Was that a happy or sad ending?

One gets taken out, another one comes in. I guess for Barbara Jean it was sad but for the little "ordinary lookin woman" who was runnin' from her hillbilly husband, sleepin' in cars, climbin' over railings, causing car accidents and chewin' on an old pig's foot behind the curtain of shame, it was the break of her lifetime! - Sorta like fate I guess.

Sueleen - poor little Sueleen. She quickly followed her boyfriend to Deetroit. They married and had a tassel of children, They live in a mobile home park. She wears too much eyeliner, blush and Tangee lipstick, lounges around in capri pants with a head forever full of pink plastic curlers, chain-smokes Virginia Slims 100s, sitting in her brightly-colored woven plastic lawn furniture with her blue plastic am radio by her side, forever singing along to Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty hits and loves Tammy Whynette songs. Wistfully she dreams out loud to her girlfriends (over a few too many beers) how she almost became a star in Nashville but opted for the straight and narrow life of the loving wife and mother to the brats in the front yard kicking up the dust on their broken tri-cycles. Her husband working his balls of as a mechanic at the local Sonoco station and cussing the boss (under his breath) all the while for fear of getting fired from the menial job he luckily landed. It pays the bills and keeps his wife in smokes and 45s and that's good enough for him. "She's had a lot of disappointments in her life" he tells his friends

I guess Haven Hamilton went into politics after all, for his line "I go anywhere Barbara Jean goes" sealed his fate. His entire current career was built around Barbara Jean's success. Old hit songs of yesteryear can't keep your head above water for long.

Tom Frank continued on his breakneck journey into the rude awakening of an overdose and a rehabilitation program.
Marriage break-up for his band-mates and a suicide attempt for the woman in that picture.
Success was short-lived for this one-hit wonder trio and they faded into obscurity.

An unhappy life of secrets and denial lay in store for Leneah and her hard-boiled husband, the guilt-ridden parents of hearing-challenged twins, but they'll make it... at least until the kids grow up.

Tommy Brown went on to win entertainer of the year at the country music awards later on that season. He proudly but cautiously made his way up to the stage to receive his award amongst the semi-hidden smirks and hisses of racism kept mainly underneath the breath of the other nominees and the old-schoolers

Bud Hamilton's exposed as the rapist/ murderer of a couple of University of Tennessee college girls while his stepmother spends all Haven's money trying to prove her lover/stepson is innocent of all charges. This, in turn exposes the incestuous relationship that had been kept under wraps since Bud was fifteen years old.
Haven's reputation is destroyed and his money is gone. He ends up as an occupant in the notorious "Rubber Room" made famous in the song of the same name written and sung by his friend, Porter Wagoner.

The chick known as California Joan is picked up by a trucker while hitch-hiking her way on back to California. Her body is never found.

Her Uncle wastes away on his front porch dreaming of the day when he can join his wife and son in the family plot at the local cemetery.

Barbara Jean's husband finally gets himself some rest but dies of a massive heart attack later that same year while unloading a pick-up truck full of timber logs that he gone out and cut in order to keep his Franklin Tennessee mansion on the hill warm. Barbara Jean always loved that place with the hearth glowing... reminded her of her Old Idaho Home.

And Miss Connie White, the hip new country singer has several almost-hits. She turned bitter living that clueless life full of Deamon's Dens and Vodka tonics. She got stuck in the urban cowboy thing and ended up singing in the house back-up group on Ralph Emery's Nashville Now.

Oh yeah, The guy on the motorcycle goes back to Vermont and becomes an ultra-liberal high school teacher. Later on he writes a book... about the conspiracy surrounding the assassination of JFK.

The Driver ... well he went on... who knows where.

The killer? Old Sparky? Nah, Spending his life in what Karl Childers grandmother referred to as a "Nervous Hospital"


Whither Goest Thou, America, In thy Shiny Car In the Night? ~ ~ Jack Kerouac

I think whether it's happy or sad is a matter of personal interpretation.