Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton "Islands in the Stream"
or maybe
Terri Gibbs "Somebody's Knockin" (same rhythm as Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" or Lou Gramm's "Midnight Blue," not to mention Robert Johnson style devil words. And the singer is a blind woman, no less.)
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 20:39 (twenty years ago) link
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:00 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:05 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:06 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:11 (twenty years ago) link
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:22 (twenty years ago) link
Here in the UK, I'd never heard of Tim McGraw until Will Oldham did a fantastic cover of one of his songs on a covers ep. Oldham also led me to David Allen Coe and Dick Gaughin. His song 'I See A Darkness' works like a dream on the third Johnny Cash 'American' alb. I'm not sure these divisions between alt. and mainstream country are as set in stone as all that - Oldham, Wilco, whoever, seem to stand in relation to today's country music in the same way that Dylan, the Band, the Byrds etc. stood in relation to the contemporary country of their day - a wary, parasitic, mostly one-way relationship, but some kind of relationship nonetheless
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:23 (twenty years ago) link
so actually i'm agreeing w/you and going you one further.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:26 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:28 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:29 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:30 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:34 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:36 (twenty years ago) link
There's also the whole question of how it's always really funny to hear Brits talk about country; I loved looking at the NME's country end of the year lists back in the '80s -- it's like they were on another planet or something. (Australians, too, though one of the weird things in recent years is how many new country stars actually COME from Australia. It's like the new Canada. Or something.)
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:38 (twenty years ago) link
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:39 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:40 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:41 (twenty years ago) link
"I like Van Halen and I like George Jones Charlie Daniels and the Rollin' Stones Bocephus when he rocks and rolls still kills me There oughtta be a law against cowboy rap, (you're right) And all that boy band crap, a little sissy in a cowboy hat in country No
That's a good way, that's a real good way That's a good way to get on my bad side"
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:06 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:10 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:16 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:19 (twenty years ago) link
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:30 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:32 (twenty years ago) link
But where does that leave Bubbba Sparxxx, David Banner, Kid Rock, Nappy Roots, Toby Keith, and all of those kind of people who do both?
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:35 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:36 (twenty years ago) link
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:37 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:37 (twenty years ago) link
Except maybe for Field Mob. Or Woody Guthrie. Or somebody.
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:38 (twenty years ago) link
see it's these kind of "provocative" but slightly disingenuous things that annoy me...oh well...
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:39 (twenty years ago) link
>i mean like their brains haven't always caught up with their...<
I don't get how this is truer for country guys than for anybody else.
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:42 (twenty years ago) link
i'm just saying that "rap" isn't just some musical quality that you happen to pick up on it's a genre! defined by a range of musical and other qualities! of which charlie daniels isn't a part!
never mind though, i don't want to get into another fight.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:44 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:45 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:46 (twenty years ago) link
Here's Charlie's best rap song, for what it's worth:
Artist: Charlie Daniels Band
Buy Charlie Daniels Band's CD
THE UNEASY RIDERCharlie Daniels
SPOKEN:[C] I was takin' a trip out to L.A.[F] Toolin' along in my Chevrolet[G7] Tokin' on a number and diggin' on the radi-[C] o ...[C] Just as I crossed the Mississippi line[F] I heard that highway start to whine[G7] And I knew that left rear tire was about to [C] go.
Well, the spare was flat and I got uptight'Cause there wasn't a fillin' station in sightSo I just limped on down the shoulder on the rimI went as far as I could and when I stopped the carIt was right in front of this little barKind of redneck lookin' joint, called the Dew Drop Inn.
Well, I stuffed my hair up under my hatAnd told the bartender that I had a flatAnd would he be kind enough to give me change for a oneThere was one thing I was sure proud to seeThere wasn't a soul in the place, 'cept for him and meAnd he just looked disgusted and pointed toward the telephone.
I called up the station down the road a waysAnd he said he wasn't very busy todayAnd he could have somebody there in just 'bout ten minutes or soHe said now you just stay right where you're atAnd I didn't bother tellin' the durn foolI sure as hell didn't have anyplace else to go.
I just ordered up a beer and sat down at the barWhen some guy walked in and said; "Who owns this car?With the peace sign, the mag wheels and four on the floor?"Well, he looked at me and I damn near diedAnd I decided that I'd just wait outsideSo I layed a dollar on the bar and headed for the door.
Just when I thought I'd get outta there with my skinThese five big dudes come strollin' inWith this one old drunk chick and some fella with green teethAnd I was almost to the door when the biggest oneSaid; "You tip your hat to this lady, son."And when I did all that hair fell out from underneath.
Now the last thing I wanted was to get into a fightIn Jackson, Mississippi on a Saturday night'Specially when there was three of them and only one of meThey all started laughin' and I felt kinda sickAnd I knew I'd better think of somethin' pretty quickSo I just reached out and kicked old green-teeth right in the knee.
He let out a yell that'd curl your hairBut before he could move, I grabbed me a chairAnd said; "Watch him folks, 'cause he's a thouroughly dangerous man.""Well, you may not know it, but this man's a spyHe's an undercover agent for the FBIAnd he's been sent down here to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan."
He was still bent over, holdin' on to his kneeBut everyone else was lookin' and listenin' to meAnd I layed it on thicker and heavier as I wentI said; "Would you beleive this man has gone as farAs tearin' Wallace stickers off the bumpers of carsAnd he voted for George McGovern for president."
"He's a friend of them long-haired, hippie type, pinko fagsI betcha he's even got a Commie flagTacked up on the wall, inside of his garageHe's a snake in the grass, I tell ya guysHe may look dumb, but that's just a disguiseHe's a mastermind in the ways of espionage."
They all started lookin' real suspicious at himAnd he jumped up an' said; "Now, just wait a minute, JimYou know he's lyin' I've been livin' here all of my life.""I'm a faithfull follower of Brother John BirchAnd I belong to the Antioch Baptist ChurchAnd I ain't even got a garage, you can call home and ask my wife."
Then he started sayin' somethin' 'bout the way I was dressedBut I didn't wait around to hear the restI was too busy movin' and hopin' I didn't run outta luckAnd when I hit the ground, I was makin' tracksAnd they were just takin' my car down off the jacksSo I threw the man a twenty an' jumped in an' fired that mother up.
Mario Andretti woulda sure been proudOf the way I was movin' when I passed that crowdComin' out the door and headin' toward me in a trotAnd I guess I should-a gone ahead and runBut somehow I couldn't resist the funOf chasin' them all just once around the parkin' lot.
Well, they're headin' for their car, but I hit the gasAnd spun around and headed them off at the passI was slingin' gravel and puttin' a ton of dust in the airHa Ha, well, I had 'em all out there steppin' and fetchin'Like their heads were on fire and their asses was catchin'But I figured I oughta go ahead an split before the cops got there.
When I hit the road I was really wheelin'Had gravel flyin' and rubber squeelin'And I didn't slow down 'til I was almost to ArkansasWell, I think I'm gonna re-route my tripI wonder if anybody'd think I'd flippedIf I went to L.A. - via Omaha.
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:47 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:49 (twenty years ago) link
i'm fascinated by how tracy byrd not only sings about what he likes; he also feels the need to delineate what he doesn't like. a lot of rappers have done that, too.
there are a lot of indie rock songs in the same vein (e.g. helen love's "rollercoasting") that namecheck all the bands they love, but that generally don't go on to diss the ones they hate. the indie way seems to be, "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything."
is it that rappers and country singers have a tough-guy thing in common, where fightin' is part of livin', while indie rockers are twee wimps who don't have the balls to put up a fight? or is it something else altogether? or am i making this all up? i'm not sure which approach i like better, but it does seem to me like there's a clear difference.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:51 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:53 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:54 (twenty years ago) link
― dave quadrophenia, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:54 (twenty years ago) link
Rapping is something people DO. Genres don't come out of nowhere; they have prehistories as well as histories. And talking blues, like prison dozens and scats and squardance calls and reggae toasts and auctioneer barking and Blowfly and Pigmeat Markham and "They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha Ha," are part of rap music's prehistory. I just don't get why you find that idea so offensive; obviously, there's no right or wrong answer about what "is" rap (or metal or country or ??) or "isn.t." And you're welcome to disagree about this record or that one. I just think it's hilarious that you pretend that the borders are completely clear cut. They NEVER are. That's part of what makes music FUN. It DOESN'T neatly fit into little boxes.
― chuck, Friday, 5 December 2003 23:56 (twenty years ago) link
Did you READ the lyrics?? Okay, let me isolate this part:
>>Now the last thing I wanted was to get into a fightIn Jackson, Mississippi on a Saturday night'Specially when there was three of them and only one of meThey all started laughin' and I felt kinda sickAnd I knew I'd better think of somethin' pretty quickSo I just reached out and kicked old green-teeth right in the knee.He let out a yell that'd curl your hairBut before he could move, I grabbed me a chairAnd said; "Watch him folks, 'cause he's a thouroughly dangerous man.""Well, you may not know it, but this man's a spyHe's an undercover agent for the FBIAnd he's been sent down here to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan."<<
The racist southern rednecks are attacking HIM, do you get it???
Blowfly did, since he used the exact same cadence in "Blowfly's Rap" a few years later (just like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five took part of "The Message" from "Subterranean Homesick Blues"!)
And besides, as Fact Checking Cuz wisely just pointed out (and as Kid Rock has been sayinig to deah for years), the fact is that outlaw country guys and gangsta rappers often have very SIMILAR worldviews.
― chuck, Saturday, 6 December 2003 00:02 (twenty years ago) link
by the way, I often call that worldview they share "Punk Rock."
Though there are many other names for it, as well.
(And some metal guys often share more than some punk guys do.)
― chuck, Saturday, 6 December 2003 00:04 (twenty years ago) link
But how much has Nashiville country really changed since countrypolitan and Billy Sherill? Sure, the production values have changed and the sensibilities have grown with pop sensibilities, but Clint Black sounds a lot more like Jim Reeves or Glen Campbell than Wilco sounds like Roy Acuff. You're way more familiar with modern pop country than I am, so I could be way off but alt-country (save for a few purely throwback artists) dedication to tradtion seems as much lipservice as Nashville's. I understand your frustration with bullshit alt-country elitism, but I think you make Nashville out to be a little more progressive than it really is.
― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Saturday, 6 December 2003 00:20 (twenty years ago) link