A slightly ponderous musing on the connection between country music and karma
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Album:Live Country Masters
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Over the Fourth of July weekend we drove to a family wedding in West Virginia. Our route took us through an area where southwestern Pennsylvania, Maryland, northern Virginia and West Virginia all converge, a region at the base of the Appalachians with imposing mountains (though not to those of you familiar with the Rockies or the Alps) and a landscape that remains wild and daunting despite the streamer of macadam - and, often, the spans that support it - that slices through its heart. It was a landscape I hadn't seen for more than 20 years, as well as the part of the United States where the first Ivylander came to settle more than 200 years ago.
He was a Methodist minister, a "circuit rider" who commuted between several churches over these rugged hills. Sailing over these hills in a late-model automobile left me boggled at the physical difficulties his job must have presented. It occurred to me that he must have believed deeply in his mission to put up with the hardships of this kind of life. Which in turn started me wondering about the endurance of our family's culture. Lots of time to muse on this as we hurtled over the hills, hours from our destination. I come from a long line of preachers, schoolteachers, farmers - practical, commonsensical, sober (though hardly humorless) people who tend to be attached to the land. My father broke the chain in many ways, and certainly I have furthered the distance between our family and the past by many of my own choices in life. Nonetheless, what our family has been seems to persist in me in unexpected ways.
One of those ways is a belief that life is an unavoidable succession of moral choices with real consequences. That the way we treat each other is critical to what happens to us in our lives, Not so divorced from the idea of karma, though you probably couldn't get many of my relatives to bite on a concept that weird. This notion has always drawn me to songwriters who deal with themes along these lines, from the Louvin Brothers to Lou Reed. It was probably not just coincidence, but an unconscious recognition of the link between family history and moral orientation, that led me to buy this Kitty Wells best-of just before leaving. It was part of the soundtrack to the journey, that's for sure. This song in particular. I think the male singer on this is Red Foley. There's some suspiciously modern-sounding guitar on this, making me think that it has been sweetened by a latter-day producer, but not enough to fuck it up. If you're indifferent to the lyrics, you can always focus your attention on those gorgeous high country voices, especially when they break into that keening three-part harmony.
In comments, I am going to try and add another country song with a strong moral component. On the face of it, the two attitudes couldn't seem more different. But to me they strongly share a common context, and are in fact two sides of the same coin....
Comments (10)
Having trouble adding the second mp3 to the comments. Any advice?
http://mog.com/Q4_der_mahrk/blog_post/170164
I like this tune, and have gone through that area many times on our way to Lynchburg, VA to see relatives. I like being in three different states in the course of 20 minutes. Glad to see you here!
In Tammy Wynette's "You and Me," what's interesting to me is the song's narrator making an unintended moral point. The power of the song lies in the depth of deception - of herself, of the third party she mentions - it evokes. It's the same thing that has made Lou Reed interesting to me at times. The people singing his songs often shouldn't be taken at face value. What's more important is the moral point they make without knowing it.
Thanks, DM. It's not the most elegant-looking, but it works! By the way, what's the date in August for Squeeze?
It's the only option available to us at the moment. And the date is Friday, Aug. 22nd. The tickets are stuck in my bedroom mirror, the repository of all concert tix. You are wandering a bit from the Latin in you latest posts, and I like it!
When cool songs like those above have that extra dimension of delusion, they give me permission to embrace in my own delusions. Here's another Tammy Wynette song, "I Wound Easy (But Heal Fast)" from 1967, in which she explains her rationale for accepting a life of zigzagging between wounding and healing.
funny how some real country music always makes a road trip that much more enjoyable. On my recent trip to canada it was merle haggard, and it makes the driving seem that much more fun
There's a greater chance that Lou Reed, Randy Newman and Willie Nelson understand the delusions of their songs' protagonists more than those who wrote the songs above.
Spike, a sterling Tammy cut. It's interesting how large a part being a victim - and justifying her choices insistently - plays in her persona. "I Wound Easy" sounds like a warmup for "Stand By Your Man," even though for all I know it may have been recorded afterward. In "You and Me," she's defending her right to adultery, even though you just know the guy she's singing it to is a cad....
rawk, yeah, there is something inseparable about driving and country. It's one of those mysterious, alchemical relationships....