Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Country Music

A friend told me that he had a hard time believing that I like country music. For those of my readers in the same category, here's why. Besides the beat, a lot of the lyrics genuinely have good messages, avoid talking about bitches and hoes or shooting people, and touch home about life in general. Some of my favorites:

"Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what your made of
You might bend 'til you break
'Cause it's all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe you hands, shake it off
Then you stand, then you stand" -Rascall Flatts, "Stand"

" I ain't settling for just getting by
I've had enough so so for the rest of my life
Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high
Just enough ain't enough this time
I ain't settling for anything less than everything, yeah"
- Sugarland, "Settling"

"I laid in bed that night and thought about the day
And how my life is like a roller coaster ride
The ups and downs and crazy turns along the way
It'll throw you off if you don't hold on tight
You can't really smile until you've shed some tearst
I could die today or I might live on for years

I love this crazy, tragic,
Sometimes almost magic,
Awful, beautful life" -e" -Darryl Worley, "Awful, Beautiful Life"

"Someday she wants a big o' ring
With a big ol' rock that shines
And a big ol' walk-in closet
With shoes of every kind
Yeah, someday she wants a big ol' boat
She can lay around gettin' a tan
But right now all she wants is a man

With a big ol' heart
Who can love her like nobody can
Big ol' kisses that go on and on
And never end
With a big ol' smile
He'll fill her world with laughter
Size matters, size matters" - Joe Nichols, "Size Matters"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Manda, I couldn't agree more! So many moments in my life, good bad and everything in between, have a country song that expresses the emotion perfectly. Country is at it's best when it's written to reflect real people, in real scenarios. Pop/hip-hop/etc. can be fun to think about what it might be like to live that life, but rarely do you hear songs on the top 40 that resonate with life's most touching moments. I imagine you know these songs, but if not, check out Little Moments (Brad Paisley), Tonight I Wanna Cry (Keith Urban), Drive (Alan Jackson) and Best of Intentions (Travis Tritt).

I also like how country artists have incorporated social trends into a lot of their music. Songs like Mr. Mom (Lonestar), Celebrity (Brad Paisley), Half the Dad (Brad Paisley again), Suds in the Bucket (Sara Evans) and She Let Herself Go (George Strait) are great examples of clever social commentary, perhaps made all the more powerful by the unassuming nature of country music.

Unknown said...

Yeah.....Country Music can go to hell!!! And when it does....Amanda can make special trips to hell to get her fix. Daniel can too LMAO.

Quick story about Amanda before I totally rant on this blog: I made her watch hip hop videos once. A video came on from "Eve" in which she rapped about a woman who needs to come forward and do something about her husband beating her. Amanda was SO SURPRISED. Because she was RAPPING about something AMANDA believed in too. But apparently we are back to the "All rap is about is bitches and whores" thing again.

I'm mad about the rapping stereotypes. I don't like country music because it's CORNY AS HELL. You guys act like there is no way those prolific (please) lyrics can come out of the mouth of a rapper. And THAT is why you like it over RAP? I'm not over there like "How could you listen to country music? None of those guys are from the GHETTO. Where is the bling? No one gets shot."

As a black person...well fuck it as a NORMAL person, I find country music lacking in soul. I'm not surprised that YOU like it. I'm just surprised that ANY person I would regard as a close friend would listen to that banal, souless music.

Then Daniel is all like "Gee all the popular rap songs are stupid but uh....these underground country songs are the SHIZNIT!!!" Apples and oranges.

As humans we all experience the SAME DAMN EMOTIONS believe it or not. Why would a different genre of music fail to cover this? I mean if we hurt because a girl we really liked dissed us, you can relate to that...Even if you are on a HORSE or in a FORD F150 when it happens. Amanda, YOU JUST DON'T LIKE RAP MUSIC. You don't like the music or anything. Quit trying to berate it's quality overall because you don't like it. You are not going to save people from IGNORANCE by offering your crappy country solution. Consider that if you wanted to dance with it you would be all like "Yes but bitches and hoes are in a totally different context..."

Besides, The Beastie Boys are Jews that don't talk about bitches and hoes. WHERE IS THE LOVE?

No Flava at all. Creamed Corn for Breakfast lunch and dinner LOL.

Unknown said...

Two points: first, I'm not saying that I only listen to country music. I'm just saying that a lot more of popular country music has a message I like and often can relate to than other genres. Pop music has a lot of meaningless songs that they play: too many pseudo love songs that say the same thing, and songs about absolutely nothing. Alternative and heavy metal music is often too angry at the world. And too many of the popular rap songs are about things I can't relate to (e.g. drunk driving). That's not to say that I don't like songs from other genres, but as a whole they're not as relateable.

Secondly, CG, how can you say something has no soul if you've never actually listened to it? The point is that most country songs there is a lot of emotion behind, what I would call soul. And what you call corny is probably part of what I like, people being real about how they feel and not masking it behind something...

Unknown said...

My brother is way into Jerry Jeff Walker - who I have to say is way awesome. I was skeptical when my brother talked highly of him because my bro watches Nascar, chews tobacco, and kills things with shotguns, but "Jerr-uh-Jeff" is ral gewd. Check it out.