Guilty as Charged
Have you ever had a song rightfully accuse you of something? You’re listening and it suddenly hits you like a sack of potatoes. It’s not that you can ‘relate’ to what the singer is saying. It’s that the singer is actually aiming right at you, reminding you of your own misdeeds, character flaws, unreasonable attitudes. A common version of this in the country genre is the song that points out society’s lack of empathy for the poor and downtrodden, that asks us all to be a little kinder to the people we meet on the street.
In a somewhat lighter vein, “Countrier Than Thou” by Robbie Fulks always gives me cause to stop and reconsider my music snobbery. On the song from his excellent 2005 album Georgia Hard, Fulks sings:
Down at the bar, spinnin’ Haggard
He wore a Johnny Reb tattoo
Overalls, he spat and swaggered
Lord he was a Boston Jew
He loved bluegrass – O Brother!
When I said Shania he sneered
“That’s a word I wouldn’t uddah
We like to keep it down home up heeeaaaah”
I don’t have a Johnny Reb tattoo or a Boston accent (and I’m not Jewish), but I know that I have been, and occasionally still am, the guy Fulks is mocking. I like my country as country as I can get it, even though there isn’t much about me personally that’s country. I look down my nose at some of the pop country acts, even though they should be a perfect match for my suburban lifestyle. I think O Brother may have even been my gateway to a deeper appreciation of bluegrass and roots music. Listening to Fulks’ song forces me to confront my own strange relationship to the genre and keep my high opinion of my own musical tastes in check.
What songs implicate you?
I think this piece belongs its place among the best blog posts of 2008.
Well, that’s a bit much, but thanks.
Wow. I just re-read that comment and saw how bad my grammar was. I meant ‘it belongs among the best blog posts …’
P.S. Thanks for turning me on to Robbie Fulks. I checked out his myspace and found several other of his songs I really like.
My pleasure, J.R. I recommend anything by him, but especially Georgia Hard. This video post from a couple months ago might also be of interest to you.
I really like Fulks’ duet with Kelly Willis, “Parallel Bars.” Of course, John got me to check him out too.
I’m still contemplating a song that implicates me.
haha, my snobbery must be too far gone because I was kind of annoyed by the song. it’s like “now you listen to me Mr. Robbie Fulks, the only reason I ever heard of you or bought your cd was because I take real country music seriously and I feel that it’s threatened and I should do what I can to seek out and support artists playing country music, so don’t you go and take pot shots at me for being a real country partisan, if I wasn’t a partisan, I’d be happy to settle for Phil Vassar and Brad Paisley!”
Actually, the song that comes to mind (although I’m sure there are bunches that don’t come to mind) is the song by Charles Aznavour entitled “I Drink” which Dylan played on his theme time radio hour, not that I’m a raging alcoholic, but the theme of drinking to ease that existential angst is part of what I love about country music, and Aznavour freaknig nails it in this one.
It’s freakin’ crazy, well worth a few minutes.
http://www.wastedspace.com/blog/drink/index.html
Oh man, that was intense. The production had me a little skeptical at first but I was all into it by the end. Everyone should check out the link posthaste. And yes, it is a little scary that you chose that as your song.
You have to admire Fulks’ willingness to openly challenge a big chunk of his own audience. That’s pretty ballsy. It’s like if Craig Morgan put out a song about how rednecks suck.
“It’s like if Craig Morgan put out a song about how rednecks suck.”
Wasn’t that called ‘International Harvester’?
Nah, you’re supposed to be sympathetic to the guy in that song:
So just smile and wave and tip your hat
To the man up on the tractor