The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #137

#137: "Gone and Went" (2006) - Bob Childers

Red Dirt Music was born and bred in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and it lives there still. The music style's a dusty amalgamation of traditional country, bluegrass, Woody Guthrie-made folk, Bob Wills-styled swing, Delta blues, and Chuck Berry-esque rock and roll (with just the slightest touch of Tejano...on the side). Like most music styles, it was never truly invented in one fell swoop, but kind of just...came together. Once it did, the man who kept it together, who fostered the love of this type of modern Okie folk into any and all who ventured into Stillwater, was Bob Childers.

Childers helped foster the work of Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jimmy LaFave, and Garth Brooks, and he was open to jamming with whoever crossed his front porch. He was prolific as well, authoring over 1,500 songs, some dance records, some children's songs, some traditional ballads (folk and Western), some straight rock and roll, and plenty of other types in-between. He never necessarily had one signature song, 'cause no one song seemed to capture the variety of sounds (all Red Dirt sounds, though) in his thirty-year career.

"Gone and Went" will do as well as any. In this song from his last LP, Childers has his tongue most definitely in cheek, since we realize exactly why his little darlin's gone and went as Childers playfully (but not jokingly, as he never winks) unleashes a litany of favors, duties, chores, and jobs his honey used to do for him (while, we realize once the song's over, the protagonist has done nothing). It's almost a toss-off song, with the spare accompaniment there just to provide structure, something akin to the Beatles' "Her Majesty" in terms of simplicity and effectiveness and wit of lyric and tune and music, 'cept it's better 'cause it's more detailed, it's better detailed, and it mirrors many a neglectful husband...including this one. It's funny, yeah, and it's catchy, yeah, but it's a reminder, a warning, that those we cherish may soon be gone and went 'fore we know it.

Just like Bob Childers. The Godfather of Red Dirt Music died in April of last year.