The Water Tower

The water tower still standing in Elton, Louisiana

If you grew up in a small town, the title of this post will jog your memory. We had a water tower in our small town (population 2,500). It has since been taken down. In 1993 a country singer by the name of Joe Diffie sang a song about the water tower in his town. The song was a catchy one. One that you'd sing at the top of your lungs as you rode in your truck with your windows rolled down on a dirt road.

1993 seems like such a long time ago.  Perhaps I was living in a bubble, but it seemed like people were happier back then.  Sure, there was division, but at the end of the day, we loved our Lord, we loved our country and we loved each other.  Think Mayberry.  Yes, it was just a TV show, but for the most part, the community values and spirit and neighborliness was real, at least where I lived.  

So let's talk about the water tower in a small town.  Here's how Joe Diffie's "John Deere Green" started: 

They were farm kids way down in Dixie

Met in high school in the '60s

Everyone knew it was love from the start

One July, in the midnight hour

He climbed upon the water tower

Stood on the rail and painted a ten-foot heart

The water tower in Kinder, Louisiana was silver in color and some home-town "artists" had climbed way up to the top and painted things.  They didn't paint a 10 foot heart.  If memory serves me right, the painting was, "SRS '76".  Translation: Seniors of 1976.  Some proud individuals that had or were going to graduate from Kinder High School, braved the climb with a can of black spray paint and advertised their school spirit for all the world to see.

Brave souls, indeed.  The water tower is way up there.  You had to have stamina to climb that ladder.  You had to not be afraid of heights.  Though I've done my share of other questionable things, I never climbed the water tower.  I'm telling on him, and he probably won't appreciate me saying this, but my Dad climbed the water tower when he was a young buck.

I'll have to get him to tell me the story again since it's been a long time since I heard it, but I seem to recall him telling me that he was scared to death.  Not to mention the fact that when he and his friends got to the top and looked down, there were flashing lights coming from the police cars of Kinder who had been tipped off about their nightly maneuvers.  To Protect and Serve.  The officers were interested in having the climbers come back down and have a visit.  There was no place to run and no place to hide!  

Here is the chorus to the song about the water tower in a small town: 

In John Deere green

On a hot summer night

He wrote, "Billy Bob loves Charlene"

In letters three-foot high

And the whole town said that he should've used red

But it looked good to Charlene

In John Deere green

See what I mean?  That's a song you can really sing out loud!  The young "Rembrandt" from a rural town wanted to convey his love to Charlene.  Yes, he should've used red to accentuate the romantic feelings, but all he had was a can of John Deere Green paint that would ordinarily be used to touch up the old John Deere 4020.

In addition to serving as a blank canvas on which to paint your pride in your academic prowess or your love for the "Charlene" in your life, the water tower actually served a purpose.  Water towers ensure pressured water to the community and rely on hydrostatic pressure to distribute water to the town.  They must be high in the air to accomplish this.  Each foot of height will provide 0.43 PSI (pounds per square inch) of pressure.  

This saves the municipality on pumping.  Once the water was up in the tank, you had pressure, even during power outages.  Even if the power was out, you could shower in the morning - at least while there was water in the tank. You would need a pump to pump water back up there once the reservoir was depleted.

Water towers often have the town's name painted on the side and/or the town's slogan and perhaps boasts of football championships painted up there as well.  Not to mention a place for the "Billy Bob's" of the community to declare their undying love for "Charlene."  It doesn't even need to be painted in red.  Charlene liked it in John Deere green.  God bless small towns in America!

As the song continues, you see that Billy Bob's painting on the water tower paid dividends:

They settled down on 80 acres

Raising sweet corn, kids, and tomatoes

They went together like a hand and a glove

On a clear day from their front yard

If you look and know what to look for

Up to the east, you can still read his words of love

In John Deere green
On a hot summer night
He wrote, "Billy Bob loves Charlene"
In letters three-foot high
And the whole town said, "The boy should've used red"
But it looked good to Charlene
In John Deere green.