
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 17, 1994                   TAG: 9401220014
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Ben Beagle
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAN'T LICK THESE COUNTRY FOLKS

I for one am glad to see that the U.S. Postal Service is now offering first-class stamps with the pictures of country music singers on them.

We are talking country singers here, Malcolm. These people would hit you with a cordless flat-top guitar if you even hinted that ``Achy Breaky Heart'' is a country song.

Excuse me. I had to stop to scratch. I break out every time I think of that song.

At the risk of getting death threats, I will have to say that I was waiting for all this Elvis stamp agitation to die down; all of which made me a little bitter.

Did they make a fuss over which picture of Patsy Cline to use on her stamp? Did they ask us? No.

But let it go because we have some real country singers at last.

There's Hank Williams Sr. When I use his stamp to mail in the check for what we used to call ``the light bill,'' I get so lonesome I could cry.

This is not to mention ``Your Cheatin' Heart'' or ``Take These Chains from My Heart'' or ``My Son Calls Another Man Daddy'' or - well, I could go on here until well after the Super Bowl pre-game show.

I'm sorry. You can talk about Elvis all you want, but ``Heartbreak Hotel'' and ``Jailhouse Rock'' kind of suffer a little bit when you compare them to Hank being all alone at night beneath a purple sky.

I used the Bob Wills stamp for the telephone bill and couldn't resist yelling ``Aaaaaah, Haaaaaa, San Antone.'' I heard my helpmate discussing this behavior with one of the children.

I like to use Patsy's stamp for the heating oil bill. Somehow, ``I Fall to Pieces'' seems very appropriate in this case.

Again inviting death threats - possibly from my own son - I now say that Reba McEntire has a long way to go before she catches up with Patsy.

I like to think of Patsy walking around after midnight - which I would do myself if I wasn't afraid of falling down on the ice and hurting myself.

And there is the Carter family: Mr. A.P., who always looked on the sunny side, and Mother Maybelle, who elevated ``Will the Circle Be Unbroken?'' to the level of Greek tragedy and seared all our hearts with ``Wildwood Flower.''

All of you Elvis and Reba people can come and get me if you want. As Hank used to sing: ``I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive.''

by CNB