Kymyz and Kerosene
"Kymyz and Kerosene" is a novelty duet written by Tommy Lee Varner and Darla Kincaid in the 1980s and recorded by Kincaid and Clay Beaudry for the 1993 charity compilation Swift Hooves.[1]
Production
The song is a brisk, bouncy shuffle in the manner of the husband-and-wife country duets of the 1960s, with boom-chicka guitar, upright bass and snare. Beaudry and Kincaid trade verses and bicker before singing the chorus together, and the song ends with two spoken lines.[1]
Themes
A Texan oil worker from Odessa, drilling near Nurzhan, courts an Iradi herder's daughter. Her father tests him with a bowl of kymyz, fermented mare's milk, at Friday supper, and it comes straight back up; he returns the next morning with a bowl of his own. It is the only song on the album about Iradi food. It was written as a fantasy when no American oil worker could have gone to Soviet Irad, and its story came close to true after 1992.[1]
Lyrics
Verse (him)
Well I came out from Odessa with a hard hat and a grin
Drillin' wells out by Nurzhan where the oil comes rollin' in
Saw a herder's pretty daughter ridin' bareback down the line
Said, darlin', I'm a Texan, and I reckon you'll be mine
Verse (her)
Well I looked at that big Texan with his buckle shinin' bright
Said, mister, if you want me, come to supper Friday night
My daddy's got a question and my mama's got a bowl
And you'll drink it to the bottom if you want to win my soul
Chorus (both)
Kymyz and kerosene
(him) I smell like a pipeline
(her) And I smell like the steppe in spring
(both) We're kymyz and kerosene
And it's the darnedest thing
Verse (him)
Well her daddy filled a bowl up, it was white and it was sour
And it fizzed like a soda that'd been sittin' for an hour
So I took a mighty swallow like a Texas man should
And it came right back to see me, Lord, it didn't do me good
Verse (her)
Well my brothers all were laughin' and my daddy shook his head
And my mama got the bucket and she sent him off to bed
But he rode back in the mornin' with a bowl of his own
Said, I'll drink it every mornin' till it tastes like home sweet home
Chorus (both)
Kymyz and kerosene
(him) I smell like a pipeline
(her) And I smell like the steppe in spring
(both) We're kymyz and kerosene
And it's the darnedest thing
Bridge
(him) Now darlin', back in Texas we got barbecue and beer
(her) Well darlin', this ain't Texas, and you're the stranger here
(him) I'll drink your daddy's kymyz
(her) I'll ride your pickup truck
(both) And if the oil runs out, darlin'
We'll get by on dumb luck
Final chorus (both)
Kymyz and kerosene
(him) I smell like a pipeline
(her) And I smell like the steppe in spring
(both) We're kymyz and kerosene
And it's the darnedest thing
Outro
(him, spoken) Pass me that bowl.
(her, spoken) That's my Texan.
References
- ^ Talas State University Press (2018). Steppe Ballads: American Song and Iradi Country-Folk, 1980–2010, pp. 72–73.