In the spring of 1995, Susan and I had just purchased our first real house — a disaster of a place that probably should have been condemned. The house was built in 1880 (27 years before Oklahoma was even a state), and to this day we thank god that place didn’t explode, burn down, or simply cave in while we lived there.
One night, shortly after I purchased my four-track audio recorder, my buddy Jeff came over and the two of us spent then evening writing and recording silly songs — the most memorable of which was “Mad Melon,” a silly little ditty dedicated to the bottle of Mad Melon (watermelon schnapps) we were drinking at the time. The song went like this:
“Mad Melon, Mad Melon,
It keeps you yellin’ cuz it’s Mad Melon.
Mad Melon, Mad Melon,
How much we’ve had there’s no tellin’,
Mad Melon, Mad Melon,
Drink and Drive and you’ll be a felon,
Mad Melon, Mad Melon,
It’s advocated by Bob Dylan.”
Not many people can rhyme “melon” and “Dylan”, but I pulled it off.
After Jeff left that night, the bottle of Mad Melon got packed back up in the cupboard. In the fall of 1996, Susan and I moved to Spokane, Washington. The bottle went with us. In the spring of 1998 we moved back to Oklahoma; the bottle came home with us. We stayed with my dad for a month before closing on our old house in Yukon. After living there for three years, we moved to the house we’re at now in 2002. Somehow, this nearly empty bottle of watermelon schnapps made it through all those trips.
Jeff came over last night and while digging through the liquor cabinet, back in the back I found that same bottle of Mad Melon we started on 15 years ago. We couldn’t decide if watermelon schnapps could go bad or not, so we decided to go ahead and drink it.
Talk about nursing a drink!
Mad Melon: Advocated by Bob Dylan.
I know I’ve said it before but I remember that night in El Reno vividly. You guys sounded like a couple of drunken oompa loompas down there singing ridiculous songs. The stuff life is made of…brought to you by mad melon.
I’m more interested in the old house. Were you ever alone in the basement and you suddenly hear this voice whisper “Get out!”? I mean, that house is creepy looking. I would have drunk the whole bottle of Mad Melon just to get through the first night.
That is too funny. This just goes back to our belief that it is hard to throw away items because they hold so many good memories. And when you see those items all those memories come back to you. If you had thrown it out, you might never remember that.