Getting the Name Right

Song 484: This week the playlist comes around to Just Call Me Lonesome by Radney Foster, written by Radney Foster and George Ducas, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This hit came along in the summer of 1992 as one of the shining fresh gems that embodied the New Country style which the Manhattan radio station I listened to in that era would often mention, and along with a few dozen other sparkling pieces, it convinced me to spend a portion of my listening time diving into that stream. I liked the way this track sounded modern, but also echoed the feel of country classics I had grown up listening to in the late 1950s and the following decade. I always enjoyed the way country writers sometimes play amusing word games, and Mr. Foster does that here with lines like You used to call me your one and only But now you only call me someone you once knew. I also appreciated the understated irony of a man with a handle as unique as Radney singing I've got a new name and I don't need my old one, and while maybe forever lies in pieces for him, the rest of us can relish hearing him musically explain his updated moniker.