I like a few Country Western ballads like “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” “She Thinks my Tractor’s Sexy” “Ladies Love Country Boys” “The Boys Round Here” and “Beer for my Horses” (see August 16, 2024). One of the top 100 songs selected by Western Writers of America debuted in December 1975 — “Faster Horses.” There’s even a Wikipedia article about this number.

The song was written and sung by Tom T. Hall (1936-2021). The premise is that a young poet enters a bar and meets an old cowboy who shares with him “the mysteries of life.” These mysteries of life are fourfold: “faster horses; younger women; older whiskey; and more money.”

Now if one were to ask me what the “mysteries of life” are, I might be inclined to say something like naps, spaghetti carbonara, golf and funny jokes. But I got to thinking about the old cowboy’s advice. Now I gave up “faster horses” when I ended my rodeo career in Estes Park, Colorado, at the age of 12. I like “younger women” very much – and my wife Donna proves it. She is precisely 30 days younger than I am (she just went “Phew“). The “older whiskey” business I gave up 53 years ago. Red wine though? Mmmm. . . . I do enjoy. As to “more money,” I can’t disagree. I don’t think anyone else can either. It does come in handy. . . . .

Check out Tom T. Hall’s explanation of the “mysteries of life.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnvMcX95G20 What are your mysteries of life?