Episode 12: Coveting in Nashville

If want is “to have or feel need” and desire is “to long or hope for,” coveting is its own beast. Covet is defined as “to desire what belongs to another inordinately.” (Thank you, Merriam-Webster’s). 

Coveting is not about taking care of a basic need; it’s realizing someone has something you wish you had. It also implies you already have your own stuff but you still feel unfulfilled. What will fill that emptiness? Only that thing you don’t have, of course. 

You don’t covet the ordinary; that’s utterly attainable. It’s got to feel a bit out of reach to be worth the coveting—more than you can afford, possibly more than you deserve, a gateway to a better life (in your mind). 

Another key part of coveting is that it’s not rational or practical. It’s what I feel every time I watch the Mecum Auto Auctions and see one pristine classic car after another roll onto the auction block. I don’t need a car; I have a car. But those autos will hold your gaze. 

Coveting is aspirational. I find myself dreaming about owning one of those cars, turning heads as I drive it through my neighborhood. I imagine coming out of the supermarket and seeing people gathered around it in the parking lot in admiration—all of them wondering about the lucky prick who owns it and what their life must be like.

Coveting is desire, fantasy, envy, and impracticality all wrapped up together. Once you begin to covet something, the only way to put out that fire is to divine a way to get it for yourself. 

Throughout this first season of True Road Trip Tales, there have been many quests. This road trip is about coveting a guitar and what happens when a certain kind of impracticality collides with a world that isn’t nearly as invested in the outcome as you are.

In this episode, we also talk about the ’59 Cadillac. Go here to behold this wonderful beast.

Master luthier Chris Swope lends his knowledge of guitars to explain coveting. Behold his handiwork at swopeguitars.com.