A Road Story: Living Crooked, Falling Straight

Over the years in the late 1960s, we did a lot of shows on the road, and a lot of outdoor performances, especially in the summertime.

The one I want to remember in this posting occurred on June 27,1967in Woodbury, Tennessee. We were booked to do two shows on the town square that day.

At that time I was a part of the lead trio with Dave Cannon and Glenn Nave. You can see the three of us in the photo above (although this picture was actually taken later during one of our shows at the State Fair in Nashville).

At that time our trio performed a song made famous in the early days of Sing-Out and Up With People by the Calwell Brothers. It was entitled "You Can't Live Crooked And Think Straight."

The chorus went like this:

"Oh,you can't live crooked and think straight,
Whether you are a chauffeur or a chief of state.
Clean up the nation before it's too late,
'Cause you can't live crooked and think straight."

Between each chorus were examples of folks trying to have things both ways and why that didn't work, including this stanza:

"There was a secret agent who was strong and tall.
But he had a secret that was known by all.
So that he how they got him, and today our hero
is listed in the files as Agent Double 0 Zero."

Given the James Bond/Secret Agent craze that was very big at the time, this part of the song almost always got a big laugh, and we tried to further enhance things by having one of the trio (I think it was Dave Cannon) take his hand and act like he was shooting me with a gun. That was to occur just as we sang; "So that is how they got him."

The drummer (probably Mike Padgett or Rick Jolly) was supposed to give us a rim shot, the music would stop temporarily, and I was supposed to fall straight back, headed for the floor of the stage.

That's exactly how it happened in our late afternoon matinee, except my good friend, Steve Hinton, who was supposed to step out of the front line of the chorus to catch me right before I hit the stage floor, forgot to do so that day, and I hit the ground with a thud.

You could hear gasps of surprise coming from folks in the crowd and even from some cast members on stage. I was a little startled myself. But fortunately I wasn't hurt, so I jumped up and finished the song on cue.

The audience liked that...and the song got a big hand as I remember. But that's not the end of my memory.

Between shows, the entire cast went just off the square and had dinner (I think it was some kind of picnic, so we ate outside). What I remember was after my "accident" on stage, I think every young woman in the cast and all the moms traveling with us came by to be sure I was all right and to ask how I was doing.

I was 15 years old at the time, and I had never had this much attention from so many women at one time (other than my mom)in my life.

I thought it was great. And yes, during the evening show, Steve Hinton did remember to catch me when I fell straight back during the song. :)

So what are favorite memories from our SOS shows? Just leave your thoughts and stories below.