Doc Stevens

Tondeleo: Back in the Summer, I found out that Doc and Marilyn had gone to Hawaii! Someone paid for them to go out there and take a break, meet some new people, play some places that they would never play on there own. 

I asked them why hadn't they told me about it and they were both embarrassed because they had never been there before. They had never flown in an airplane before. They had no idea where Hawaii actually was, even after they had been there. None of their friends knew anything about Hawaii. It made them feel like outcasts! I told them that I would count myself triple lucky to go to Hawaii, but they shook their heads, "no."

Marilyn: It really WAS weird, Tondy! NOBODY we know has ever been to Hawaii, so some of them laughed when we said we were going there. They made fun of us, like we thought we were better than them or something. Some didn't believe we were really going there, and said we were probably just going to South of the Border, SC and thought that it was the same thing as Hawaii...

Doc: Yeah, that's because a few years ago I went to South of the Border, and thought I was in Cuba. I didn't know any better. I saw that big Pedro and thought I was at the Cuban border. What else would it be? I ain't never been south of North Carolina til then.

I was workin' on my truck there at South of the Border - well, Cuba to me - and one of their security guards told me to quit. I told him I was a 'merican citizen and he said he didn't care if I was from the moon - which I am not - that I needed to stop working on my truck or he'd have me locked up. I stopped. Not because I was scared of him, because I wasn't, but I didn't want to go to no Cuba jail. Later someone told me it weren't really Cuba, it was just South Carolina. Hey, how was I supposed to know?

Marilyn: Since nobody believed us, when we talked about Hawaii and didn't know where it was, we just kept it to ourselves about Hawaii.

Tondeleo: So, tell me about your trip to Hawaii!

Doc: Well, first thing, it wasn't all filled with pretty girls in grass skirts and wearin' coconuts instead of shirts. I was figurin' that they'd be all over the airport, doin' hula dances and hangin' flowers around our necks. But no, that didn't happen.  I DID see Randy Travis at the airport. He was helpin' someone carry their suitcases.

I tried to get him to carry my guitar case, because it was heavy. I had the acoustic guitar in it and it was stuffed full of a lot of things I might need. Old Randy looked at me like I was crazy. I said, '"Yeah, go ahead and look at me like that, Mr. High and Mighty! You treat me like this after all your CD's that I copied!"

I carried my own guitar and let Randy Travis get back to carryin' suitcases. I brought my acoustic because I wasn't sure they'd have electricity out there yet... but they already do!

Marilyn: And it was beautiful, Tondy! It was the perfect temperature! Not too hot, not too cold! Just right! And everyone wears flipflops! 

It was funny to watch Doc because he doesn't have any flipflops and doesn't wear shorts. He stuck out like a bad belly button, walking around in camo and work boots!

Doc: I ain't gonna be a phony just because I'm not at home! Hawaiian shirts, shorts, flipflops! Some people can do that, but not me. I don't know how to be anyone but me.

Marilyn: But you DID find some flipflops on the beach and you wore them the rest of the time! And you DID cut off one of your pairs of jeans after a couple of days...

Doc: Yeah, well I figured the Good Lord wanted me to try out some flipflops, since my boots was wet and my socks were too - and He provided me with them flipflops there on the beach. What would YOU do?

Tondeleo: I'm sure I'd wear them, too, Doc. 

Marilyn: It was funny seein' him in flipflops and shorts! With his white, white legs! They hadn't seen the sun probably since he was a baby, Tondy!

Doc: Well... now you know why I don't wear shorts! My legs got all sunburned and hurt for three days! Why? All because I tried to fit in!

Marilyn: No, all because you didn't wear sunblock! Tondy, his legs looked like two skinny hams!

Doc: Long pants ARE sunblock! Why would I wear shorts and then put on sunblock? Makes no sense.

But we had a good time, Tondy.  We can talk about it later...

Tondeleo: Most of the time, when Doc and Marilyn are playing music, they do all the old music that he likes and which is pretty much all Marilyn knows because neither of them listen to the radio. There doesn't seem to be any one genre that he plays, just stuff he likes and it has to have a good beat. Other than that it may be American roosts music, then blues and if her remembers an old classic Rock song he might play that (and he will deny that it is rock, for some reason) and then he may do a Motown song or something that no one has ever heard before, but he insists is an old one that everybody knows.

Doc and Marilyn are primarily street performers, and play at family reunions, festivals and pig pickin's and some country weddings and receptions. I was not overly surprised to learn recently that Doc is a songwriter, because he seems to be able to create whatever it is that he is lacking, and can make almost anything. I am not mechanically inclined and not very creative, so most of it is a mystery to me. From making something mechanical to writing a song he doesn't know is not that big of a jump, is it?

We were talking about songs and music, and when Doc said he'd written dozens of songs, I asked why he didn't sing them more often; I had never heard him sing any of them.

Doc: Yes, you have heard 'em Tondy! I just ain't tell you which ones I come up with and which ones is just old songs I know. I make up songs all the time, but I ain't good at writin' 'em down. Marilyn, she been writin' 'em down an' sometimes she records them on that thing you gave her. But I ain't never get the words the same way twice. I cain't hardly remember the words to the songs what was wrote by real people.

My mind goes blank an' I just start makin' up words on the spot an' sometimes I forget the tune an' make that up, too. But that ain't truly song writin. Other times I pick up the guitar an' just start singin' what's on my mind. Marilyn says that IS songwritin'. I ain't never thought of it like that afore she said so.

Tondeleo: I NOTICED that on the DVD which I posted parts from on YouTube. I never heard California Blues sung or played like that before! Is that some alternate version or did you make it up?

Doc: Tondy, my mind went blank on that , so I had to start making things up. I couldn't remember nothin, so I made up the middle parts of it an' it didn't come out too bad. It just ain't the way that song goes for most people, but next time it'll be different again, lessen I remember it right. If a man's mind goes blank, he cain't just stop playin' or singin' Peoples' LISTENIN' an' he owes them to keep on. That's all that is.

Tondeleo: You said that some of my favorite songs you sing are originals? Like what?

Doc: That one, "Some Men DO Buy the Cow." That's one of mine. I wrote it for a weddin' me an' Marilyn played at, down Bristol Tennessee when my girl cousin got married a couple years back...

Marilyn, get me those words you wrote down for Some Men Do Buy the Cow. Give 'em to Tondy...

Marilyn: They's in my notebook from school - under the couch - you can get 'em yourself Uncle Doc...the pink notebook.

Doc: (finding the notebook amongst some old socks, an empty potato crisps bag and a couple of empty coca cola bottles) Here ya go Tondy. That's one of 'em what she wrote down the words for... I done a bunch of wedding songs for folks.

Tondeleo: Can I put them on the Internet, Doc? I'm not trying to push you, but people would love to hear them. It might make people want you to play at their weddings.

Doc: Man, I don't care. Just put my name on 'em so it don't get stole an' put on a greetin' card or Randy Travis don't start singin' it as his own like what he done to Peggy Hill [of the American animated programme, King of the Hill - Tondeleo] that time. We seen it on TV what he done to her. That's a cryin' shame. Put my name on it so he don't steal it as his own.

Tondeleo: No problem, Doc. I'll make sure people know that it is your song. When did you write it, so we can list that, too?

Doc: I don't know, 'bout 2005, I expect. Marilyn were about 15. So mebbe 2003, yeah that's it.

Tondeleo: I'll get it on the web and make sure they know it's YOUR song and that no one steals it. Maybe we can video you singing it and then put it on YouTube?

Doc: Yeh when I ain't so tired like I am now. I just fixed a lady's car what got rear ended an' the insurance company gave her $680 for fixin' it an' I done it for her in one day so she could go to work tomorrow. I'm whooped. Video it later.

Some Men DO Buy The Cow

Words and Music By Doc Stevens, 2003

Well today is your big wedding day

and you know were all surprised

You look so pretty in your wedding dress

I can't believe my own eyes

You been together all these year

and never made it right

and now we're all here gathered round

and you're in your gown of white

They say a man won't buy the cow

If he can get the milk for free

But you roped him in and got him hooked

And he knows now nothin's free

I'm glad for you it's all worked out

We thought he'd break your heart

You gave and gave and paid his way

We knew that wasn't smart

But today we can congratulate

What we didn't think would come

He stepped up to the plate

And made a date and now he is your groom

They say a man won't buy the cow

If he can get the milk for free

But you won him with your lovin heart

And now he's what he oughta be

They give out samples at the grocery store

To get us to buy their goods

But a man won't sign no contract

Based only on free food

You proved us wrong and he did you right

And now's your wedding day

He got your samples an he bought the rest

We're proud as we can be

Some men really do buy the cow

After rollin' in the hay

They say a man won't buy the cow

If he can get the milk for free

You beat the odds

You're makin' vows

And before your God

You're what we'd hope you'd be

(Spoken: "Hey girl, you're a wife!" )