Gillian Welch "The Way It Goes"

"Things have gone really downhill for them since my brother-in-law bought the farm."

I was listening to a co-worker chit-chat with a client about his wife's family.  He was cheerily talking about the family's mishaps.

I could tell by the look on the client's face that I should intervene.

"He means it literally."

"Oh," said the client, visibly relieved that no one had actually died.  And more so relieved that my co-worker wouldn't so glibly, flippantly mention a family member's death.

This was when I was living in Virginia, where I actually met quite a few people who had made a purchase of land on which they intended to raise crops.  But no, they were not dead.  They had actually bought a farm.

So I do laugh every time I hear the beginning of this Gillian Welch song:

Becky Johnson bought the farm
Put a needle in her arm
That's the way that it goes
That's the way

I laugh, thinking about my co-worker, cheerily saying something so morbid.  And then I feel bad, because Gillian isn't being literal.  Poor Becky Johnson.


Hear the song on Youtube.