[a week after writing this post, I heard a program about the late Janis Joplin on KUT in Austin, Texas. It included a version of Happy Trails recorded as a birthday greeting for John Lennon. It was the last recording she made before her death. A worthy candidate.]
Prominently displayed in the window of Horse Feathers in Taos, New Mexico is a sign that promises a decent burial for a hat that has been well loved but can no longer serve its partner. As part of the service, Horsefeathers promises that one hymn will be included. I happen to be the proud partner of a straw hat that has many hoof prints, a menagerie of unusual stains and no discernible shape that has sequestered itself in the trunk of my car rather than allow itself to be seen in such deplorable condition. I have long considered putting the haberdashery down but thoughts of a dumpster burial for such a long term companion carry only a sense of revulsion.
A word about the Horse Feathers emporium might be helpful here as it will allow insight into my feeling that I had found the noble end to a valiant friend. Other signs promise previously “loved” cowboy hats and boots. The sense of respect for the accouterments of cowboying is everywhere from the storefront to the shops interior rigging. Lifetimes devoted working and caring for large animals are reduced to displays of the essential tools of the profession. Hats and boots are the symbolic testimony to the west and the lore of the cowboy. The storefront is a fair representation of what is on the inside.
Emboldened by the promotions and cowboy collectibles, I inquired about what hymns were recommended for a proper cowboy hat funeral. After a pause, which I could only assume was meant to assure that the solemnity of the occasion was maintained, the Hoyt Axtonesque reply was “Happy Trails.” Both the tone and suggestion triggered my reply that I could see that as a fitting end, but in the back of my mind, there was a nagging doubt. The Sons of the Pioneers and Roy and Dale seemed a little too commercial for what I had in mind.
What I have in mind is something more on the lines of Ian Tyson's tribute to a horse named “Barney” that touches anyone who has suffered putting down a beloved animal. Even with the help of Google, I have been unable to find a tribute to an aging cowboy hat. If the hat had blown off my head and been lost in an gulch or box canyon, I could sing cheerful songs celebrating the bravery involved in taking so much blistering sun from my face or keeping the snow or rain off my glasses. In the absence of a quick end, I am faced with the prospect of putting this hat down with dignity.
Horse Feathers has a blog that provides cowboy wisdom and a sampling of songs. I have yet to find a fitting tribute to parting with a hat. I hope that the power of the internet can serve to gather suggestions about a fitting tribute now that I have found a proper funeral director. Leave suggestions here in the comments or add your hat stories to Story Chip.
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Tour the US with a brew pub map as your itinerary for the enormous variety of brewing techniques and tastes sure, but you will also spend time meeting interesting people. Mere hours after after posting about looking for a and moving final tribute for a well loved hat, we were settled in the patio of the Blue Heron brewery, just a little bit north of Embudo and Dixon, New Mexico, with a delicate porter (to be fair, some of us went for the amber ale) worthy of the trip on its own. In between sets, the small stage in the corner became the home of Eddie Harrison. The brief set he played included Waylon Jennings, Bobbie Gentry and the Righteous Brothers, all tunes that Eddie would remember from their original release. While Eddie's eyes sparkled, his voice steady and expressive even if no longer full and his arthritic fingers never missed a note when he got to Stan Jones' 1948 classic Ghost Riders in the Sky if he finished the first chorus before the whole patio (no it is not really that big), was buzzing with nominating the tune for a hat's final rest.
OK, haunting and definitely cowboy enough, but this is not a dirge or about hats or unrequited love or any of those other important emotions that can be invoked on our most solemn moments. I am still looking for nominations, as I am confident that both nominated songs would do, I hope to do better for this noble hat. By the way, thanks to Eddie and the folks at the Blue Heron for inspiring the conversation. When you are near Santa Fe, drop in and sample the porter but wait until fall as it seems some folks researching funeral songs drank up the last of the summer brewing.
Here is the link to the Blue Heron Brewing Brewing Co. in Embudo, NM. http://www.blueheronbrews.com/
We visited "The Collection" antiques in Trumansville, New York, about as uncowboy a place as you will ever find. We told the owner my story of the cowboy hat funeral and asked if he had a suggestion for an appropriate hymn.
His response, "You don't bury an old hats, you sell them."