First Time I've Heard THAT Name in a Song ...

When I was a kid, during a family drive from Lebanon, Missouri to Springfield, Missouri on some business or another, my mom and dad decided to drive a little further and see if a house they'd once lived in was still there (IIRC, it wasn't). The little town was Bois D'Arc, pronounced "Bo-Dark" because MURKA.

I was surprised to hear "Bo-Dark" name-checked in a song referencing several states, but not Missouri, until I did a little Internet searching and learned that 1) there are five Bois D'Arcs in the US, including one each in the four states the song does mention, and 2) it refers to a type of tree, also known as the "Osage orange" tree, for which the Missouri town is named because there was such a tree near the original settlement (it's not common in the area; my mom once said she thought Bois D'Arc was French for "rainbow").

The wood of the Bois D'Arc tree is decay-resistant, making it ideal for the usage mentioned in the song:

With a great big ol' hard-on like a old Bois d'Arc fence post

You could hang a pipe rail gate from

Learn something new every day ... and it's one of my new favorite songs. Kinda reminds me of back home.