Yeah, and for that matter, at one place where I've been playing, all the regulars clamour for something they call "The Rodeo Song," which the standing house band closes every night with. Near as I can tell, it uses all sorts of cuss words that I'd never catch myself dead singing in public.

Part of the problem is that it's got a fairly transient, transitional crowd. Place can turn on a time from a room full of folks actually listening to my originals to bands of marauding tourista barhoppers cruising in for a shot and a chance to stand up on the stage and sing "American Pie" or "Margueritaville" with me while their girlfriends flash their $5,000 cosmetic enhancements.

God, I love this job.