{"id":73,"date":"2005-11-27T19:42:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-27T19:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/?p=73"},"modified":"2015-11-01T17:18:23","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T01:18:23","slug":"thelma-lou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/2005\/11\/27\/thelma-lou\/","title":{"rendered":"Thelma Lou"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thelma<\/p>\n

M<\/span>aybe they weren’t Orpheus and Eurydice or Romeo and Juliet… but, for me, one of the great tragic love affairs has always been Barney and Thelma Lou.<\/p>\n

When I was a kid, I could never figure out how the ultimate goofball, Barney Fife, could snag a warm, cuddly, pretty<\/span> gal like Thelma Lou — particularly when his boss and pal, the tall, good-looking sheriff, Andy Taylor, ended up with the slightly stuffy and decidedly less creamy schoolmarm, Helen Crump.<\/p>\n

Barney, of course, wanted to be “somebody” before he finally popped the question to Thelma Lou and headed out to the state capital, Raleigh, to make a name for himself, becoming an investigator, if I recall correctly, for the AG or the state police.<\/p>\n

When the 20th high school reunion came around, Barney came back to Mayberry, ready to finally propose to the love of his life, Thelma Lou, also back in town for the reunion.<\/p>\n

His eyes met hers from across the room and time froze for a second — at least for me, watching at home — for a few moments it seemed like happily ever after<\/span> would come to Barney Fife. But, alas… it turned out Thelma Lou’s handsome, lawyer fiance was just out parking the car. Smiling broadly and putting his arm protectively around Thelma Lou, he greeted Barney with a confidence that made it clear Barney stood no chance at all.<\/p>\n

As the Fates decreed.<\/p>\n\n

Thelma Lou<\/span><\/p>\n

The day that you came back to town
\nhe thought he’d be seein’ you around
\nhe thought he could pick it up
\nwhere he put it down<\/p>\n

but he thought he’d treat you right this time
\njust like he dreamed about each night
\njust like he prayed he’d have the
\nbrains to do this time<\/p>\n

Now he’ll never know <\/span>
\nwhy he ever let go of you<\/span>
\nThelma Lou<\/span>
\nhe dreamed he’d make it right <\/span>
\nbut none of those dreams <\/span>
\never did come true<\/span>
\nand now he just dreams of you<\/span>
\nit will always be Thelma Lou<\/span>
\nnothing anyone can do<\/span>
\nit will always be dreams of you<\/span>
\nThelma Lou <\/span><\/p>\n

Now he was just a nothing way back then
\nbut he couldn’t believe how you could pretend
\nnot to care about all the things you couldn’t have
\nif you stayed with him<\/p>\n

So he pushed himself hard just to get ahead
\nand he woke up one day in an empty bed
\nand he looked in the mirror and
\nhe realized the years — and you — had fled<\/p>\n

Now, he’ll never know why he ever let go…<\/span><\/p>\n

Well he always thought he’d get one last chance
\nbut all he got was one last dance
\nas your fiance watched
\nfrom across the crowded room<\/p>\n

But he held you so close like he didn’t care
\nit was like no one else in the world was there
\nand still it was too late
\nfor him to say “I love you”<\/p>\n

Now he’ll never know <\/span>
\nwhy he ever let go of you<\/span>
\nThelma Lou<\/span>
\nhe dreamed he’d make it right <\/span>
\nbut none of those dreams <\/span>
\never did come true<\/span>
\nand now he just dreams of you<\/span>
\nit will always be Thelma Lou<\/span>
\nnothing anyone can do<\/span>
\nit will always be dreams of you<\/span>
\nThelma Lou <\/span><\/p>\n

19 June 2005
\n(C)2005 TK Major<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe they weren’t Orpheus and Eurydice or Romeo and Juliet… but, for me, one of the great tragic love affairs has always been Barney and Thelma Lou. When I was a kid, I could never figure out how the ultimate goofball, Barney Fife, could snag a warm, cuddly, pretty gal like Thelma Lou — particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,340],"tags":[338,910,337],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2074,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions\/2074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}