Country Music and the Morning Drive

[kybearfuzz]

On this rather dreary Tuesday, I was driving in to work, dreading it for previously posted reasons, when I changed the radio to one of the local country stations. There, I caught this awful song.

It's called "The Bumper of my SUV" by Chely Wright. I had to look it up because the singing was terrible and I'm surprised because I've liked some of her other music. I think it is the subject matter that bugs me more. It talks about a woman who has a US Marines sticker on her SUV bumper and gets the finger from a woman in a mini-van and tells how this woman should be thankful for the servicemen and how her family has served.. etc. For some reason, I flashed to the corny country music of the 1970's, sung by ladies with enormous hairdos and condo-sized lapels, sitting on a stool with a guitar, staring through a Barbara Walters-style camera haze, lip-synching to the recorded track on the "Hee Haw" stage. I shudder to think of it more.

I'm not unpatriotic, I support the guys and gals over there, just not the regime that sent them. This song is just another one of those sappy, country dirges making money off of the war by tugging at the heartstrings of the American people. I guess that is why it feels less patriotic than capitalistic to me. Toby Keith, though nice to look at, does the same thing and I don't like him either. Suddenly, Chely's music doesn't seem all that great anymore.

Comments

[book-of-daniel.livejournal.com]

My new favorite website...

GeorgeWBush.org (http://www.georgewbush.org/)

...has a number of bumper stickers on sale that I love. One of my favorites that I'm going to have to order is "I *heart* Arab Oil". Ironically, I plan on putting it on my SUV...

[cincycub.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda torn on the music issue. I think people should write songs that are real to them. Are they making a bunch of money off of people's emotions? Hell yeah. But what musician doesn't? We all buy a song because it makes us cry or makes us happy-dancy or it touches us in some way.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

LOL.. then plan on getting the finger and then write a country song about Ms. Wynette... :)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Well, true, all songs have their artistic value and most, especially country, seem to pull from human and emotional experiences. This song, however, and some by Toby Keith, seem "over the top" in that so many rush their patriotic song to market. Do they have some emotional attachment to it? I'm sure they do, but I do think they're also looking at the almighty dollar and hoping they are the next "God Bless the USA" hit. It seems, in some cases, opportunistic to me.

[tbone1961.livejournal.com]

Hey Hey Hey...

You leave Hee Haw out of this. Ironically, my brother bought my father a DVD for Christmas the best of.....

Saturday night growing up. Hee Haw followed by Lawrence Welk...And people wonder why I am the way I am!!LOL

[pariahcub.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I flashed to the corny country music of the 1970's, sung by ladies with enormous hairdos and condo-sized lapels, sitting on a stool with a guitar, staring through a Barbara Walters-style camera haze, lip-synching to the recorded track on the "Hee Haw" stage.

The women singing those songs always creeped me out, resembling what would happen if the Stepford Wives ever visited the Grand Old Oprie. That glazed/bewildered/not-quite-there look in their eyes, that slightly chemical smile, and the casual demeanor as they sang about their husbands giving them a black eye and stealing the family mule to sell for more Jim Bean money.

[poohnnova.livejournal.com]

I also thought the commercial of the people in the airport clapping for the soldiers was a bit much during the Super Bowl. I found out from a flight attendant friend that in Atlanta Airport there is one employee who's entire job is to go in front of the soldiers and get the clapping started.

Don't get me wrong, I support the troops, but I do NOT support why they are over there.

[jkusters]

I haven't heard that particular glurge yet, and I guess I'm happy about that. My country listening habits dropped off after Alan Jackson's 9/11 tribute song got popular. Gah, what tripe! And I'll agree. Toby Keith is quite easy on the eyes, and I enjoy a number of his songs, but he's among the "patriotic for a buck" crowd, and it's pretty foul.

Like you, my patriotism is not something that is plastered to my bumper or pinned to my lapel. And it really depresses me these days to think that bumper stickers and lapel pins are what are considered "patriotic" these days.

Thanks for the warning about that song.

JOhn.

[fatbearman.livejournal.com]

Yeah songs like that gives country music a REALLY bad name and makes me sort of a outcast in the gay community because I love country music (I like all kinds of music except rap). But I can't stand Bush propaganda like this piece of crap or "Have You Forgotten" by Darrell Worley. That's why I make CDs of country I enjoy listening to that doesn't take up a political platform.

[bookish-cub.livejournal.com]

My main problem with songs like that is the fact that they are often so poorly written. I'm a firm believer in being able to say anything you want as long as you're eloquent while you're doing it.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

LOL.. oh please, I was following "Hee Haw" every Saturday night at 7 PM with my folks. It was kinda silly, but I liked it. I still sing the gossip song on occasion...

...Oh, you'll never hear one of us repeatin' gossip, so you better be sure and listen close the first time...

[tbone1961.livejournal.com]

Where, or where, are you tonight?
Why did you leave me here all alone.
I searched the world over and I thought I found true love.
You found another and
*insert raspberry spitting noise....you know the one*
You was gawn!!!

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

LOL... I've not thought of that for YEARS!!!!

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Well, it came across as campy.. so sweet it nearly made me sick.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Well, fine for anyone who wants to decorate their car this way. I don't knock anyone for doing it, but I can't see myself doing that.

As for patriotic songs, some seem okay, but it amazes me how quickly a bad event seems to generate the latest country dirge. It's not my favorite song. I guess because songs illicit certain feelings. For example, the Dixie Chicks' "Travelin' Soldier" I like because it's about losing a loved one during the Vietnam war which was before my time. Anything by Toby Keith or whoever that goes after the 9/11 attack rings hollow, that they made the song to make money off the tragedy. I'm sure that some didn't, but that's how it feels.

[jbear70.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you. Toby Keith is a cutie to look at but his opinions, which are blatantly obvious in his songwriting, offend me. Of course he has a right to say whatever he wants and I have a right not to ever buy his album again.

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

My mom used to have a dream for me that I would go to Nashville and be discovered by the likes of Roy Clark. I am *not* kidding. And don't get her started about Lawrence Welk!

The joke, though, is that nowadays sometimes I think "Yeah, that'd be all right..." (meaning, of course, that I'd just be happy to have a job! LOL!) Though I could do without the part about selling out my music to politics that I don't agree with. Grrr.