Jim Dutton’s Story Index

Hurt — Johnny Cash — Before all our digital entertainment came streaming down from the cloud, we downloaded music to our smartphones and stored our playlists there. A techy friend of mine invented an app that would allow you to tap your phone against a friend’s (or stranger’s) and discover exactly which songs and artists…

I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You — Tom Waits — I’ll admit something, my favorite singer/songwriter has a terrible singing voice. No, it’s not Dylan; it’s Tom Waits. His songs are… weird, always atmospheric, and often quite beautiful even when sung in his raspy whispery voice. Waits is a prolific songwriter. As of today, he has released 27 albums, 23…

Angie — The Rolling Stones — In late 1972, the year I graduated high school, The Rolling Stones recorded a rare ballad, Angie for their upcoming album, Goats Head Soup. …

Somewhere Over the Rainbow — Eva Cassidy — Nearly everyone has heard Judy Garland sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. She owned that song like no singer has since. That is until Eva Cassidy sat down with an acoustic guitar in a nightclub in 1996 and played and sang it in a way nobody had heard before. Listening…

Getting smaller and smaller — “Oh, that’s right, you don’t have one, do you?” asked Joan. Anita sipped her coffee and replaced the cup in its saucer. “Not yet,” she replied. “But I think I might get one someday. Do you enjoy having him around?” “I do, sure. …

A Christmas story — He took another sip from the tumbler of Scotch he’d been warming with his hands and said, “It’s just this shitty time of year, Monica. We’ll both feel better tomorrow. Or maybe the next day.” “Better, maybe,” she said, “but we’ll never feel good again. …

Not to learn, but to regret — Once upon a cloudy day I saw a flash from far away and as I sat to think on it… Ah, screw that. I refuse to be just another sing-song bullshit happy verse or rainbow unicorn fart with rhymes about your future, brighter times. I’m going to ring the honesty…

Ain’t it good to be alive? — My old friend Mick sat beside me at the pub, nodding a bit after having drunk one too many pints, as usual. We had been primary school buddies many years ago, and we’d sat in this same pub so many times since then, having the same conversations. “Did I ever…

SFS Prompt — October 2022 — Before we discuss the responses for last month’s prompt, I first want to mention a late submission for the August prompt on Feminine Sci-Fi. The Study of the Human Female by Kathy K It’s clever and funny, and it’s doing quite well in terms of viewership. …