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!

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.

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.

Life is very good indeed!

thanks a bunch