Cowboy Mouth

The best live bar band in the world is/was the Cowboy Mouth, a kickin' band from New Orleans. They lift you up, amuse you and touch your heart. They are like a drunken revival for the soul. Here's a (not great quality) video performance of the song "How Do You Tell Someone You Don't Love Them?"

It is a poignant song if you've ever broken up with someone. You once loved them but you don't anymore. How do you say it?

how do you tell someone you don't love them?
how do you tell someone you don't care anymore?
how do you tell someone you don't love them anymore?

Heartbreaking, right?

'Cept my drunk ass heard it at a live concert right after I broke up with the alcoholic boyfriend. I had just told him I didn't love him anymore. Hell, I had to say it over and over before he finally realized I meant it. Go away, already.

Cowboy Mouth is singing angst and I am feeling happy to be rid of "love".

After each refrain, I loudly shouted a different way to tell him I didn't love him anymore.

"Get the FUCK OUT!"

"Change the fucking locks!"

My friends were so entertained by my intoxicated bitterness that they expected the same witty performance from me at each following Cowboy Mouth concert.

Since then I have added:

"Blow his dad!"

"Give him VD!",

"MARRY him",

etc.

Fast forward to seeing Cowboy Mouth's drummer and lead singer Fred LeBlanc "unplugged" at Carrollton Station in Uptown, it's just him and his guitar. As he softly sang a less rockin' version of "How Do You Tell Someone You Don't Love Them", my friends were nudging me when the refrain came and I just couldn't do it. I mean, Fred was sitting five feet away and the room was so quiet.

The cute college girls in front of me giggled and yelled out something, MUCH TO MY CHAGRIN and AMAZEMENT. Mind you, I take complete credit for it because they probably heard me at a previous concert. I was loud, I tell ya.

Anywho, gauntlet now thrown, I chimed in on the next chorus. And the cute girls took the next. Fred sat there, singing, his poignant mood broken while we shat all over his song. Thankfully, he ended the song with a laugh and a smile and remarked that he had never heard HIS song quite like that.

All's well that ends well, he awarded me with his handwritten play sheet after the show. Now framed and hanging on my wall.