Mitch: You ever been married?
Curly: Nah.
Mitch: Ever been in love?
Curly: Once. I was driving a herd across the panhandle. Texas. And, uh, passed near this little dirt farm on about sundown. Out in the fields was this young woman, working down in the dirt. Just then she stood up to stretch her back. She was wearing a little cotton dress, and, ah, the setting sun was right behind her, showing the shape that God had given her.
Mitch: What happened?
Curly: I just turned around and rode away.
Mitch: Why?
Curly: I figured it wasn't gonna get any better than that.
Mitch: But you could have been, you know...with her.
Curly: I’ve been with lots of women.
Mitch: Yeah, but you know, she could have been the love of your life.
Curly: She is.
From “When Will I Be Loved”, written by Phil Everly and first recorded by The Everly Brothers in 1960, but totally appropriated by the inimitable Linda Ronstadt in 1974:
I've been cheated
Been mistreated
When will I be loved
I've been pushed down
I've been pushed 'round
When will I be loved
When I find a new man
That I want for mine
He always breaks my heart in two
It happens every time
I've been made blue
I've been lied to
When will I be loved
In my mind she works at a dirt farm in the Texas panhandle. She owns a cotton dress. She likes to stretch her back in the late afternoon sun.
And she will never know that the answer to her musical question is: “Always”.
