Report From The Country, Part Four: Songs Of The Restless
Published April 1st, 2006 in Treasure Tags: C&W, Music.
This time, our series on the great country songs of the past tackles a time-honored topic: the urge to cut and run. Restlessness forged this nation. It pushed our boundaries, defined our opportunities, framed our conflicts and impelled us to our rewards. But once the frontier dried up, restlessness gave way to respectability and the demands of domestication.
Traditionally, country music celebrated restlessness like a badge of honor, an enthusiasm for lawlessness and failure. It reveled in reassuring tales of those that lived neither wisely nor too well. Piety, temperance, responsibility and obedience may have ruled the day, but folks still had their dreams.
At home, moms and dads hid a gnawing ambivalence about the sacrifices they’d made. But for their children, restlessness took on a greater urgency. Theirs was a more profound dissatisfaction that questioned the direction of society as a whole. Challenged by younger country songwriters like John Hartford (”Gentle On My Mind”) and Kris Kristofferson (”Me And Bobby McGee”), the new generation set out to look for the frontier their parents had lost.
But new reasons for restlessness failed to produce new results. Once their energy was gone, it was time to face up and settle down. Some never returned, having found the trouble they went looking for. Those that still had homes returned to them. But they kept an ear to the open window, in case they ever heard the call again. (They didn’t.)
Download “Report From The Country, Volume Four”
1. Bumming Around - T. Texas Tyler
2. It’s A Great Life- Faron Young
3. Cash On The Barrelhead - Louvin Brothers
4. Big Daddy - Browns
5. Bob - Willis Brothers
6. 1432 Franklin Pike Circle Hero - Bobby Russell
7. (Margie’s At) The Lincoln Park Inn - Bobby Bare
8. Right Or Left At Oak Street - Roy Clark
9. Make It Rain - Billy Mize
10. Ginger Is Gentle And Waiting For Me - Jim Ed Brown
11. Mama, I Won’t Be Wearing A Ring - Peggy Little
12. Don’t Hang No Halos On Me - Connie Eaton
13. Darling, You Can Always Come Back Home - Jody Miller
14. Big Black Bird - Jack Blanchard with Misty Morgan
that tracklist was fantastic!
specially that big daddy tune.
thanks a bunch
Another thumbs up for the Brown family!
Life is very good indeed!
they left off “It’s a wonderful world outside”, a duet, by george jones and ralph stanley.
Derrick,
Have you given much thought to the masculine nature of your argument? Were women of these times as concerned with ramblin’ and movin’ as the men? I notice that your song list does contain songs by women. Is the content of their songs similar to that of the men? Or is there a stream of feminine songwriting that follows a different theme that you have not let us in on yet? Thanks for the blog.
That’s a good question.
The first thing to keep in mind is that this whole “thematic” business is nothing but a thinly veiled deceit, allowing me to group songs by category. But in truth there is but one category: Songs Bostrom Likes.
Second, given that my first point is true, there can be no true comprehensiveness. That is, I have not listened to every country song ever recorded, and thusly, one will always be able to punch holes in my arguement.
To the heart of your concern: according to my findings, country does indeed describe rootlessness differently according to gender. It follows the same pattern of double standard already so familiar: men are encouraged to sow their wild oats, women are punished for it. In mainstream country, however, the female is more often than not used as a symbol for loss of freedom. Songs taking the woman’s point of view are quite aware of this, however, and they don’t much care for it!
The notion of gender falls somewhat outside the scope of my investigation, however. I am more interested in the effects of upward mobility. In this case, how does upward mobility transform the theme of “bummin’ around” over time?
Gender issues will play a much greater part in the next part of this series, which deals more specifically with relations between men and women.
matt/master-d,
i just had to pipe in and offer some perspective.
think about the time when these songs were written: the post/depression and post/war eras, when the women stayed home and tended the kids, and the men went wherever they could to get work to feed their families and keep their land (if they were lucky enough to have any). they were uprooted and rambling, not always by choice. women, on the other hand, were in much more traditional roles, bound by social pressure if not their families. this idea is very briefly addressed in june carter’s experience when she finally makes it home in ‘walk the line’ (whether you like the movie or not…)
at least, that’s how it was told to me from the “country-belt” when i was driving thru it with my dad in the 60s.
damn, did i admit to being that old?
crap!
Unfortunately, even those of us born this morning are old enough to remember the oppressive sting of “traditional” gender roles.
This is my first time here, yet I find it strange that I listened to Roy Clarks “Live in Branson” this morning on my CD player…and heard for the first time “Right or Left at Oak Street” also for the first time..It’s a day of firsts!