The Pettit's New Dog

from Songs For Fred by Jay Williams

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about

I was a rural letter carrier for a couple years on a small island. I got to eavesdrop, in a small way, on the personal lives of my neighbors. I was a sort of legal voyeur. Only the dogs saw through me; they weren't impressed by the uniform. I used to carry a box of Miik Bones in my truck; it confused the hell out of them.

You get to know the seasons by the flow of the mail. Summertime, it's light. Come the holidays, it's fat stacks of L.L. Bean and Land's End catalogs, and endless overtime. People went south in the fall; they came back in spring. Some moved out, other s moved in, but for me it was only the names on the boxes that changed. And occasionally the dogs. That was the hardest part.

lyrics

Aint it strange how you still feel the sunset with your eyes closed
You can block out the light but when night falls, buddy you’ll know
But the mail is so heavy to day, I’ve no time to be sad
I’ll forget that I lost the best thing I ever had

And the Olsons are back from Orlando
And the Pettits have got a new dog
And the mail must go through, just like me and you
it don’t always fit in the box
And Miss Cooper’s still canning them peaches
and old Murry’s still mowing his lawn
And we tend to hold on to the things that hold still
the way I held on to my job

And the Pettits have got a new dog

Cause it’s put em up, tie ‘em down, then get my ass out the door
In my younger days you couldn’t give me such a tedious chore
And the virtue of simple hard work never fit my ideals
But since you’re gone I’m amazed how good tired can feel

And that Pettit dog went and had pups

Ain’t it strange how the drip of a faucet can sound so damn loud
When you’re lying awake all alone in a big empty house
You can follow your heart at each turn and still wind up lost
Cause the drip of a faucet is constant, but people are not

And that Pettit dog went and passed on


Miss Winnie is waiting and rocking on her porch every day
She acts nonchalant but that quickened rock gives her away
She’s expecting a note from an old friend but it never arrives
And any day now I expect to get on with my life

And the Pettits have another new dog…

credits

from Songs For Fred, released September 23, 2014

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Jay Williams Bainbridge Island, Washington

Grew up in L.A., next door to Rodney King. Foster kid, on welfare, muttsville. Heard John Prine at the Roxy when I was 16, changed my life. Stumbled into KROQ in the 1980s, got my 15 mins of fame. Moved to the Northwest, found community, then lost them when compassion became their justification for fascism. I'm over humans. These songs feel like phantom limbs. Cats are my gurus now. ... more

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