Waking Ear

Dwight Yoakam/"Fair to Midland" -- Ladies and gentlemen, introducing.... the country-ass pun! Employed in a lot of crappy country songs and a few good ones, the country-ass pun attempts to inject some wit into the cliched stories of love gone wrong that dominate the country genre.

I know there's some other country-ass puns out there, but I'm having trouble thinking of them at the moment. But it is closely related to the country-ass rhyme, which is way worse than the country-ass pun because it's not even slightly witty. It's just a rhyme, such as George Jones' putrid "High-Tech Redneck." Suggestions on either front will be greatly appreciated. Surely Reba had some. Sucky Reba.

"Fair to Midland" is one of the few good ones, in part because the pun should've been made a long time ago, and in part because Dwight's Kentucky swoon is magnetic. And despite the title, he's looking for "fare to Midland" to get back to his woman, whom he left in the Texas town. But fare to Midland ain't cheap.

Girlfriend wasn't familiar with the expression "fair to middlin'" when my mom first spoke the words in her presence, so just to make sure we're all on the same page: It means so-so, as in, "How's yer mominem?" "Fair to middlin'."