plywood, probably had been part of the trailer floor, with WEDDING painted in primer red. We pulled in the drive way and drove around back. We started wondering if we were in the right place because there was not a soul we knew anywhere. there were more biker/redneck looking folks standing around than I have seen in quite a while. Then I saw the father of the bride. This man had been my late husband's best friend, I haven't seen him in 13 years, but at least he was someone I knew. Then as I looked around I started noticing my friend Alison's family. They were looking somewhat out of place but at least they were there.
I didn't see any of the wedding party at first. Then I realized that the men in the wedding party were all wearing faded jeans and very white crisp cotton shirts. Actually they looked very nice. The brides maids had on royal blue strapless dresses that matched the baloons.
The flower girls had long white dresses with little tiaras in their hair. They really did look cute with the little boys in the white shirts and jeans like the groomsmen had on. The bride and her party were all barefooted.
Everyone pretty much milled around in the yard looking for a bench or something to sit on, or some shade to sit in. When it started getting very bright and very warm, someone tapped the kegs. All bofum. (Redneck dictionary defines bofum as both of them. The preacher finally arrived and we were escorted to the front yard of the grooms family abode. There were chairs and an arbor and more baloons. That was when I realized the music I was hearing was not coming from someone's pickup truck radio, but actually was a karaoke set up. The groom and preacher walked to the arbor and then the wedding party came down the aisle. To the karoke music of Hank Jr,'s "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down."
The children did look so precious, the little girls in their long white dresses and the little boys who had not been outside yet in their white shirts walking down the aisle. The little girls had baskets of artificial rose petals they were supposed to scatter. They didn't. Then the groomsmen and bridesmaids walked down. Someone forgot to tell the bestman to put down the beer and the cigarette. The bridesmaids in their blue dresses looked nice--even though they were all barefooted.
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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 10:32:21 GMT -5
She included pictures (which I can download and upload), and then this:
We left after eating some of the best barbecue I've had in a long time. The party didn't last too long though, Alison and her significant other had to go open the bar they run.
Still regret not getting a picture of the sign.
I am not a beer drinker at all. And rednecks think there is nothing better to drink.
I give that couple much better odds to still be married 10 years from now than most of the more traditional weddings I've been to lately.
You know ST, I am in total agreement. Jessie is a bit of a scatterbrain, comes from fetal alcohol syndrome, her Mom put down about a 12 pack a day when she was pregnant. It takes a special kind of fellow to be able to live with her. I think JB is gonna be that guy. He is very calm, very laid back. I do think it's gonna work.
Marshall,
Dunno if this fact about the wedding will help, but when I saw the bride and groom a week later, we were laughing about the wedding and about how much fun it was. And that the kegs had been tapped before the wedding started.
Jessie said she made JB stay sober until he said "I do". He laughed and said he was too.
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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 10:38:55 GMT -5
Here's the pictures ![](https://i.postimg.cc/8jjLKCNS/Red1.jpg) Back yard wedding ![](https://i.postimg.cc/tZBVkKcJ/red2.jpg) Bride and her Father ![](https://i.postimg.cc/hhGmvGJd/red3.jpg) The toast is waiting ![](https://i.postimg.cc/KKFk2cS4/red4.jpg) Drinking their toast.
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2020 13:48:48 GMT -5
Good songwriting. It would be sooo easy to be condescending, but you avoided that and gave them humanity.
I'll admit the "redneck biker" thing gave me pause as that is not a combination I'm that familiar with.
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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 15:11:31 GMT -5
That's what Johnne called them. I tried to stay very close to her original story. It just tickled me so. I realize there's a lot of language that gets thrown around pretty quickly in the song. I actually simplified it from the earliest versions. **smirk**It's a fun song. Not the clearest lyrically. But hopefully fun enough musically to keep a listener interested. In a bar, nobody is paying exact attention to anything, anyway. ( ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) ).. It's pretty old. That's at least 15 years old. It was in my DADGAD phase. I try to be more direct and accessible in recent years.
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Post by billhammond on May 11, 2020 15:46:41 GMT -5
That's what Johnne called them. I tried to stay very close to her original story. It just tickled me so. I realize there's a lot of language that gets thrown around pretty quickly in the song. I actually simplified it from the earliest versions. **smirk**It's a fun song. Not the clearest lyrically. But hopefully fun enough musically to keep a listener interested. In a bar, nobody is paying exact attention to anything, anyway. ( ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) ).. It's pretty old. That's at least 15 years old. It was in my DADGAD phase. I try to be more direct and accessible in recent years. I'm guessing that you still hold the distinction of being the only writer of a song called "Redneck Wedding" that is done in DADGAD.
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Post by majorminor on May 11, 2020 16:39:56 GMT -5
I'm not recalling what happened to her? This is Johnne of the "Going where the weather suits my clothes"?
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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 17:31:49 GMT -5
Yeah. Johnne Coston. (Pronounced Johnie). I don't know, she just dropped away from the Soundhole a long time ago. 10 years?
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Post by Marshall on May 11, 2020 17:33:52 GMT -5
I'm guessing that you still hold the distinction of being the only writer of a song called "Redneck Wedding" that is done in DADGAD. Yeah, that's the most consistent comment I've gotten over the years; it doesn't sound like a redneck song.
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Post by TKennedy on May 11, 2020 18:49:35 GMT -5
You have a great voice Marshall. Wish I could sing like that.
Those are good lyrics. If I were to offer any critique it might be to do just a turnaround instead of a full instrumental break when doing it solo and maybe try to "de-sapify" the delivery slightly. After all it is redneck:)
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Post by majorminor on May 11, 2020 21:34:32 GMT -5
Yeah. Johnne Coston. (Pronounced Johnie). I don't know, she just dropped away from the Soundhole a long time ago. 10 years? She’s on Facebook and still kickin’
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Post by aquaduct on May 12, 2020 6:39:41 GMT -5
Good songwriting. It would be sooo easy to be condescending, but you avoided that and gave them humanity. I'll admit the "redneck biker" thing gave me pause as that is not a combination I'm that familiar with. Let me help introduce you. http://instagr.am/p/B6KaRgwnVBl
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Post by theevan on May 12, 2020 8:40:27 GMT -5
Great story from johnne.
Although I've never been to a redneck wedding, I have been to a redneck funeral. All the immediate family were dressed in camo as was the decedent. He was transported to the graveyard in an airboat. The family business is alligator farming
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