I realized that after last week’s bro-country, four-writer co-writing session produced that moving alternate version of White Dove (I didn’t say how it moved you, or what it moved you to do, just that it was moving), you may have been left with a slightly dissatisfied feeling. Perhaps that was dissatisfaction with just a hint of nausea. That’s because I left it unfinished, and just like the restaurant with the terrible food and the portions that are too small, we still crave a completed song, even if the song is dreadful. Otherwise we find ourselves completing it in our own minds, and that’s not healthy for anyone’s mind. I know because that’s what I’ve been torturing myself with since last Wednesday.
So here’s the rest of Bro-country White Dove, just so I can get the thing out of my head forever.
Thirty minutes after we left our four Music Row writers, they wrapped the song up and sang a rough demo before moving on to their second, third, and fourth songs they wrote that day: “Yeah Man,” “Hell Yeah, Buddy,” and “Rank Stranger” (“Let me be your rank stranger, in my Ford Ranger . . .”).
The melody is every bro-country song you already know, so that’s easy:
Verse 1:
In the deep rolling hills of old Virginia
Put ‘er into 4-wheel, let the games begin, yeah
It’s Saturday night and we’re just gettin’ started
Down to the river and you know it’s time to party
Verse 2:
Barbecue stain on her tight white tank top
Lookin’ so good I wanna party till the sun’s up
I gave her a ride in my big red Dodge Ram (product placement)
Offered her a sandwich, cole slaw and grilled ham
Yeah (oh yeah), Yeah (oh yeah)
Chorus:
She’s my little white dove, she gives me that good love
Everything I want on a moonlit night
Two kegs on a flatbed, step back jump ahead
You know she’s gonna make me want to fly, sky high
My white dove
Verse 3:
Just me and some buddies we’re out to make it happen
Jim, Jack, Troy-boy, and General Patton
But when she comes around, well you know I want to ditch ‘em
Leave ‘em in a double wide with a big kitchen
Verse 4:
Now she’s standing real close and I pour her a cold one
Two lawn chairs, I just gotta unfold ‘em
She gives me that look and it makes me want to quiver
Oh did I mention that we’re down by the river?
Yeah (oh yeah), yeah (oh yeah)
Chorus:
She’s my little white dove, she gives me that good love
Everything I want on a moonlit night
Two kegs on a flatbed, step back jump ahead
You know she’s gonna make me want to fly, sky high
My white dove
It could really have happened that way.
That wasn’t my statement, by the way, that was the bridge. Then just add another chorus.
The above is naturally presented with deepest to apologies to Carter Stanley. It’s now out of my brain for good, I hope. As a cleanse, I’m going to listen to the real White Dove (Columbia version).
