country music post

[anotheranon]

I've never really liked country music.

As a teenaged music snob I had an absolute abhorrence of it - there was just something too gosh darn earnest "mom and apple pie" about it for my gloomy gothy self to digest.

My opinion of it has softened somewhat: I like the fact that the Dixie Chicks told off our Commander and Thief (though I admittedly know little about their music), and I enjoyed some of Johnny Cash's music from "Walk the Line" ("Ring of Fire" particularly sticks in my head). But, there's still something else about the whole country music vibe that I've never liked, never been comfortable with, but never really been able to put a finger on or describe, because after all, apart from teenage angst there's nothing that awful about moms or apple pies...

Then I ran across this post by a Serbian country music fan transplanted to the U.S. who describes the music from an "outsider" perspective, and I think he might be on to something: traditional country music is written by and for "good ole boys", anxiously macho and tediously aching for the "good ole days" when men were men and women were either long-suffering mamas and wives or mean mistreatin' hussies who leave, taking the dog with them, or some such. What's there for me to identify with?

I'm not explaining this well, read the pile of lyrics over at the link and see if the gist of what blather I'm trying to cough up here makes sense :P'

Another jump lands you at this critique of country line dancing, which I've never participated in so I can't really confirm or deny the writer's findings (though I did attend a kick-ass rave that was held at a country/western bar after hours.... but that's a different story).

Tired now.

Comments

[kat1392.livejournal.com]

I think you summed up the country music thing pretty well. There is one other type of woman that has become popular in the last ohhhhh twenty years -- that's the kick-ass woman who whips her man into shape. Of course, most of those songs are sung by women.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Read the last set of lyrics Courtnix posts, of a Dixie Chicks song that is (or rather, was - the post is 2 years old) a popular choice for women doing karaoke - wildly popular, evidently, but still banned on radio. It's about a woman who kills her abusive husband.

Perhaps not the "kick ass" you were thinking of, but still it sounds like it's not the norm in traditional country music.

[kat1392.livejournal.com]

Oh yay!!! Goodbye Earl is an awesome song, and the video was really cool!! There aren't many songs out there like that, but there are a few! :):):)

mostly tangenting

[geekchick]

You might find Rednecks and Bluenecks an interesting read. It's not earthshattering unless you think that all country artists are automatically good ol' Republican boys (they're not; listen to Rodney Crowell or James McMurtry, to pick a couple of examples that aren't the Dixie Chicks) but I thought it was an interesting read.

I used to say I couldn't stand any country music, but long years of exposure to and enjoyment of folk music have let me appreciate it a bit. Not all of it -- if there's going to be any boots in asses involving Toby Keith, it's gonna be mine in his -- but there are some really good artists out there. And Johnny Cash has always kicked ass. =)

Re: mostly tangenting

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the book recommendation :) It's nice to know that the stereotypes aren't true across the board!

Re: Johnny Cash: I give the guy mad props for embracing the creative even though it was way after his generation - he covered NIN and Depeche Mode which most people his age would never have touched, and he did them well!

Re: mostly tangenting

[geekchick]

Re: the book, the author writes for Entertainment Weekly, so it's full o'snark. ;) And going back to Amazon, they showed me this, which looks like it has potential to be interesting (although probably in an "I'll look for it at the library" sort of way).

[seamstrix.livejournal.com]

Although I watched 'HeeHaw' on TV when I was a kid, I am a typical Chicagoan in that I don't like most of country music. When I was in college I took a course in folk music as part of my English program. At the end of the class we all had to find a country music station and listen (and log) an hour of country music. The prof's contention was that country is the descendant of folk. I just twisted the radio dial from my college alternative station until I hit the first country station along the dial. It was grim. I apparently hit one of the hardcore, old skool country stations in central Illinois (back in the mid 80's!!!) and it was an hour of sheer torture. Anybody who thinks that old skool country embodies fine American values must have an amazingly positive view of drunkeness, random violence, and adultery. Oh yeah....and they whine alot. I hate whining. It was years before I would voluntarily listen to anything even vaguely country flavored. I have since bought myself a Dixie Chicks album....

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Anybody who thinks that old skool country embodies fine American values must have an amazingly positive view of drunkeness, random violence, and adultery.

Well, I've never thought that it tried to promote "fine American values", just "good ole boy values". Which, I suppose, if you're the drinkin' cheatin' ass-kickin' guy singing, is a barrel of laughs, but if you're not, it's just kind of pathetic.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I can appreciate some country music for it's descent from Appalachian folk which is obviously descended from Scots/Irish and Elizabethan English.

However the accents make me crazy. If I can't understand what you're saying, you've lost me.

Plus, as I have never owned a truck, a dawg, a woman, or a rifle, I feel sort of disqualified bt default.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I've had a dawg... er, dog, a hound no less. Fine creature, and I can understand the desire to sing about them.

A truck, rifle, or woman - not so much :P

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

I'll have to dig out my Brothers-in-Law tape and transcribe the lyrics of their "Nashville, Tennessee" for you ... I think you'll enjoy 'em. ;-)

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

***after a bit o' listening and scribbling*** This song was recorded in the early seventies, about a very particular genre of country music ... I'm sure you'll recognize which (wish I had this in a format that's computer shareable ... they've got the style and vocals absolutely perfect, so that if you weren't really listening to the lyrics you'd think it was just another of "those" songs ***grin***). Disclaimer: I grew up with and adore Johnny Cash, Wilf Carter, Charlie Pride, Stompin' Tom Connors and quite a few other c&w performers. But this piece captures the type that has always set my teeth on edge ...

Nashville, Tennessee, written and recorded by the Brothers-In-Law on their album, "The Establishment"

I could never live in Nashville, Tennessee
'cause the songs they sing just ain't the kind for me
They're all hung up with despair
On a broken love affair
Or a chronicle of infidelity
Every time I hear that syrupy refrain
It's oozin' heartache, misery and pain
And I can tell by every verse
That things is gettin' worse
I could never live in Nashville, Tennessee

Now them Nashville folks ain't built like me and you
'cause they never ever find a love that's true
They're perpetually grievin'
'cause someone dear is leavin'
And maybe that's because they sing the way they do
So walk on by, keep movin' on, right by my door
'cause I'm wearin' out the shoes that Charlie wore
And in spite of all your schemin'
The pillow that I dream on
Has been thrown on someone else's bedroom floor

If you ever go to Nashville, Tennessee
Then, brother, better listen here to me
If country-western music is your goal
You just better be prepared to bare your soul
For you should realize that each Tennessean dirge
Has gotta show a masochistic urge
But every sob and every tear's
Worth fifty grand a year
In good ol' mournful Nashville, Tennessee