Here's a thought piece from CNN on the current explosion of country music, from Luke Combs to Morgan Wallen to Jason Aldean:
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Country At a Crossroads?
- Thread starter TheBigA
- Start date
I don't recall any Country stations playing Tracy Chapman's FAST CAR when it came out. However, they'll play some mediocre White dudes version of it. Add the fact that they'll play trash like the Aldean track, and that says all you need to know. Any "Struggles over Soul" would require depth of feeling and substance. Most modern Country music doesn't offer that and probably isn't what the fan base wants anyway. Look at how Wallen's popularity soared after his N word rant. Who knows what these people are saying about Chapman (A talented gay Black Woman)...
https://www.npr.org/sections/now-playing/2023/06/13/1181693858/tracy-chapman-fast-car-luke-combs
The writer of the article above does compliment Combs for not changing the lyrics...
https://www.npr.org/sections/now-playing/2023/06/13/1181693858/tracy-chapman-fast-car-luke-combs
The writer of the article above does compliment Combs for not changing the lyrics...
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He's their 2-time Entertainer of the Year with 16 consecutive #1s. He could sing Baby Got Back and they'd play it.
The song is 35 years old. Most of the core demo wasn't even born when it was new. Combs is only 32. They don't know & don't care.
Same with Aldean. It doesn't matter what he sings. He could sing We Shall Overcome and they'd play it.
You have just confirmed my suspicions that Country listeners aren't "Book Smart". I can imagine some drunk dude being confused though when he hears Combs sing
the line "I CAN WORK IN THE MARKET AS A CHECKOUT GIRL" at a concert. Hey Maynard, What the Hell did he just sing...
We're talking about music, not literature.
D
Deleted member 108832
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Is Eric Clapton "a mediocre white dude" to you too? His cover of "I Shot the Sherriff" soared to #1 in 1974. Marley's original recording barely cracked the top 20, a year earlier.
After this comment, and this is coming from someone who is very much "book smart", and an avid country music listener, I will refrain from having a "dad gum conniption" over your poor choice of words, consider the source, and simply say bless your heart.
No, that's not the case. Country is a lifestyle, and liking the music that has the "feel" is liked if is catchy, fund, emotional, sweet, honky-tonk or whatever other word of definition (often called an "adjective") the listener core can apply to it.
Go from a song with social content such as "Seminole Wind" to a fun-and-beer song like "Friends in Low Places" to a breakup song like "Bye Bye" to a young love chat with a troubled father in "She's in Love with the Boy" to a patriotic one like "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" to a wannabe country star lament like "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" all the way to a spiritual one like "Unanswered Prayers" and you have a wonderful range of feelings, emotions and quite a bit of just plain fun.
To me, that is not "book smart"... it is core American values and feelings. I see that in Puerto Rican Salsa, Colombian Vallenato and Mexican norteña and banda songs, too. Every (pardoning using a kinda' stereotyped term) blue collar group in every nation has one or more types of this sort of music that reflects feelings of everyday people.
One evening, the huge salsa composer and singer Ruben Blades said to me that when he wrote, the tried to depict and emotional snapshot of a scene in "common people's" lives, whether it was a flashback to an indentured laborer being beaten to death ("Plantación Adentro") to a street gang murder ("Pedro Navaja"). The idea was to reflect things in the world of his listeners that they could relate to.
They know that not changing the lyric is a tribute to the original tune by not changing the lyric.
Amen, brother.
Were the subject "Literature" we could have a nice fresh discussion of the true meaning of "Louie, Louie".
Eric Clapton did want to "keep Britain white". His racist rant is one of the reasons for the Rock Against Racism campaign in the UK.
Did Eric Clapton Once Unleash a Racist Rant Onstage?
In late 2020, internet users highlighted a shocking episode from the legendary blues guitarist's past.
www.snopes.com
And we're not forgetting his "freedom" crusade during the pandemic.
Country needs to watch the racist connotations, or else, someone may snap and blow up country music memorabilia during a sporting event...
We talk about what's missing from the rock or alternative genres now, and this is an example. An intangible thing like press coverage attracts attention, creates a narrative, and gets people talking about the music. Just having good songs isn't enough in this media-intensive world. It's just the beginning.
D
Deleted member 108832
Guest
Nor are we.
There is no country version of "Disco Duck" to rally around...
Gene Wilder's character nailed it in "Blazing Saddles".
It's time to stop making excuses for these people who say racist stuff, but claim "I'm just a traditional American".
When folks like Wallen show you who they are, believe them...
Fun fact (off topic, tho...apologies to the mods): Wilder's ending comment about "morons" wasn't in the script. It caught Cleavon Little by surprise, so when he bursts into laughter there, it's genuine. Mel Brooks chose to leave it in the movie.
Then again, Steve Dahl wasn't occupied ranting about Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots on air.
For every Jolene, you have songs like Try That In A Small Town and whatever the hell Toby Keith was putting out right after 9/11.
He was parodying Rod Stewart's "Do You Think I'm Sexy" as "Do You Think I'm Disco," and destroying Comiskey Park with his Disco Demolition back in those days.
They would only know that if someone told them or are familiar with Chapman's original version. Most of Combs audience has no idea who she is.
I assume you meant "Funny" not fund (typo?) in your post above. "Fast Car" is not a humourous song. It is a song that people who "Live the Country Lifestyle" can relate to.
(Poverty, Dead End Job, Hopelessness, etc.). Those conditions aren't limited to Urban areas. On the other hand, The Aldean "Small Town" track is pure propaganda with veiled racist language.
Nobody ever said Rock & Roll (or Country) has to be serious literature all the time. "Louie Louie" you referenced is a just a fun nonsense song. Maybe Combs should have covered that and he could have avoided this controversy...
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