Rolling Country 2006 Thread

We're talking about "Because of You" (most of the discussion was on last year's thread), which I'm now trying to make sense of since it's only been on the charts for half a year and gone double platinum as a single (not to mention the 5 million the album has sold). When I first heard it I pretty much dismissed it as an OK adult-contemporary heartbreak song, suitably quiet and sad but not up to the Kelly's previous three singles. Now, having paid attention to the lyrics and thought hard about where its music is coming from and so forth (and finally doing what I can to study the video on the postage-stamp screen that Launch Yahoo gives you in dialup), I'm hearing a completely different song, something of intensity, something that feels loud even with the quiet accompaniment and the controlled singing. And I think it is out of bounds for country. Which is to say that though I can imagine Faith singing in this style she probably wouldn't go for this melody or these words; and though I can imagine LeAnn going for both the melody and these words and totally nailing it in performance, she'd probably decide that it would be bad for her career at this point to release it.

First the words: it isn't just that they're unremittingly despairing, since you could say the same about country classics like "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "The End of the World." But those don't feel like despair, or they take a different approach to despair, or something. (I've always considered "End of the World" a beautiful, sweet delight.) In general, country's "life falls apart" story belongs to its standard romance cycle: "My heart is broken, now I'm drunk, now I'm going to fuck up again and again," is mined for a lot of rue and a lot of comedy. It's something country is comfortable with. Whereas "the relationship was fundamentally pathological and has left me unfit to live" is not standard for country, even if it's fine on Oprah and adult contemporary and Radio Disney.

Also - and this is interesting - I'd never thought of it as a domestic drama until last night when I started examining the video: house in the suburban night, we're looking in through the window at a couple arguing, then we're in with them in the fight, a child watches glumly, a man upends a table in anger; then a different scene, the little girl shows daddy something she's made, daddy burns it on the stove; a woman leaves, a little girl leaves.

Before studying the video, I'd just naturally assumed this was a romance-and-dysfunction song like most of the ones that precede and follow it on the album, that the narrator was addressing a former boyfriend who'd left her devastated. In fact, that's a perfectly good way to read the song; the "you" is never identified. But if we factor in the video, the narrator has to be the little girl grown up, and she's addressing her parents: "I heard you cry every night in your sleep/I was so young/You should have known better than to lean on me/You never thought of anyone else/You just saw your pain/And now I cry in the middle of the night/For the same damn thing/Because of you/Because of you/Because of you I am afraid/Because of you I never stray too far from the sidewalk/Because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt/Because of you/I try my hardest just to forget everything/Because of you/I don't know how to let anyone else in/Because of you/I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty/Because of you I am afraid/Because of you."

Anyway, I don't know of anything like this in country, though that may not be because it's not there but just because I don't know the genre well enough. Haggard's "Hungry Eyes" suggests something difficult (like, maybe sometime mommas are too hurt to try); maybe there's more. (Subject for further research: Hank Snow.) But "Because of You" is more in the territory of Faster Pussycat's "House of Pain" and Everclear's "Father of Mine" and Pink's "Family Portrait" and Lindsay Lohan's "Confessions of a Broken Heart" and Ashlee Simpson's "Shadow." The country equivalent? Maybe LeAnn Rimes' album track "No Way Out" if you decide she's talking about her relationship to her dad. (But didn't the country audience make clear that they didn't consider that album country?)

I'll continue this thought later, but there's also something going on - though subtly - in the sound of "Because of You" that also isn't yet a part of country, and that's goth.

"A Boy Named Sue"? "Up Againt the Wall Redneck Mother"? ("he ain't responsible for what he's doing 'cause his mother made him what he is")

or okay, maybe not... this deserves much more thought, though.

(According to the article Kent's and Dee's background had been in pop songwriting, and I'm assuming Kent was basically marketing the thing pop, so it's interesting that country producer Chet Atkins was the guy who heard potential in the song.)

Also (again not knowing much about country videos especially, and I'm sure there's lots of precedent here) she's being the girl who walks in and causes T.R.O.U.B.L.E. in that Travis Tritt song.

I remember Eric Weisbard played Dolly's "Down from Dover" for me, and he told me as he cued it up, "When you get to the end, your hair will stand on end." When it got to the end my hair stood on end.

i'm going to call *Totally Country 5* (which contains the montgomery gentry song in question, not to mention kerosene, homewrecker, dierks's how am i doin', suds in the bucket, van zant's help somebody, i play chicken with the train, god's will (token shitty song from a good album) and blake shelton's goodbye time) a keeper, since it also has xxl and hicktown (which is a DANCE song by the way), and i've yet to see or hear a copy of the keith anderson and jason aldean albums, and it also has craig morgan's kenny-chesney-wannabe redneck yacht club, which i've decided i like despite its strange socioeconomic contradictions even though i forget who the hell craig morgan is otherwise. ray scott's my kind of music is okay, too, at least soundwise -- talking blues with annoying pandering lyrics about how she can't get enough of whitney but he prefers waylon so she's outta there, god what a dumbass. also rans: andy griggs's if heaven (was a town it'd be my town in the summer 1985 and if it was a beer it be my last one), yucko, though i'd still like to hear the album it's from someday since i'm a fan of the more cinderella-style hair-metallic stuff on his '02 *freedeom* album; brooks & dunn's useless it's getting better all the time (which rips off the same beatles song that modern english did once except not even a tenth as well); lonestar's you're like coming home, which i forget what it sounds like even while it's on. helpful CD (despiite its odd chronology -- i.e., nothing from the CURRENT dierks or sara evans albums), since i no longer have cable and live in country-station-less NYC, which means i am sad;y months behind on the current state of hit country singles.

i like it a lot too. but er..it could be what, anthony?

>nothing from the CURRENT dierks or sara evans albums<

or martina mcbride, either. yet there's hits from the past few months on it by other people. i wonder why that is.

I've got the antho but haven't listened yet, but I did let Launch Yahoo run on its own a bit today and among others I heard "My Kind of Music" and "Redneck Yacht Club" and "Hicktown," all three of which I like, in that order I think. My notes on the Ray Scott: "Self-congratulation, singers' names heaved at us like signifiers, but does a good outlaw honky-tonk stomp. Not bad, given the stupid concept." (The concept is no stupider than "Corn Fed"'s, which you voted for, which is also a good stomp, w/ garage rock thrown in) (though I do think that "Corn Fed"'s lyrics are more interesting and must have required more thought, though the resulting narrowness and hypocrisy is even more obnoxious; I mean, I can't say I use criteria that is totally dissimilar to Ray's in evaluating potential love interests, though I might change the artist's names). (Dave Hickey once wrote that he should know better than to date someone who dislikes Robert Mitchum, since it never works out.)

OK, getting up and playing "Hicktown" right now, I think the trouble is that it's not slow enough, not spare enough, not obsessive enough. The best part comes 2:15 in, when voice and fiddle shut up and for ten seconds you've got a tough little breakbeat. Someone tell Bambaataa right away.

White, Armond

as for *totally*'s tracklist, yeah, it occured to me that licensing might be an issue. i haven't checked if the older tracks are less likely to be sony bmg, but maybe that has something to do with it. i totally stink at remembering record labels anyway. but maybe sara's, martina's, and dierk's (and brooks & dunn's, come to think of it - their song here came from their best-of album which i never heard) labels don't want their songs here to cut into sales of their current albums. whereas maybe with smaller acts like aldean and anderson (whose album edd says he's going to send me so i finally hear it - thanks edd!) *totally country* is considered a smart promotional tool.

Yeah, it's weird; I've never equated parrotheads with rednecks. And I've always assumed that anybody rich enough to afford a yacht *can't* be a redneck. (Though maybe they're not real yachts, just powerboats or something? Can you fire up tiki torches on a powerboat? I should listen closer to the lyrics, but either way, it seems kind of extravagant by Jeff Foxworthy's definition, I would say.) So part of the feeling I get with the song is boatowners lying to themselves.

anyway, I always saw parrotheads as middle-class good ol' boys rather than rednecks--they can afford to go down to Destin or Ft. Lauderdale or deep-sea fish once or twice a year, and they usually have a Neville Brothers CD and maybe even Lyle Lovett in with their Gentry, Jackson and Urban (for the wife). music, perhaps, aimed at/informed by the coastal Catholic south-- that area in between New Orleans and Pensacola? and of course frats and sororities, maybe they go with their parents to see Jimmy for some controlled drinking.

Volume 2:
1. Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde - Travis TrittMusic
2. I Breathe in, I Breathe Out - Chris CagleMusic
3. Just What I Do - Trick PonyMusic
4. My Town - Montgomery GentryMusic
5. That's When I Love You - Phil VassarMusic
6. Best Day - George StraitMusic
7. But for the Grace of God - Keith UrbanMusic
8. Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo - Tracy ByrdMusic
9. Ol' Red - Blake SheltonMusic
10. Life Happened - Tammy CochranMusic
11. One - Gary AllanMusic
12. She Was - Mark ChesnuttMusic
13. Wrapped Around - Brad PaisleyMusic
14. Impossible - Joe NicholsMusic
15. I Don't Want You to Go - Carolyn Dawn JohnsonMusic
16. I'm Movin' On - Rascal FlattsMusic
17. Ashes by Now - Lee Ann WomackMusic

Volume 3:
1. Unbroken - Tim McGrawMusic
2. Cry - Faith HillMusic
3. Speed - Montgomery GentryMusic
4. Three Wooden Crosses - Randy TravisMusic
5. Blessed - Martina McBrideMusic
6. Love You Out Loud - Rascal FlattsMusic
7. Beautiful Mess - Diamond RioMusic
8. Baby - Blake SheltonMusic
9. Was That My Life - Jo Dee Messina
10. Not a Day Goes By - LonestarMusic
11. When You Lie Next to Me - Kellie CoffeyMusic
12. American Child - Phil VassarMusic
13. On a Mission - Trick PonyMusic
14. One Last Time - Dusty DrakeMusic
15. Strong Enough to Be Your Man - Travis TrittMusic
16. Life Goes On - LeAnn RimesMusic
17. Tonight I Wanna Be Your Man - Andy Griggs

Volume 4:
1. That'd Be Alright - Alan JacksonMusic
2. Redneck Woman - Gretchen WilsonMusic
3. No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems - Kenny ChesneyMusic
4. Some Beach - Blake SheltonMusic
5. Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) - Big & RichMusic
6. I Love This Bar - Toby KeithMusic
7. Brokenheartsville - Joe NicholsMusic
8. Little Moments - Brad PaisleyMusic
9. Letters from Home - John Michael Montgomery
10. Tough Little Boys - Gary AllanMusic
11. Desperately - George StraitMusic
12. Let's Be Us Again - LonestarMusic
13. Perfect - Sara EvansMusic
14. Heaven - Los Lonely BoysMusic
15. I Can't Sleep - Clay WalkerMusic
16. Help Pour Out the Rain (Lacey's Song) - Buddy JewellMusic
17. Hell Yeah - Montgomery Gentry

A small surprise, not necessarily pleasant, was that I had to admit to myself that Martina McBride's "God's Will" pulls me in, despite my despising not just its clumsy, blatant manipulativeness, but its stupid cheap way of making its point. (Um, the crippled are God's children and they can bring God to us.) And the point is dreadful itself. And even with totally different words I don't like the sound of such ballads. But I guess there was enough in the ballad, and in the words, and her big warm-hearted voice, to pull me in. Not that I intend to play it much, and I still don't feel it sounds good. But there's power in it.

(If she were really going to face the theological issue - assuming there is one? something along the lines of [to quote Loretta Lynn] "God makes no mistakes"? - she'd have to plump for the abusive father in "Independence Day" also representing God's will, right?)

xpost

I need to get back to "Jesus Take the Wheel." I've heard so much "turn it over to God" crap since moving to Colorado that I just may not be able to give it a fair chance.

Speaking of whom, now that I know something of Shelby Lynne's childhood tragedy, the fact that she recorded John Lennon's "Mother" on Love, Shelby means a hell of a lot more.

(I don't know what it says about me that learning of her trauma makes her more interesting to me, but it does. Wish I hadn't sold those two albums I had.)

worst thing about 'jesus take the wheel': that opening verse sure makes it sound like the reason her life is in need of jesus is that she's got a job and a kid (single mom I guess but not necessarily), it seems like god sent that ice patch to tell her 'you can't do both you silly girl, go get a man and then you can stay home with yr kid & bible, cause there are no icy patches there'

or the second and third anyway (since you didn't list the first)

Whichever one Chely Wright's fascist bumper sticker song was on. (Though did her album eventually come out on a major? I forget. That's another 2005 country album I'd still like to hear by the way.)

xps

FEBRUARY 14, 2006

1 P.M. EST

FOR PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

WILLIE NELSON RECORDS NED SUBLETTE'S "COWBOYS ARE FREQUENTLY SECRETLY."

YES, HE REALLY DID.

NOW AVAILABLE AS A DOWNLOAD. AND SOON, A RINGTONE.

SPREAD THE MEME.

I was sworn to secrecy until now, but today, on Valentine's Day, it can be told.

In 1981, sitting at a piano in Portales, New Mexico, I wrote a song called "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly," whose first two verses and chorus go:

There's many a strange impulse out on the plains of West Texas

There's many a young boy who feels things he don't comprehend

Well, the small town don't like it when somebody falls between sexes

No, the small town don't like it when a cowboy has feelings for men.

Now I believe to my soul that inside every man there's the feminine

And inside every lady there's a deep manly voice loud and clear

Well the cowboy may brag about things that he does with his women

But the ones that brag loudest are the ones who are most likely queer.

Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other

What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?

There's many a cowboy who don't understand the way that he feels for his brother

Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out.

It was the era of the urban cowboy plague, when the country charts were full of cowboys this and cowboys that songs. Inspired, I wrote this song, imagining Willie Nelson singing it.

"Cowboys" seemed to strike a nerve, and for a time was the thing I was best known for. It took on a life of its own, as songs will do. After the first time I sang it, I got requests for "the one about the cowboys" at the next gig I did, and on and on. I probably don't need to point out that at the time, the term AIDS was unknown. A live recording of the first-ever performance of it by my band appeared on a John Giorno anthology. I made a damn fine recording of it in the 80s, with an A-team of specialist players, that has never come out. It was covered by the queercore group Pansy Division, who changed it from a waltz to 4/4. I tried to place it in Brokeback Mountain, but the word I got was that it was too funny for a tear-jerkin' movie.

My friend Tony Garnier, who played bass on my studio version, passed a copy of the track to Willie Nelson in maybe 1988. After living with the song all these years, Willie has recorded it.

It has just been released as a download-only single on iTunes, and as of this morning, it's available at iTunes.

It was premiered this morning, a few months shy of 25 years since I wrote it, for Valentine's Day, when Willie appeared as a guest on the Howard Stern show. I didn't hear it, since I don't yet get Sirius. The song has the F-word in it (it's not gratuitous, it's structural), and by going over to Sirius, Howard Stern can play it unedited. Satellite radio is the new FM.

It's pretty amazing to hear Willie sing this song. Not just because it has the word "queer" in it. Not even because it's the first time I've heard Willie Nelson sing the word "fuck." But because of his interpretive power. Since I originally imagined Willie singing it, I feel kind of like I already heard it, way back when. But Willie as an interpreter is always surprising, and I learned a hundred things about my own song hearing him give it back to me.

But here's the best part.

There's going to be a "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly" ringtone. I don't have the link yet, but if you want it, e-mail me and I'll try to keep on top of it. After all, ringtones are the new singles.

I'm told there is also a video, though I haven't seen it.

Please feel free to let all your friends and acquaintances know. And thank you, Willie.

Late-breaking update: An article in the Dallas Morning News today quoted a prepared statement by Willie as saying, "The song's been in the closet for 20 years":

hurricane mason (from tulsa, oklahoma), *cast iron constitution* (2002), *it's only miles* (2005). first CD has the most badass cover of any cdbaby band cd i've come across lately -- a great big american bison buffalo, which is a VERY MANLY ANIMAL. (insert joke here about the difference between a buffalo and a bison is that a bison is what britsh people wash their hands in, etc.) second album cover is a rearview mirror. (insert meat loaf or hootie and blowfish album title here etc.) first album also *sounds* more badass, more ruff and tuff, both vocally and musically: "don't shine me on" a kickass boogie rocker, "head up in the clouds" a good long 8:13 choogle about gettin nekkid in new orleans that stretches out by winding down to a winding allmansesque ending, "killer machine" a gloomy spooky slow heavy one with a nazareth-style buildup; "spare change" an open-road biker ballad with a sped up ending. can't place which second-tier '70s southern rocker the vocalist sings like, but it was an okay one, whoever it was -- though the singer doesn't always grab you with his words like he should (he does better on the buffalo album than the rearview one). though the band is still pretty stodgy overall, which is more a detriment on the more recent album, though "girl across the street" could almost be a garland jeffreys song, "painted smile" has another slow spooky build to it climaxing in "the rich man makes the rules and the poor man writes the songs" and by that point i'm wondering if this is what springsteen's pre-debut-album jersey shore metal band steel mill or whatever they were called might've sounded like, "news man" is about how the TV news lies and has a heavy riff that keeps coming in, "little drops of rain" is their second song to mention new orleans (and you will notice they have hurricane in their name, crazy, huh?), and the closer "soulshine" is "written by warren haynes" (so, a gov't mule cover maybe? i dunno) and has soul singers in the background, and before that there's a song about how every schoolboy's fantasy is to grow up to be angus young and they quote "it's a long way to the top" in it. their cdbaby page likens them to nugent, grand funk, neil young, ac/dc, black crowes, santana, and black sabbath, not all of which i hear myself but maybe you will.

i think that its one of my favourite country songs, and i want them to play it for the first dance at my wedding.

i love willie is doing this, and i wished i could get i tunes to work, cause i want to hear it

I mentioned upthread that Little Big Town's "Bones" draws on Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain." Well, I just listened to the grime compilation Run the Road Vol. 2, and the remix of Sway's "Up Your Speed" cops the bass riff that John McVie uses on "The Chain"'s ending rave-up. The Sway track plays the riff on some orchestral-type keyboard setting, so the sound is of an ominous orchestral motif rather than the big-bouncing bottom that it is on the Fleetwood Mac album. (I'm wondering if there might not be some intermediate track post-FM and pre-Sway that uses the riff and might be Sway's [or his remixer's] immediate source.)

(Yeah, I know the connection of this post to country is tenuous.)