a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song
The more I watch Texas Justice, the more I like Judge Larry Joe. At first, I hated the show, because it makes Texas look like a place where judges ride into court on horseback and then rule the court wearing jeans and cowboy boots. Some may, but I suspect it’s rare.
In any case, the more I watch, the more I’m convinced Judge Larry Joe is a really nice guy. If he has a political agenda in the traditional sense, I can’t see it. He seems fair and well … nice. He settles the disputes in his court (claims max out at $5,000) by assessing the situations and the people involved. He gives people life advice that is well-intentioned and rarely condescending. When he speaks on the law, he does so in plain language and explains himself clearly.
Today on Texas Justice, Judge Larry Joe (who Slate called “a natural humanist”) pointed out “every sad story has to have a story about a truck.” To this sage observation, which is frequently true here in the Lone Star State, the prosecution said, “and a train.”
For those of you who are not familiar, this is a reference to a prime piece of Texas culture, David Allan Coe’s, “You Never Even Called Me By My Name.” The song claims to be “the perfect country and western song,” and is quite possibly the perfect Texas drinking song, if nothing else. This baby comes on a jukebox anywhere in these parts, and you’re going to have a chorus of drunks singing along and doing callbacks.
They should probably include a copy of “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” in any official Welcome To Texas packet. It would help people acclimate more quickly.
David Allan Coe was also historically sort of an asshole, throwing around racial epithets and sexist jargon like it was going out of style, which I suppose it was. He claims to have cleaned up his ways and his politics as of late. And no, I don’t know what happened to his hair.
