Sinful Sunday: Country Music

What could be more indulgent than angst ridden, depressively self-indulgent, or debaucherist country music?

While flipping through stations tonight in my car, I came through a great "feminist" country song I just had to listen to. Please keep in mind that I really don't listen to country (although I own Dixie Chicks, Kenny Rodgers and Lyle Lovett CDs) and usually I don't really like it.

I do make an exception for good tell-it-like it is country song, the kind with almost self-parodying lyrics. You know the cliche- they always include empty cupboards, empty whisky bottle, a truck and a dog. But did you know women do these songs, too?

Tonight I had the pleasure of hearing, "Gunpowder & Lead" by Miranda Lambert:

County road 233, under my feet
Nothin' on this white rock but little ole me
I've got two miles till, he makes bail
And if I'm right we're headed straight for hell

[Chorus:]

I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight well now he's got one
And he ain't seen me crazy yet
He slap my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don't that sound like a real man
I'm going to show him what a little girls made of
Gunpowder and lead

It's half past ten, another six pack in
And I can feel the rumble like a cold black wind
He pulls in the drive, the gravel flies
He dont know what's waiting here this time

Chorus

His fist is big but my gun's bigger
He'll find out when I pull the trigger

You've probably heard this next song, which delightfully broke into mainstream pop-"Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood:
Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleach blond tramp,
and she's probably getting frisky...
right now, he's probably buying her some fruity little drink cause she can't shoot whiskey...

Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool-stick, showing her how to shoot a combo...

And he don't know...

Chorus
That I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats...
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...

Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

Right now, she's probably up singing some
white-trash version of Shania karaoke..
Right now, she's probably saying "I'm drunk"
and he's a thinking that he's gonna get lucky,
Right now, he's probably dabbing on 3 dollars worth of that bathroom polo...
And he don't know...

Chorus

Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

I might've saved a little trouble for the next girl,
Cause the next time that he cheats...

Oh, you know it won't be on me!

No...not on me

Finally, my first introduction to this sub genre is a dark and disturbingly facetious song by the Dixie Chicks. "Goodbye Earl." Although they are trying to tackle a serious subject in a creative way, I've always had a hard time finding it funny. I just found the video tonight, and despite it's lighthearted and humorous approach, they just don't pull off the dark story line the way they did in "Fried Green Tomatoes," which was able to achieve dark humor without diminishing the underlying seriousness of the story.

I wanted to include another song before Goodbye Earl, but I just couldn't find it. Hopefully someone with a little more knowledge of country music can let me know the title of a song I heard a few years ago. It was a woman gleefully singing about how much she had been drinking at the bar and commenting on her various problems with driving like backing up and mystery dents in her truck.

In looking for the lyrics for this post, I also found a list of the top all-time country drinking songs. And hysterically, I also found an article on a study that links country music to drinking. ''People should be aware that they are more likely to lose their control and self-restraint in a country and Western bar than anywhere else.''

I guess it's all good so long as you sober up for church on Sunday.