The Rock'N'Roll Doctor: How To Cure Domestic Woe

The record label of the vinyl single I Been Dealing With The Devil but Sonny Boy Williamson.
I Been Dealing With The Devil but Sonny Boy Williamson.

You and your partner just can’t agree, can you? Not on one single solitary thing. Your beloved even disagrees with you on this. “We’re always arguing.” “No, we’re not!” Ah, I’ve been there, old chum. You’re rubbing each up the wrong way, and not in the fun sense. They say “potay-to”, you say “pot-ahto” – but don’t call the whole thing off. (Although maybe reconsider your pronunciation of potato.) I’ve prepared a musical solution for you which should hopefully ease your pain.

Sometimes it’s hard to see your way out of a deadlock. What was a charming idiosyncrasy during the first flush of romance is now a source of irritation; it’s become A Thing, and once something becomes A Thing, it’s very hard to unThing it unless you give yourselves some space, which may not always be practical.

You can distance yourself from your own problems by listening to someone else’s hard luck stories, mind. Oh yes, it’s not all about you, you know. And unlike having to actually listen to someone complaining – so tiresome – the following will take but minutes. Simply fling on I Been Dealing With The Devil by Sonny Boy Williamson. Why? Well,
it’s an uplifting major-key shuffle and SBW’s voice is perfection, and our hero is having such problems with his other half he’d ‘rather be sleeping with the devil’. She fights in her sleep, an ice pick in her fist – the ‘meanest woman you most ever seen’, no less. Does this put things in perspective? I hope so. On the other hand, if this merely sounds like a description of your home life, I’m Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open may be the more apposite choice. Good luck.