James O’Gwynn “One Bar Stool at a Time” / “Scene of My Latest Sin”

“I’m comin’ home to you one barstool at a time,” is the one-line chorus. It’s got such a gnarly sound, I can’t make out all the lyrics—the record looks like maybe he had it with him on his journey, maybe using it as a coaster—but the idea is, he keeps drinking, inching from barstool to barstool, getting up the nerve to go home to “you.” The world is reduced to a bar, some wine, and what can’t be a healthy relationship. I don’t know why I find country songs about barstools and drinking so romantic when I hate bars and I don’t drink. It’s a good sign that I’m an idiot, I guess. “I’ve just left the scene of my latest sin,” is the chorus of the B-side—it’s a little slower, sadder, regretful—but it’s about cheatin’. James O’Gwynn, from Mississippi, cranked out the country records in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. This 45 is from 1969, on the STOP label (logo in the shape of a stop sign). Wouldn’t it be cool if they made their seven-inch singles in an octagon shape? (The grooves still in a circle, of course.) For the bit of unused vinyl wasted, it would have been a great gimmick—people’d still be talkin’ ’bout that marketing folly/coup. Wait… maybe someone did do that? An exhaustive search (five minutes) on the internet, and I found a hexagon shaped record—so an octagon wouldn’t surprise me. STOP Records—outta Nashville—released a bajillion records (accurate count), so I’m guessing the idea came up at more than a few board meetings—and maybe they even did it. But I’ve spent too much time in this bar already.

2.5.23