Country Music

I should like country music. I believe it's where Rock and Roll went to live after being pushed off the pop music scene by the crap that’s on there now. Lyrically it’s all about family, relationships, God and country…. and those are good things. Country artists and writers seem to be real people which is also appealing to me. Even though you don’t hear it as much, the twang never bothered me. I would argue there’s more twang in Bluegrass and ever since O Brother Where Art Thou, I love bluegrass. So it’s not that I don’t like Country music, it’s just that I don’t listen to it. Well, why not?

I found this song a few weeks ago (Go ahead and listen to it while you read). It's called A Bad Dream.


I was watching Scrubs, one of my favorite TV shows, and at the end of the episode this song came on. It was so haunting I just had to find it. It’s by a UK band called Keane. After playing it a few hundred times (I tend to do that with new songs I like) I wondered what it was about this song that I liked so much. That’s when I came up with my thoughts on Country music.

In Country music lyrics there is little room for ambiguity. It wears its heart on its sleeve for all to see. He/She broke my heart, or this is how I feel, or I love my country …and I’m going to tell you about. In detail. Check out a few of these gems:

- I'm Under The Table Over You
- I've Been Carrying a Torch for You so Long that it's Burned a Great Big Hole in my Heart
- I'll Marry You Tomorrow, But Let's Honeymoon Tonight
- If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead?
- Beauty is Only Skin Deep, but Ugly Goes Clean to the Bone
- Did I Shave my Legs for This?
- How Can I Miss You if You Won't Go Away?
- How Did You Get so Ugly Overnight?

You can find more here but I digress.
Is there any doubt about how these people feel? I don’t think so.

The music I most enjoy is where the lyrics are subtle, ambiguous and a little obscure. You're not really sure what they're singing about and it could mean this but it can also mean that. Half the fun of listening to the music is trying to figure out what was going through the songwriter's head as they wrote it. You can't do that with Country. They tell you exactly how it is up front.

I also enjoy lyrics that make you think. These are some of my favorite songwriters. Most of the list will probably date me but they just don't write them like they use to.

Sting
Jackson Browne
Paul Simon
U2 (Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Adam Clayton)
Peter Gabriel (Genesis)
Bruce Springsteen
Elton John (Bernie Taupin)
Don Henley/Glenn Fry - (The Eagles)
James Taylor
Randy Newman

Meanwhile, I'll try to listen to Country... at least just to keep my assistant, my mom and my friends in Georgia happy.



Oh, one more thing.
Ron: Before you start flaming me on this post, I'll throw you a peace offering (don't forget to turn the other one off if it's still playing).
Crank it up.