“Don’tcha Know (Your Face Looks Like...) – A Hillbilly Love Song” © Roger Paul Peterson 1973, 2012
What’s a Hillbilly Love Song?
Picture a guy and gal singing in a smoke-filled Texas honky-tonk dive — clearly in love with one another ...
Now imagine a country rock pop song written in 12/8 time giving it a boogie shuffle feel, accompanied by an old, rickety honky-tonk ragtime piano — all setting the stage for a silly, but heart-felt, love song.
In spite of my glaring defects and your flagrant flaws, we still love each other anyway!
Love, after all, is much more than a feeling. It’s a choice.
So — even though my “nose looks like a fishhook” and even though “you sing just like m’ dawg ... I don’t care, what’cha might be, ’cause you’re still a honey to me!”
Background of My Hillbilly Love Song
It all began as a teen, while playing around and improvising musical ideas on the old upright piano we had at home in Dayton, Iowa. I wrote the initial lyrics, verses, chorus & ragtime ending at that time, eventually using some of the song for a college music composition assignment.
Later, while living in Minnesota, I took music writing classes from my church worship pastor, and after a helpful critique of a simple demo I created for this song, I went home to my Samick grand piano and composed the bridge & completed the lyrics. I finally recorded this piece in my Orlando, Florida home studio in Spring 2022.
I then had the song mixed and mastered by the pros in Nashville, Tennessee mid-Summer 2022.
Release date on all the major global streaming providers is Friday, September 16th!
Lyrics © Roger Paul Peterson 1973, 2012
Don’tcha know your face looks like a snare drum?
Don’tcha know your hair looks like a nest?
But I don’t care, what’cha might be, ’cause you’re still a honey to me
Don’tcha know your legs look like a flagpole?
Don’tcha know your chest is at half mast?
But I don’t care, what’cha might be, ’cause you’re still a honey to me
Don’tcha know your nose looks like a fishhook?
Don’tcha know your ears taste like the bait?
But I don’t care, what’cha might be, ’cause you’re still a honey to me
Don’tcha know your feet smell like a plu - u - u - un-ger?
Don’tcha know your knees knock like your c - c - c - c - c - c car?
Don’tcha know your hands feel like a prickly cactus?
Don’tcha know your bridgework just fell ——— out?
Don’tcha know you kiss me like an oyster?
Don’tcha know you sing just like m’ dawg?
But I don’t care, what’cha might be,
cause you’re still a honey to —
lovin’ all my money, too —
you’re still a honey to —
(ragtime piano ending)