I have a confession.  Once upon a time, many years ago I went through a country phase.  Don’t blame me, though, it was the early 90’s, the time of Garth Brooks – who personally brought a resurgence of country music.  Plus, I happen to come from two people who prefer Willie Nelson to anything the Beatles had to offer.  So, it’s in my genes and it was inevitable that I would catch it.  My time with country music was brief.  I stopped listening to it when I realized it made me feel older than my peers.

During my foray into country western I picked up a few favorites.  Steve Wariner released an album during this time.  If I remember correctly, it was critically acclaimed.  I just know I liked the song “Two Teardrops” for its lyrical poetry.  I loved the imagery.  It is just one cool song.  Apparently, I shared this love with my niece Lyn.

Thanks to Lyn’s satellite radio she gets a 90’s country station.  It plays songs I introduced her to when she was just a kid.  “Two Teardrops” is one of those songs.  After she heard it on the radio, she downloaded onto her mp3 player.  “This song reminds me of you,” she told me when we were in the car together.  She played it on her mp3 player for me.  It’s always nice when nice things remind people of me.  And a relief.

Since I no longer listen to stations that might play this song it had been years since I had heard it.

According to cowboylyrics.com here are the lyrics written by Bill Anderson and Steve Wariner:

“Two teardrops were floatin’ down the river
One teardrop said to the other
I’m from the soft blue eyes of a woman in love
I’m a tear of joy she couldn’t carry
She was so happy she just got married
I was on her cheek when she wiped me away with her glove
I could tell from the look on her face she didn’t need me
So I drifted on down and caught me a ride to the sea

The other tear said we’ve got a connection
I’m a tear of sorrow born of rejection
I’m from the sad brown eyes of her old flame
She told him they would be lifelong companions
Left him with questions and not any answers
I was on his cheek as he stood there calling her name
I could tell he had a lot of my friends for company
So I drifted on down and caught me a ride to the sea

Oh the ocean’s a little bit bigger tonight
Two more teardrops somebody cried
One of them happy and one of them bluer than blue
The tide goes out and the tide comes in
And someday they’ll be teardrops again
Released in a moment of pleasure or a moment of pain
Then they drift on down and ride to the sea again

Last night I sat in the waiting room
The nurse walked in and gave me the news
It’s a baby girl and they’re both fine
An old man sittin’ not 10 feet away
Just lost his wife and he said to me
You’ve got a brand new angel and I’ve lost mine
I guess the good Lord giveth and the good Lord taketh away
And we both wiped a teardrop from our face

Oh the ocean’s a little bit bigger tonight
Two more teardrops somebody cried
One of them happy and one of them bluer than blue
The tide goes out and the tide comes in
A whole new circle of life begins
Where tears are a part of the pleasure and part of the pain
‘Til they drift on down and ride to the sea again

Two teardrops floatin’ down the river
Two teardrops floatin’ down the river”

I told you it is a pretty cool song.  After Lyn left, I Googled the song so that I could listen to it again.  It reminded me of another song of Mr. Wariner’s that was released shortly after Teardrops.  “Holes in the Floor of Heaven,” was pretty popular song when he released it.  Although for some reason, I always want to call it Floors in the Hole of Heaven.  I have no idea what that means.  It just comes out of my mouth easier.

Holes is a tender song that didn’t mean much to me when it was released.  There was no depth or connection between the song and me at the time.  It was one of those that quickly became over-played and I tired of it quickly.   The other night, I decided to listen to it again.  I had totally forgotten the story of the song only the gist.  Someone died and watched over the singer through the holes in heaven… blah, blah, blah.

I did a little fact check after writing this post.  To my surprise I discovered both songs were released in the latter part of the decade.  Not the early 90’s.  Huh.  What do you know?  I guess my country phase lasted a little longer than I thought.

That night I decided to listen to Holes, by pure coincidence, it happened to be raining.  It sure enhanced the mood of the song.  Here, listen.

Yeah.

After I listened to it, let’s just say, two teardrops were floatin down the river….