Casual
Morris, Scott M.
Casual The Chevrolet Set I was in Tupelo, Mississippi, for the big George Jones and Tammy Wynette reunion and saw right away that the whole thing was going to work out badly for the president and...
...Clinton about the head...
...Not a few substantial-looking fellows were undeterred by this circumstance...
...But here's a safe bet: However they duet, it is unlikely to go over with the Chevrolet set...
...Are the president and Mrs...
...Jones crude and ignorant, while Tammy's adorers consider him to be mean and nasty...
...It took me about 20 minutes to write this little song," she told the assembled, "I've been defending it ever since...
...A few in attendance decried George categorically out of respect for Tammy...
...There's little need to revisit Hillary Clinton's slighting reference to Tammy's signature song in the soon-to-be First Couple's 60 Minutes interview, except to point out that if Tupelo is any guide, most Americans continue to stand by the song and to stand, firmly, by the First Lady-of country music...
...Tammy wore a delicate white dress with much lace and style...
...George and Tammy like being part of the Chevrolet set...
...Women with bee-hive 'dos guarded grandchildren, while comely country girls sent their beaux for beers...
...I suppose the crowd divided about where it should have-there were George's boys and Tammy's adorers...
...Wills found Mr...
...George did a little dance, which made one think something had aggravated his behind, something like you would expect if hornets had located there and become disenchanted...
...Mere speculation...
...There followed near deafening applause...
...Still and all, people seem to like G&T better, especially when they sing duets...
...That's a hard one, because while in the past the president has been chummy with Barbra Streisand (jet set diva who moonlights for the Democratic party and has appeared on Saturday Night Live), no one should be taken aback if in the coming months he tries pickin' and a grinnin' with, oh, Johnny Cash (Chevy set heavy who once went into a cave to find the Lord or die...
...Not only is our president from Hope, he keeps saying he's for hope, which is fine, though it doesn't help anyone determine what set he comfortably situates himself in...
...No less a thinker than Garry Wills thought to teach him a good lesson by referring to him as a "second-rate crooner...
...There was a polyester constituency, too, and several old men wearing sharp suits and bolo ties...
...Tammy sang about the travails of whiskey and men...
...I suppose I should throw one the president's way: the Clintons' marriage is better than the one George and Tammy had-the Clintons' has lasted, for whatever reason, and to his credit, the president has never taken to beating Mrs...
...Young married couples sought out my sister and her co-star and introduced them to their babies as a not very commendable opening band earnestly sawed its way through cover versions of country hits...
...Scott M. Morris...
...Jones, though for different reasons...
...The distinction is instructive: The latter criticism is made eye to eye, the former from a lofty perch, and it is such a long way down that by the time the message arrives, it sounds like babble...
...Clinton and that there was nothing David Gergen, or even the new and improved Gergen, Dick Morris, could do about it...
...They enthuse over Rome, Athens, and Paris-Rome, Georgia...
...You could purchase beer, but had to slake your thirst in front of children and Sunday school teachers...
...Casual The Chevrolet Set I was in Tupelo, Mississippi, for the big George Jones and Tammy Wynette reunion and saw right away that the whole thing was going to work out badly for the president and Mrs...
...My sister, who recently became a star on The Young and the Restless, had flown my mother and father, and then herself and her new boyfriend (another very Young and Restless co-star), to Oxford, Mississippi, where I was living at the time, and I thought it might be fun to see George and Tammy "together again," as the tour promotions had it...
...Which reminds me of something my mother said that night...
...Tammy sang "Amazing Grace...
...If these people have anything to do with it," she opined approvingly, "Clinton won't be president for long...
...This anthem was Miss Wynette's final solo in Tupelo...
...Women and men went teary and grew adamant...
...Who knows what kind of music the First Couple will make in the coming months-"Old McDougal sold us the farm" perhaps...
...George wore his trademark silky-'70s shirt...
...Clinton jet or Chevrolet set...
...This dandy tune celebrates difference, in the multicultural manner...
...Some of those not in Tupelo may recall the "Stand By Your Man" episode from the '92 campaign...
...But of course, one suspects Mr...
...Athens, Texas...
...One had only to look around and listen to realize she was probably on target...
...A favorite begins: "We're not the jet set, we're the old Chevrolet set...
...Home towns for the home crowd, towns like Hope, where our president is from...
...The concert was a severely family affair set down in the buckle of the Bible-belt...
...Others have been troubled by Mr...
...and Paris, Tennessee...
...George sang about whiskey and women and how he loved both...
...How that must have hurt...
Vol. 1 • October 1995 • No. 3
