Okay, I confess I have a bawdy sense of humor and songs with fun, playful lyrics make me giggle. I recall driving the backroads of Tampa Bay in my red Mustang listening to Big & Rich sing “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.” lol! No wonder one of the chapter headings in Real Women Wear Red is “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.”

I could hear the crowd yelling out “Ride a Cowboy” every time the band sang “Save a Horse” when I was still down the hall from the Country Western Saloon, as one of the lounges had been turned into Country Dance Night. Country music wasn’t my thing so I would probably not have made an appearance, but I was curious by the Dear Abby at Sea e-mail I had received earlier today. (From Real Women Wear Red)

But it was Brooks & Dunn who inspired Eric’s Nevada cowboy scenes in The Tom Jones Club.

This book came about because of two things:  well-maintained older women seated in the first two rows of a Tom Jones show in Vegas and listening to Brooks & Dunn singing songs such as “My Heart is not a Hotel,” “Whisky Do My Talking” and “She’s About as Lonely as I’m Gonna Let Her Get.” It’s not your usual cowboy romance and Lucky is “not your usual romance heroine” as Happily Ever After Reviews said. I’ve given the story my own personal twist.

The country music craze of the 90s is what brought hubby and me together. Hubby loves country music with a clever lyric and country dancing – ooooh, that black cowboy hat, black jeans, and grey suede boots moving on the dance floor…

I’m listening to Vegas Country online while I write this – and what you may not realize is that Vegas is full of cowboys – Nevada ranches surround “Sin City” – and when there’s a rodeo in town, well, the cowboys take over. And there’s a country music station you can pick up between Barstow and Las Vegas that exists just for truck drivers and cowboys driving in the middle of the night.

Here are some of our favorite country songs with clever titles and/or clever lyrics:

Don’t Be Falling in Love As She’s Walking Away – Zac Brown Band
If You Can Truthfully say You’ve Been True Just One Day, That Makes One in a Row – Willie Nelson
If You Can’t Undo the Wrong, Undo the Right – Willie Nelson
What’s a Memory Like You Doing in a Love Like This – John Schneider
What Would Your Memories Do – George Strait
Dancin’ All Around It – Alan Jackson
I’m Leaving – Aaron Tippin
Closing Time – Radney Foster
He Broke Your Memory Last Night – Reba McEntire
Couldn’t Love Have Picked a Better Place to Die – Clinton Gregory
God Will – Lyle Lovett
If I Were the Man You Wanted – Lyle Lovett
I Left Something Turned on at Home – Trace Adkins

If you have an ear for lyrics, you probably also have an ear for clever lines in books and/or movies. So what song lyrics and/or lines stand out for you?

I’d love to share music videos of all of my favorite fun country songs, but there’s not enough bandwith. So, I’m just going to share one of the funniest and/or trashiest songs I’ve ever heard – lol! But no matter how trashy, there’s something about a cowboy… no wonder they’re so popular in romance novels.

I Like My Women a Little on the Trashy Side – Confederate Railroad

Published by Kathy

Kathy writes novels set on cruise ships and other travel locales, writes and produces dance music, and likes to imagine life as a DJ.

9 thoughts on “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy”

  1. Chris – hubby proposed while playing “Cross My Heart” – it is definitely *our* song, too!And I don't think I've heard “It's Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night” – must check it out! Thanks!

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  2. My husband and I love country music. The Country Music Awards is the only awards show my husband makes plans to watch. There are so many greats songs and artists. One very special one for us is Cross My Heart by George Strait. It was also our wedding song.A Country song we find quite amusing and gets everyone singing is “It's Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night” by The Notorious Cherry Bombs. If you haven't heard it yet, it's worth checking out.

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  4. Well I sure learned more than I knew before I read your post because I know nothing about country music. This was funny and well-written. Thanks.Patti

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  5. Actually I am not sure MBD qualifies as country, unless I am singing the lyrics. Hmm, Let me see, what am I working on that is suspenseful but using country. Trace Adkins, It ain't no thinkin' Thing, Ty Herndon's Steam, The Dixie Chicks- tonight the heartache's on me, are all working their way into another one about a girl on the run from a murderer. She meets an Irish born down home boy, not really a cowboy, but he's southern at heart.

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  6. Awesome! I know, I can't listen to a country song without hearing a romance unfold – but torn between writing a romance and more of a psychological suspense – the 2 sides of me. I haven't been able to see how country music fits the more suspenseful side. But I see you were able to take those country lyrics and write a werewolf turned vampire story – wow – how inspiring!

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  7. Kathy, I loved this post. I've always been a cowgirl at heart, with a huge soft spot for men crazy enough to dance with the bulls. So your post got me to thinking.I actually am writing a story that came to me from the Toby Keith song, You shouldn't kiss me like this, unless you mean it like that, and no honestly I don't know if that's the title, that's the line that inspired it.Music often inspires me. Let me Out by MBD from the Cursed soundtrack inspired my werewolf turned vampire, because of the lines “I'm fearless, forever fearless, sick with weakness, so far gone…. I cursed the day you fell on me like a plague without a remedy, lost control of everything, this is all about, I can't get used to this I've tried but I just reminisce, close my eyes and make a wish you'd let me out.” Leann Rimes “Probably wouldn't be this way” inspires another story, a second chance at love. I don't think I ever realized how much the music inspires, yet I write to it constantly.Thanks for the wonderful post.

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  9. My husband introduced me to country music and I went kicking and screaming. Now I listen to it all the time! It doesn't hurt that the guys wear cowboy hats and look like cowboys either!

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