Lucky Mud: Music

Tommy's Girlfriend

(Lucky Mud)

2009-12-09

Mike McKinney

Linda and Tommy lived in a cheap duplex
She wrote folk songs on the backs of his canceled checks
Said it helped her focus
On the value of her words
Tommy worked days then and he came home tired
Had cold beer and sandwiches
Out in the backyard
While she sang the sweetest songs he'd ever heard
She was young and fragile
And she held on tight
And she loved Tommy
With all her heart and soul
But he heard her pacing
Through the house at night
And she played her guitar
So soft and quiet
As she whispered out her songs of the open road

He knew the time would come when she wouldn't need him anymore
And even before the fight started
He knew how it would end
She said, "You know my name is Linda Charlotte Caulfield
But everybody here just calls me Tommy's Girlfriend"

Well, his heart got hurt and he got mad
He said, "So what the hell is wrong with that?"
She said, "It's not enough, Tommy"
And he said, "Then why the hell don't you just leave?"
She said,"You're right, just look at me
This isn't where I want to be
There's so much to do that I don't know where to begin
Because I promised myself a long time ago
That I wouldn't stop before I became 'somebody,'
Not just somebody's girlfriend"

She knocked the dust of this town right off her shoes
Just like Jesus said to do
And she caught a Trailways bus headed west on I-10
And, as she gave herself up to fate,
The only thing that mattered When she left the state
Was that she left it as Linda Charlottle Caulfield
And not as Tommy's Girlfriend

She made mistakes
She screwed around
She wound up down and out in towns
Whose cruel facades made her question
Every choice she'd ever made
She went up north to the ice and snow
Where the Spring was 28 below
And she wound up in South Texas
Where even in the Winter it's a hundred in the shade

She slept alone when she wanted to
She slept with men on purpose, too
When passion made her toss
All caution to the wind
But everything she did
She did as Linda Charlotte Caulfield
Things she never could've done as Tommy's Girlfiriend

She got beat up pretty bad
In Beaumont, Texas
By a Yankee in Justin Boots
And a Stetson hat
He said he was from Nashville
And he promised her the moon
And he wound up taking everything she had
But she waited tables
And bought a new guitar
And some clothes
And a leather pack
And she kept on working until she'd saved enough
For an old Chevy Truck
With a camper shell on the back
And she kept writing songs
And she got better
And she played them in taverns
And she sang for the veterans
In the VFW posts along the Interstate
And the days and weeks and months passed by
As she played for tips
And played for pride
And learned to handle men
And get a percentage of the gate

She'd play all night
Then drive 'til dawn
Then eat a bite
And then drive on
Then stop and write another song
Before turning in
And, maybe,
Somewhere along the way
She'd stop and think about the days
When she was Tommy's Girlfriend
She became a hell of a singer
With a retinue
A Silver Eagle bus
And a full road crew
And two gold records
And a Grammy
And a movie deal
But it didn't come easy
Or overnight
Or without a struggle
Or without a fight
Or without a lot of learning
About what is
And isn't real

I tend bar in a place
With five pool tables
And a big-screen TV
That's hooked up to cable
And I've read every word that's written
About her rise to fame
I mix drinks for the locals
And I try
To read the Satellite Weekly
And the TV Guide
And I make a circle with a pen
When I find her name
And everytime she comes on the screen
Someone in the bar leans over and says,
"Hey, Tommy! Ain't that your old girlfriend?"
I just laugh and close my eyes
And as my heart swells up with pride for her
I say, "Hell, no. That's Linda Charlotte Caulfield."