In a way I’m kind of glad that we have now left Nashville.
I’ve mentioned previously about Jolene’s speech impediment … and she has a real problem saying Nashville.
It comes out as Nasher-ville. Every time we go out, or head home, it’s the same thing. “For the next 23km take the I-40 to Nasher-ville”.
Argh!
We stayed for three nights at Melvin’s place, about 25km out of Nashville downtown. It was a really nicely appointed, self-contained apartment in a nice quiet area of town.
Actually, I wish we could have stayed a few more days in Nashville because it was a really exciting and vibrant place to be.
If you love music – and especially live music – and especially live country music, it is the place to be.
The funny thing is that there is music just everywhere – every bar, every street corner. And they are all good. And they are all competing with each other.
We were in one bar and the band asked for customer requests. In response to the highest bidder they burst into a very good rendition of “Feel like a Woman”.
We went into another bar and the band started playing “Sweet Home Alabama”. Again, very good. Good enough to be on stage.
I don’t have a problem with country music, except that you can only write so many songs about your girl leaving you, or your dog dying …
In preparation for going to Nashville I was listening to a country playlist on Spotify, and some of the more bizarre songs were:
- All my Ex’s live in Texas
- You’re the reason our kids are ugly
- She thinks my tractor’s sexy
- I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy
Meaningful stuff.
Anyhow, if you haven’t figured it out already, today was a bit of a slow news day.
We checked out of Melvin’s place around 9.00am and headed back down to Franklin.
MBW has read a couple of books about the Battle of Franklin, and the books have included historical facts about the battle, woven into a story.
Nothing much happens in Franklin on a Sunday morning – well, not before 11.00am anyway – and so we had a bit of a wander around. It’s a very pretty place.
While it is a very pretty township, it seems that it is also a favourite place for the wealthy to live … I think that I read somewhere that Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have (or had) a house there.
The other clue was that the local hairdresser can name his price in such a small community.
Richard must be pretty special if he can charge $100+ for a men’s haircut or $150+ for a woman’s.
So after having a wander around Franklin, we had a quick look at Carter House which was a significant location in the Battle of Franklin (AKA the Civil War).
The picture above is of the side wall of one of the buildings at Carter House, and you can see the bullet holes in the side wall – these are from the battle in 1864.
We then had a look at some of the other historical displays around town.
From there we went to have a look at Carnton House which is another significant location in the Battle of Franklin.
It was a location where the Confederate Army (the South) were trying to get to Nashville, but the United States Army (the North) had set up a blockade as their fighting position.
The Carnton House – owned and occupied by a wealthy farming family – was right where the fighting was happening and it was taken over as a field hospital. At one time it is reported as having 300 wounded soldiers inside the house, and hundreds more in the barn, sheds and on the lawn.
We did a tour of the house and in the upstairs bedrooms there is still evidence of bloodstains that have soaked into the timber floors … from where the surgeons operated on wounded soldiers.
The Battle of Franklin was reported as one of the last great battles of the American Civil War. There were significant casualties, despite the fact that the battle only lasted for five hours in the afternoon of November 30, 1864. You can read more about it here.
The casualties were so significant because most of the battle was fought in the dark.
After the tour, we pointed The Don II at Memphis which is our home for the next three nights.
One of the “must do” places to eat in Memphis is Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken … so we went there for dinner.
Their chicken recipe is a closely guarded secret, and they only serve it in one way – hot and spicy.
And believe me … it was HOT and SPICY!
Dinner was fried chicken, fried rice, ‘slaw, fried green tomatoes, and fries.
There’s a heart attack on a plate!
So, to explain tonight’s song and the title of tonight’s post …
Johnny Cash (“The Man in Black”) is a big part of Nashville’s history – there is the Johnny Cash Museum there and he features in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
He was also a favourite at the Grand Ole Opry (until he was kicked out for breaking all of the stage lights when he was performing drunk one night). He was eventually invited back.
But tonight’s song is also in recognition of the fact that MBW and I had hot and spicy fried chicken for dinner tonight, and it still needs to work its way through our digestive systems …
So sing along:
… and it burns, burns, burns
That ring of fire, that ring of fire …
Burning Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash).
Ciao
#G&KTAKEUSA2019