Sunny Songs: Hurry Sundown

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Ooh, yuck. I’m (ick) making plans for a trip?! I like spontaneity, but unfortunately the boat rides only run on weekends, even in summer. Darn. Oh, well. Here’s a sunny song for a sunny time (which we probably won’t have with the golf tournament this weekend ). Hurry Sundown - Outlaws The Outlaws down in Tampa town It’s a mighty fine place to be They got green grass, they got high tides And it sure looks good to me (Molly Hatchet, “Gator Country”) The Outlaws are one of those southern rock bands that you’re pretty sure you’ve never heard of. You might sing along with “There Goes Another Love Song” if it comes on classic rock radio. “Oh, that’s the Outlaws?” Yep. There was a lot more to southern rock in the 70s than “Free Bird.” I got to hear a lot of it that didn’t make national playlists because I lived in Florida as a teenager. In fact, I lived near Tampa when these guys got started nationally (along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team [I still remember their song: “Oh, the Rowdies went here, the Rowdies went there, they kicked the ball around!” ]). While “There Goes Another Love Song” was their, ahem, “hit” (although their cover of “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” peaked slightly higher on the charts, but both just barely inside the top 40), they had other memorable tunes. While it never charted, “Green Grass and High Tides” is their “signature” song. This is a great tune, one of those “ghost stories” about gypsies imploring an outlaw’s ghost to take revenge on someone who’d killed one of their own. A good rocker that reminds me of good times in Florida. Hurry Sundown Written by Hughie Thomasson Recorded by the Outlaws From Hurry Sundown, 1977 Gypsies danced around the campfire: