The Problem with Me and Country…
I haven’t always disliked country music. In fact, way back when, there was a time I liked some of it. My childhood soundtrack includes artists such as Glenn Campbell, Ann Murray, the Carpenters, the Lettermen, Johnny Cash, Donna Summer, Starland Vocal Band, Fleetwood Mac and the list goes on. Maybe it is just my faded childhood memory, but I seem to remember radio stations playing it all. There wasn’t a Country station, a Rock and Roll station, and a Pop station. You simply got what came in on your AM band radio and listened to what they played.
Today, if you choose the radio, you can fine tune your station choice to play a genre to your specific liking and even hand pick the artists it will play. Or so I am told…as I do not have anything fancier than the FM stereo choices in my car. Even so, I have my stations programmed to 93.1, 100.5 and 97.9. I channel surf around depending on the time of day and the day of the week. 100.5 plays unplugged on Acoustic Tuesdays, and 93.1 plays most of your current top 40 hits. Then there is Y94 which I plain and simply cancel out between Halloween and New Years as they play Christmas music 24/7. But one station I simply avoid, is 104.7. I cannot do country.
Now why this from the girl who grew up loving Kenny Rogers and doing the occasional sing along with Johnny Cash in her Dad’s truck? Why can’t I do today’s country music? My answer is two fold. First off, if there is one bit of twang in the music I have to escape immediately. The effect that sound has on me is the same as nails on a chalkboard to some (which, by the way, I am ok with). It hurts my teeth, my ears and the static noise starts to creep in as the room goes black. Okay, so maybe I am exaggerating just a little bit on the nearly passing out part, but not by much.
The other issue I have with country songs are the lyrics. I do not want someone’s life story in 3 minutes. I do not want to know about your alcoholic father, your abusive husband or your cowboy boyfriend’s horse. I just really don’t care. I don’t want full blown details laid out for me. I actually would rather think about the words and create my own meaning. Imagine that! In today’s society of fast food, instant gratification and no one being responsible for their own actions…some of us still want to think for ourselves! Some of us still would rather read the book than see the movie, hand write a thank you note than send an e-card, or bake a batch of cookies rather than swinging by the bakery at the store. Some of us still want to do it on our own!
I prefer my song lyrics to be like an inspiring painting. I want to stand and look at it, making my own interpretations. I can take in the colors and the emotion and try to experience what the artist was feeling, or better yet, what I am feeling. I love to look at Van Gogh’s Starry Night and wonder what was on his mind when he painted those swirling stars. At the same time I want to let my own thoughts wander and contemplate my life. I want to participate in the painting and not simply look at it.
One painting that I carry in my memory is a Manet I saw at the Art Gallery Ontario in Toronto several years ago. I was familiar with A Bar at the Folies Bergere, but in person it was so much more emotional. Something about the barmaid kept drawing me back. I really wanted to know what she was thinking about. I wanted to know more about her life. No one was there to lay it out for me in a country song though…I had to analyze all the information the artist left me with and draw my own conclusion. I spent a lot more than 3 minutes with the barmaid that day and walked away never forgetting her. Edward Manet gave me something to think about. Through his brush strokes I saw beauty, felt sadness and questioned life. I felt like I knew this woman, perhaps even shared her secret. All of this without a word spoken between the three of us.
When I choose music I do enjoy a variety. Music, to me, is like wine. While I am not really into sweet reds, there can be a time and a place for it. Really there can be a time and a place for just about any wine! But my music has to speak to me in a certain way. The only time I have ever felt a place for country was…was…okay so I have not found a place for country in my life up to this point.
Here are a few lyrics from some country songs that stand out as annoying me:
She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati
On a snow white Christmas Eve
Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy
With the baby in the backseat
Here is an example of a song that is purely laid out step by step for us. We can’t even put ourselves in Carrie’s car and pretend that we are driving to Oswego with our dog to see a friend because she is telling us she is going to Cincinnati with her baby (legally in the backseat even) on Christmas eve to see her parents. We also get a full weather report and know that Christmas fell on a Saturday that year. The story continues to unfold and we find out even more than we wanted to know. She is almost out of gas and she is 50 miles away and she is speeding. All I have to say is Oh Jesus, please help us! Take Carrie’s wheel and tell her to SHUT UP!!!
And here is a song Reba sings that again, just way too literal for me:
I remember it all very well lookin' back
It was the summer I turned eighteen
We lived in a one room, rundown shack
On the outskirts of New Orleans
We didn't have money for food or rent
To say the least we were hard pressed
Then Mama spent every last penny we had
To buy me a dancin' dress
The song goes on and on and on only giving us every depressing detail including a starving baby, the mother’s illness and the father taking off on her. The lyrics stretch clear into next week needing an intermission just to get through them all. No thanks, Reba…I’d rather hear about someone throwing Johnny’s lunch box away. Then my mind can wander off to my Suzy Homemaker oven and wonder what the hell ever happened to that!
Speaking of Johnny. John Mayer is one of my favorites. He writes music, lyrics, plays guitar and sings. He steers clear or twang and lets us think for ourselves. He tells us that his music is not about his life, but our own. He wants us to bring our own experiences to his songs and get lost in them that way. Finally…someone who thinks like I do! I have been all caught up in his latest album, Battle Studies, on which this song is found:
Come out Angels
Come out Ghosts
Come out Darkness
Bring everyone you know
Ok…now we’re talking….the first 4 lines and we don’t know whether John is taking us to a Halloween party…or to a graveyard to hold a seance. My curiosity is peaked.
I'm not running
I'm not scared
I am waiting and well prepared
He is ready for anything that might happen with all of these spirits from the “other side”. Is he ready for death himself?
I'm in the war of my life
At the door of my life
Out of time and there’s no where to run
Now we know there is some kind of struggle going on. Could it be love? Could it be cancer? Could it be a major life decision to make….
The song continues on to let us think about our own life demons, the choices we have to make and the consequences we will face. He tells us to fight on. I go back and listen to the song again and again, each time hearing something a little different.
I got a pocket
Got no pills
If fear hasn't killed me yet
Then nothing will
He is totally on his own to fight this war…he is strong enough to win…and when he does there will be:
No more suffering
No more pain
Sometimes I am pulled in to just a single sentence or phrase from a song…John has so many of these. They stand on their own as well as being part of a whole…just a small sample of some of my favorites:
“By the time I recognize this moment….this moment will be gone…” -Clarity
“Whatever happened to my lunchbox
when came the day that it got
thrown away and don't you think I should have had some say
in that decision…? - 83
“I want you so bad I'll go back on the things I believe
There I just said it, I'm scared you'll forget about me…” Edge of Desire
Of course JM is not the only one whose lyrics I get lost in. There have been hundreds over the years, but for the sake of keeping this under 10 pages, I will close with a song from Norah Jones…one of my favorites musically and lyrically. Titled simply, Toes. Maybe I am drawn to it as I was inspired to spend my summer recording daily foot pictures, or maybe there is no reason other than it brings me pleasure. Isn’t that why we listen to music in the end? Because it brings us pleasure and takes us to a different place?
The current is strong from what I've heard
It'll wisk you down the stream
But there never seems to be much time
My toes just touched the water
My toes just touched the water
Daydreamed on the bank again
I was swimming with the fish
And I thought this time that it may be true
But) My toes just touched the water
My toes just touched the water
My toes just touched the water
Walked a mile just to find the edge.
Some place low enough to step right in
Now I'm here and I can't begin - to move
The spoiled sun up over there
It always has to have its way
And I know that the river's there to shelter me
My toes just touched the water
My toes just touched the water
Life is busy and there isn’t time to pursue the adventurous side of life. It is dangerous and a risk. I haven‘t been all the way. I’ve spent a lot of time dreaming about what it is I am wanting so badly to do…but I’ve still only just been part way. Looking for a safe way in…to avoid some of the risk…I’ve found a way but I’m still not sure I can take the plunge….God is there watching over me no matter what decision I make…
So that is my interpretation of what Norah is singing about. It isn’t a swim in the rapids…she is trying to make a life altering decision…what her life altering decision is we can’t be sure…but we can put ourselves into the song and make it be about whatever it is we need it to be at the moment.
I am all about symbolism and finding the obscure to define yourself. If I’d chosen the “country music” route when choosing a tattoo to represent my artist self, I would have settled for a paintbrush and a pallet. But that wasn’t good enough. I wanted something that meant art to me, but perhaps not to everyone else. I love when someone sees my horse and is left with questions. It is my way of keeping a little bit of me a secret. I don’t have to reveal my whole self to everyone or all at once. I can decide, based on who it is and how I feel about them, what and how much I am willing to share.
To me, country songs that lay out all the detail and don’t let you think for yourself are the coloring books with crayons of music. You are stuck with what they give you. The songs that give us open ended lyrics, obscure symbolism and wonder, challenge your mind, your emotions and your feelings. These songs are the blank canvases full of creative opportunity. Songs I will get lost in over and over…lyrics that will resurface in my mind unexpectedly…paintings that I will visit over and over. Now can you wonder how I could settle for anything less?
