Other than the obvious sound and style, there are some lyrical elements which make up a truly great Country record. Any song which includes one or more of these gets a big fat Country tick in my book:
- The singer has been wronged by a lover or partner, and is expressing sorrow at the loss;
- The singer has wronged a lover or partner, and wants you to know they feel really bad about it, but ultimately don’t regret it;
- The singer has wronged a lover or partner, and wants you to know they feel really bad about it, and realises they made a mistake;
- Somebody has died, and the singer is sad about this;
- Somebody has died, and the singer is quite pleased about this;
- The singer has deliberately killed someone and wants to boast about it;
- The singer has accidentally killed someone, and they feel really bad about it, but it was definitely an accident;
- The singer is feeling sad and lonely, usually as a result of numbers 1, 3, 4 or 7 or in exceptional circumstances all four;
- The singer has a strained/non-existent relationship with either parent, usually their father;
- The singer has been reconciled with the parent, resents them for all the years of absenteeism, but will try to put that behind them;
- The singer loves his/her Mommy;
- The singer wishes to thank God for something that has happened;
- The singer wishes to curse or question God for something that has happened to them;
- The singer likes an alcoholic beverage, beer or whisky being the tipple of choice (it’s a very rare event when Pimm’s gets a mention in a Country song, which is why there are no Country songs about going to Wimbledon);
- Probably something about guns.
See how many of those you can tick off from this:
Robbie Fulks – Rock Bottom, Pop. 1
More Country Bingo this time next week.
(More soon.)