The Wages, An Illustrated Story | 11. Masterstroke | Ben Bondy’s Business Card
“I’m Ben Bondy. Here’s my card,” he said while I caught my breath. “Who wrote that song about you being trashy?”
“I did.”
“Your song sounds like a hit. We will swap the first rhyme, so the opening line is the one about you wanting to smile—that’s when you had my attention. We’ll put ‘tired of scheming and dreaming’ second, to introduce the obstacle to your happiness after you have the listener on side. The rest is OK how it is. You’ve got great raw performance energy, and a strong contralto we can work on. There are some surprising low notes coming out of this little lady. This song is going to take you places.”
At the same time, in a warehouse full of luxury yachts, he picked up a scrappy little speedboat. I had a lot to learn about country music, and I was about to learn it all fast.