Thank you very much
Well, I've got a room full of friends here and ticket winners here and uh
(We love you, Joni) Record company people here
I want to thank you all for coming and
Thank everyone out there in Radio land for tuning in
But I'm just thrilled to be here at the
Gene Autry Museum because ahem, my generation, ahem
I think we all had a hero in one of the singing cowboys
'Cause that was before Rock n' Roll
So these were the guys, you know, this was uhm-
So I brought my cutout of Roy Rogers here
I think Gene will forgive me
And the evidence of the worship here
You know, I had a- when I was a kid, I had a hard time
The girls in my neighbourhood were pretty tough
And although they were playing pretty much the traditional games
It was kind of hard to play dollies with them because, you know, they go
"My dolly walks and talks and yours doesn't"
Or, you know, "my dolly wets and yours doesn't"
You know, whatever it was, it was the latest movable part
I usually didn't have it
So and if you played imaginary dress up, that was pretty rough too
I remember one time with Sandy, we were playing imaginary dress up
And I said, "I am wearing a gold lame gown and
I am a descending a diamond staircase"
And she said, "No, you're not, I am"
So there was this big fight that ensued over that
So, I bought a cap pistol
And with a cap pistol, the boys would let you play
There was always some kind of part
They'd come to the door, and they'd say, "Come on, Joni, get your gun
We're playing
We're playing war
You can be the German"
So I get out there and they'd shoot me right away
I'll be lying on the ground saying, "can I get up yet?"
"Not yet, you're dead"
So, frequently when the weather was good and
You could walk around in your shirt sleeves
The boys played Roy Rogers and
They always chose a new Roy, like every couple of days
And so I kind of wanted to be Roy because
Roy was the least for one day, you know, Roy for a day
It was like he was the playwright and
He was the director and he picked the locations
And a lot of times the guys, they just play up to the end of the block
They didn't adventure out too much
And I happened to know over by Alexander School
There was a ravine with a little weathered footbridge there
It was just great for ambushes and battle scenes
So I would say to them from time to time, "Why can't I be Roy today?"
And I'd always get the same answer
They'd go, "You can't because you're a girl"
So when I was, I don't know, eight or nine, I guess
Whenever this was taken, that Christmas I asked for a Roy Rogers suit
Well, as you can see, they gave me half of it
And they missed the boots, but I've got them now
So anyway, the first good shirt sleeve weather
When the boys were finished with hockey
I came out in this costume here, and I said that, I said, "Let me be Roy today"
Oh, I was full of ideas, you know
And they said, "Well, you can't, you know"
I said, "Why not?"
"Well, because you're a girl"
And I said, "Yeah, but look, it says on my hat right here, Roy Rogers
And it says on my shirt right here, Roy Rogers"
"Well, that doesn't mean you're Roy Rogers
That means you're Dale Evans"
"But, why?"
"Well, because you're wearing Roy's clothes"
"Well, what does she do?"
"Well, she stays home and cooks
Come on, man"
So I can cook pretty good, but I, you know
This is a secret between you and me
You know, don't tell anybody that because
I'd rather be part of the posse
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