Sing it, Gary! It's hard to get a feel for it by reading along.

If the composer accepts it there may be a recording in future. I just wanted to park it here while waiting. 

April 4, 2022 Messaged with Tricky Dean. He didn't use my Lyric.
But it's too unique (any kind of 'strut') for me to use so the Lyric can't go anywhere. I like the music. I really like Hollywood Strut too. Alas.
Hmmm. He said an Englishwoman wrote a Lyric for it. I wonder if she used 'strut' in the title. Surely she did. But I didn't actually ask. If he's not going to use it maybe my Lyric could, with permission. Hmmmm....

"Bad Influence (Only Seventeen)" copyright May 28, 2021 by Gary E. Andrews. All Rights Reserved.
E
A7
B7
(No audio link.)

(Verse I)
I sent her to the Preacher.
The Preacher couldn't reach 'er.
The Preacher sent her back to me.
I tried to teach 'er.
Underneath the bleachers,
she started teachin' me.

(Chorus)
She's a Bad Influence on me!
She comes to me when she's lonely!
Somebody said, "She's Only Seventeen!"

(Verse II)
She lives in a trailer.
She cusses like a sailor.
She likes to whisper things obscene.
She tells me, "You're too gloomy!"
She says she wouldn't do me,
if I wasn't so damned mean!

(Chorus II)
I'm a Bad Influence on 'er'.
She asks why I never phone 'er,
says she wants to be a loner, just like me!

(Bridge)
Honey, we can't do this!
I'm trying' to work through this!
Aren't you too young to be doin' this with me?

(Verse III)
She scatters out my money.
She likes to talk funny,
when she's tryin' to get a laugh out of me.
Calls me 'Guitar Picker'.
Wants to taste my liquor.
What if she's Only Seventeen?

(Fading Coda)
I sent her to the Preacher.
The Preacher couldn't reach 'er.
The Preacher sent her back to me.
I tried to teach 'er.
Underneath the bleachers,
she started teachin' me.

Enjoyed Da Read Gary.

Great hook. Unusual, but relatable and a cheeky, fun concept. I can hear this in my head and it sounds good. I have no suggestions to make, which is unusual for me 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/boneyfiddleproject/   Thanks Gavin, for this direct link: https://fb.watch/7bOvEG0jBa/

Three acts dropped out at the last minute. They asked if I could play a couple tunes to fill the time. Here 'tiz, flaws and all. 
I'm the guy in the green shirt and white hat, playing acoustic guitar. Someone else's guitar, pick, wind, car horns, me exhausted after helping prepare for the event. Still, the show must go on!

What I like about this song is that it's fun to say/sing, particularly the chorus. Too many lyricists forget that the way words feel in the mouth is important as their meaning.

I'm a bit confused by these lines:

Posted by: @gary-e-andrews

https://www.facebook.com/boneyfiddleproject/

Three acts dropped out at the last minute. They asked if I could play a couple tunes to fill the time. Here 'tiz, flaws and all. 
I'm the guy in the green shirt and white hat, playing acoustic guitar. Someone else's guitar, pick, wind, car horns, me exhausted after helping prepare for the event. Still, the show must go on!

That link goes to the main Facebook page and you have to scroll down to find the video. As more stuff gets added to the page, it will not be possible to find it. Here's the link to the video itself. Thanks for sharing it.

https://fb.watch/7bOvEG0jBa/

@gavin
Commas in the written word indicate a pause in speech, either in a quote of someone speaking, indicating they paused before going on, or in prose, simply to divide clauses for clarification of complex thoughts.
In a Lyric I employ commas to indicate a 'rest', eighth rest or perhaps quarter rest in this case, before the singer goes on to the next Note. Eighth rest I think as 'sweet' is the next Note landing on the first beat of the next measure.

I knew you, were sweet on 'him'.
I caught you kissin', his brother Jim.

The pronoun 'I' identifies a Singer-Character, speaking to another person, 'you'.
He's telling her that he was aware of her affection for someone, yet caught her kissing that man's brother.
It is most likely that Joe is Jim's brother or he would not figure in the storyline as just some random person mentioned with no connection to what has been told before.
The fact that he never married figures into the love-triangle. Perhaps their relationship fell apart, for whatever reason, as far as he knew. Perhaps he found out about her and Jim. We don't always know the details. Sometimes, years later, someone fills us in on what they knew then or found out later, making sense of what they already knew.

Some ladies were visiting and talking about the old home town.
They said they were surprised at how many times they found each other saying, "I never knew that!"
My correspondent was not specific about what those unknowns were, history, people, whatever. But it inspired this Lyric.

@gary-e-andrews I thought that was the story - it just wasn't completely clear. Here's a suggestion you're going to hate me for 🙂 I know you are allergic to ands and buts in a song, but one might actually help here...

I knew you, were sweet on 'him'.
But I caught you kissin', his brother Jim

The story so far:
Verse I, Line 1:
I, the Singer-Character, know something about 'you' and 'him'. Three Characters.
Verse I: Line 2:
I, the Singer-Character, caught 'you' kissing 'his' brother, identified as 'Jim'. A fourth Character.

The only Character in the story so far who could be Jim's brother is 'him'.

I'm coping with my allergies. LOL Doc says there's no shot for that but Jack Daniels.
This is precisely the kind of 'connector word' situation I find unnecessary. I think the reader, perhaps the listener, 'gets' the connection without the connector. They should be provoked to think about what they're hearing, and to draw conclusions on their own. The 'But' could also be 'However', but that's as much distraction as elucidation, exposition.
I think the Chorus Refrain,
Verse I, Line 3:
"I know now, what I never knew then"
sums up at that point that the Singer-Character has since learned more about what they had 'known' about 'you' being sweet on 'him' and catching 'you' kissing 'his' brother Jim. It's not so complex a story, so far, and the Singer-Character doesn't keep them waiting long for more information, however obscure; and appropriately obscure.

In the effort to keep secrets during gossip people often omit names when they know the other gossipers know who's who.
Not that these ladies were gossiping. As I say, my correspondent gave no details, just the "I never knew that" quote. I took it to Characters and the complexities of Love, which is the only thing that makes the world go 'round, the only thing that makes a Song worth singing.

I'm re-writing, deleting some 'Buts' by the way. LOL