Someday When You Swing that Skillet, My Face Won't Be There.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Country Music Update
Somebody--could it be that language guy from Stanford on NPR?--did a nice essay a few years back on the linguistic subtleties of country music songs, as in "When Your Phone Rings and Nobody's There, It Will be Me" (and cf. this). The Car Guys on NPR introduced a new crop this morning (although I'm not sure they all sounded quite that new). I do like:
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They don't write 'em like they used to back in the 1970s when the stuff was so good that country music even had (briefly) several outposts in New York radio stations, a city where most people would tell you they don't do country.
It was just sensational music that did what a ballad is supposed to do. It told you a story in a uniquely poetic way that rang true. For example there was, "All the gold in California/is in the bank in the middle of Beverly Hills/in somebody else's name..."
Or more recently, "I like my women a little on the trashy side..."
Why did it all end? I suspect because ultimately the public decided it had heard just too many of "Another 'somebody done somebody wrong song.'"
Nevertheless, it was a great American art form and I miss it.
If the Car Guys somehow manage to bring it back even – even if they're only kidding – more power to them.
Yours Crankily,
The New York Crank
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