I was listening to cowboy and country tonight, and the common threads emerge - rodeo, alcohol, unrequited love. But the older stuff is generally a little more subtle than the current flavors of what passes for country (trucks, beer, babes). (I mean seriously - a whole song about drinking beer on a pontoon boat?) Country music, and cowboy music generally tell a whole story - of a moment, a day, a lifetime - the good ones invite us in to listen as if it were a personal tale told by your next door neighbor.
"Years are gambled and lost like summer wages". Ian Tyson wrote several of my favorite songs, all about the West and Northwest. If you know the country, you can see the pictures painted in his music. Lives of pain and promise, chasing the dream of being a cowboy or logger, facing the reality of unfulfilled love. "All our good times are all gone, and I'm bound for moving on. I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way". And the one made famous by Judy Collins (although Suzy Bogguss does the definitive cover) "Someday Soon" - "And when he comes to call, my pa ain't got a good word to say. Guess it's 'cause he's just as wild, in his younger days". You can picture the young cowboy driving an old 54 Ford pickup on a dirt road heading toward the ranch house to court this young girl.
Booze plays a key role in a lot of great country songs. Brad Paisley scored a 'double' in my list with "Whiskey Lullaby". "She put him out - like the burning end of a midnight cigarette", and "He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger". Again, the imagery painted by the lyrics is painful and heart rending. Just what a good country ballad should be. It doesn't hurt to have Ms Alison Krauss singing with you either, definitely a song to stand the test of time.
It takes a particular voice to sing about whiskey and despair. Patty Loveless does it well. "Smell of Cheap Whiskey" and "Here I am" (Honey I'm right there waiting for you at the bottom of your glass) have that quality of guilt, desperation and misery that makes for a compelling song.
A more current track is Holly Williams' "Drinkin". "Why are you drinkin' like the night is young?" Not so much a single line as the whole story. Cheating husband, angry words, she's left with the kids... Another classic country tale.
Speaking of angry woman tales, I've seen people stand up and wave flags for Martina McBride's "Independence Day". Do these folks *listen* to the words? "She seemed alright by dawn's early light, but Daddy left the proof on her cheek" Probably the most powerful song I know about battered women, but it sure as heck isn't a patriotic song. There ought to be some men hanging their heads when this one's played.
There's a whole separate genre of 'place songs' that speak to how hard life can be, or how different life is from the ideal we're taught to wistfully look back upon.
I'm a big fan of Kasey Musgraves, and was pleased to hear her get the Grammy for "Merry Go Round" this year. This is so much a picture of so many small towns. Not an unpleasant place, but not the idealized burg that they are often made out to be in song. "We get bored, so we get married. Just like dust we settle in this town."
One of my favorites is the chorus of Darrell Scott's "You'll never leave Harlan alive" -
And you fill your cup...
With whatever bitter brew you're drinking...
And you spend your life, digging coal...
From the bottom of your grave...
Enough already. Today is Fat Tuesday, and I go now to listen to the music of Clifton Chenier, Michael Doucet, and Dr John. Laissez les bon temps rouler!
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