A Thousand Masks and Zero Friends

Why no one cares if we're perfect [in fact, they'd really rather we weren't].

Ever heard the song A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash? It was a favorite in my household growing up [we had it on vinyl] and I remember singing along as a little girl and giggling at the lyrics and feeling so sorry for that boy named Sue, just a-kicking and a-gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer. Poor guy. He had to fight his whole life through, being a boy named Sue.  

They just don’t write songs like that anymore. 

Every once in a while, when the songs about trucks and beer on the radio begin to blend together into one boozy, bro-country blur, I get a hankering for Johnny Cash. I flip through our own stack of dusty vinyl until I find one of his records, just to be reminded how good songwriting can really be.