Back Where I Come From...

I have noticed a fair few reoccurring themes within my ever-expanding hoard of country songs.

When I tell people I listen to country music, their typical and frankly hilarious response is to tell me that all country songs are about dead dogs and sick babies. This is simply not true. There are also songs about dogs and babies who are still alive, and sometimes not even sick. However it is true to say that there is quite a bit of recycling from one song to another. I don’t mind though. As the old adage goes; if it ain’t broke, don’t sing about smacking up a bitch and whatnot.

To make a sweeping generalisation, male country singers focus on the subjects of drinking, cars and treating women badly. Female country singers focus on getting revenge on the men who’ve treated them badly.

Ok, obviously that’s not quite right. Actually there is a country song for almost ever aspect of life. Roughly once a day, I find myself saying to someone who is almost entirely uninterested; ‘I know a song about that’.

I’ve noticed people quite often fall to their knees in country songs. Evidently this is in relation to praying, and not a sudden case of the jelly legs. Examples of repeat offenders are Tracey Lawrence - ‘as she taxied down the runway I felt a pain that brought me to my knees’ (Speed of Flight) and Kenny Chesney – ‘then he saw the light and hit his knees and cried and said a prayer’ (Some People Change).

I suspect one reason is the convenient rhyming of knees with ‘please’. Maybe and baby and June and moon was similarly abused in many 50s rock and roll songs. And of course, there is a strong religious thread woven through the country music genre, reflecting the community it comes from.

Along with wrecking revenge on their no good cheatin’ men, female country artists often sing about leaving home and striking out on their own. Usually they up and leave in the corvette their Daddy bought them, or similar. The striker-outer always heads ‘out West’. I have no idea what’s wrong with the east coast; New York, anyone? Judging by these songs, most of the population of Tennessee must be in LA by now. Some examples of this mass migration occur in Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks - ‘A young girl's dream no longer hollow, it takes the shape of a place out West’ and also There Goes My Life by Kenny Chesney ‘She hugged them both and headed out to the West Coast.’

TGML is a song which leads me neatly onto the next theme; the no good cheatin’ men who haven’t heard of contraception and have to decide whether or not they are going to Do The Right Thing. Kenny C is the king of this refrain. He’s surely well into his forties now, and obviously a commitment phoebe. It’s a bit creepy actually. All his songs are about when he was in college and how he used to drink and chase girls all day long. Kenny, it’s time you grew up like the other country boys and start singing about alcoholism and divorce!

Anyway, back to the theme. There Goes My Life is a particular favourite of mine. It just sums up the situation so neatly - ‘All he could think about was, I’m too young for this, got my whole life ahead, hell, I’m just a kid, how am I gonna raise one?’

Ah, this is part of what I love about country music. That’s the intro to the song; 2 lines and you know exactly what’s happened, and have a good idea what is going to happen next. Not a word is wasted. Similarly - ‘First I thought of leaving town, but I couldn’t let our families down, now I’m out here throwing this ball around with a boy who looks just like me.’ (That’s our Kenny again). Concise, perfect. I aspire to this.

When the country men grow up a bit and settle down with their families, quite often it’s all lovely and content. For Lonestar ‘the view i love the most is my front porch looking in’ at his family. Aw.

Sometimes, however, it all goes wrong, the man falls off the wagon and ends up in a bar and his wife has to send his buddy to find him. For example Darren Worley in Sounds like Life to Me.

‘Got a call last night from an old friend’s wife
Said I hate to bother you
Johnny Ray fell off the wagon
He’s been gone all afternoon
I know my buddy so I drove to Skully’s
And found him at the bar
I say hey man, what’s going on
He said I don’t know where to start.’

Life’s tough, huh. But you won’t find the answer in the bottom of that glass, Johnny Ray. You might see Chris Cagle at the bar ‘though, pleading with his buddy - ‘Just don't tell her that you saw me drowning in this bottle, trying to make her disappear, tell her I'm anywhere, anywhere but here’.

Conversely to the ‘striking out West theme, I can name several songs which are about where the singer grew up – usually Small Town USA – how it’s better than where anyone else grew up and how he wishes he was still there. This is generally the domain of the male country singer, who is basically being a Grumpy Old Man. ‘There was no credit crunch and gas wasn’t so much and our jobs hadn’t gone overseas, Yeah, that’s how it was and that’s how it still oughta be’ whinges Trent Tomlinson. Other songs are more positive. Billy Currington enthuses ‘If I could back in a second I swear, well I'd still be growin' up down there.’ And our old friend Kenny joins in this chorus with one of my favourite songs; Back Where I Come From, which somehow manages to make me a bit misty-eyed for my hometown; an 80s planning disaster in Essex. Huh.

In fact I’ll finish on that note, because I do love this song. It was one of the first country songs i… acquired, and I suppose that means it will always hold a special place in my iPod.

In the town where I was raised,
the clock ticks and the cattle graze.
Time passed with amazing grace
back where I come from.

You could lie on a riverbank,
or paint your name on a water tank,
miscount all the beers you drank
back where I come from.

Back where I come from
where I'll be when it's said and done.
well I'm proud as anyone,
That's where I come from.

We learned in a Sunday school
who made the sun shine through.
I know who made the moon shine too
back, where I come from.

Blue eyes on a Saturday night,
tan legs in the broad daylight.
TV’s, they were black and white
back where I come from.

Back where I come from
where I'll be when it's said and done.
Well I'm proud as anyone,
that's where I come from.

Some say it's a backward place
narrow minds on the narrow way
but I make it a point to say
that's where I come from.

That's where I come from
where I'll be when it's said and done.
Well I’m proud as anyone,
that's where I come from.

Back where I come from
I'm an old Tennessean
Well I'm proud as anyone
that's where I come from.