“Fishin Blues”

“Fishin Blues” is a raunchy song written by Sara Tidwell and originally performed by Sara and the Red-Top Boys. Its appearances connect a contemporary performance on Castle Rock Town Common with the song’s older, more explicitly sexual performance by Sara at the Fryeburg Fair, where it becomes part of Mike’s encounter with the past and a source of fear for Kyra.

Song and Performance

The song’s fishing language is built around unmistakable sexual double entendre. Its verses invite a listener to fish in the singer’s hole or pond, insist on a big pole, and warn that a line should be checked before fishing begins. Sara’s lyrics make the metaphor deliberately thin: the comedy depends on how little separates the stated activity from its sexual meaning.

At Castle Rock Town Common, a young guitarist first plays early Bob Dylan before shifting into the song’s chugging, upbeat rhythm. Mike recognizes the chord changes, and the performance briefly makes the crowd-facing scene feel playful and communal. The song is identified as Sara’s composition, later covered by performers ranging from Ma Rainey to the Lovin' Spoonful. Its broad afterlife contrasts with the suggestive lyrics that had been Sara’s specialty.

The Fair Performance

At the Fryeburg Fair, the Red-Tops perform the number with a force that makes the contemporary guitarist seem slow and unknowing by comparison. Mike rejects the idea of the song as a quaint folk relic preserved like a butterfly under glass: in this performance, its sexual charge is immediate, and Sara sings about the dirty boogie to a crowd of farmers gathered before the stage.

Sara’s stage presence intensifies the lyrics. She dances in front of Son Tidwell, backing away from him while shaking her body and laughing; when she turns back to the audience, she sings the verse about checking the line while looking directly at Mike. The performance is not merely a song Mike recognizes. It makes him an object of Sara’s attention within the scene, as the bawdy words and her direct gaze converge.

Kyra’s Fear and the Song’s Significance

Kyra is shaking in Mike’s arms and says she is scared of Sara, wants to go home, and believes Sara has stolen Mattie’s dress. The contrast between the crowd’s happy roar and Kyra’s distress makes the scene’s menace unmistakable: the same performance can read as entertainment to the audience and as a threatening presence to the child.

Sara appears to hear Kyra over the music. She throws her head back and laughs at the sky, showing large yellow teeth that Mike compares to those of a hungry animal. The song’s bawdy playfulness thus gives way to an encounter that Mike himself finds frightening. Its recurrence carries the number from a lively modern performance into the Fair’s past, where Sara’s voice, sexuality, and attention become inseparable from the danger surrounding Kyra.