The Women There Don't Treat You Mean: Abilene in Song (review)

In this brief but very enjoyable tribute to the West Texas town of Abilene, Joe Specht discusses the many references to the Key City that have appeared in song lyrics over the years. Starting with the most famous of all such songs, "Abilene" (Abilene, Abilene, prettiest town I've ever seen/The women there don't treat you mean in Abilene), which was first popularized in 1957 by folk singer Bob Gibson, Specht discusses the reasons that this particular town name has been used so often in American popular music (p. 13).

Specht points out that songwriters have included the name Abilene in their tunes for a variety of reasons. For some, it is simply because Abilene rhymes well with other key words or phrases. For others, Abilene seems to conjure up images of a romantic, almost mythic, corner of the American West in which cowboys still loom large on the landscape and long, desolate highways stretch uninterrupted into the western sunset.

As for Gibson's song "Abilene," which was subsequently recorded by numerous artists, including George Hamilton IV and Sonny James, Specht admits that there is still some uncertainty as to whether the song originally was written about Abilene, Texas, or Abilene, Kansas. In any case, according to Specht, after performing the song before several thousand enthusiastic Texans at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1978, Gibson claimed, "I knew right away I'd written it about Abilene, Texas!" (p. 25).

Although Gibson's is the most well-known tune to refer to the Key City, Abilene appears in dozens of other songs performed by a surprisingly diverse group of musicians. Legendary Texas bluesman Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins recorded at least three tunes between 1948 and 1974 in which he sang the praises of Abilene. Texas honky-tonk pioneer Ernest Tubb recorded "Girl from Abilene," and Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash co-authored the song "Wanted Man," in which the lead character spends time in Abilene. The list of artists who pay tribute to Abilene is remarkably long and includes Ian Moore, Jerry Lee Lewis, Waylon Jennings, Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen, Eliza Gilkyson, Larry Joe Taylor, and even two British rock bands, Yes and Humble Pie. (The accompanying CD includes six songs about Abilene performed by various artists.)

Specht clearly does not intend this book to be a scholarly examination of this musical phenomenon, but, instead, a humorous and affectionate homage to his hometown and its nearly ubiquitous presence in the world of popular music. As such, this is a very interesting, entertaining, and memorable read for anyone interested in Texas history and culture.