With all the swing dancing I've done in the last couple months, its safe to say I've been hitting the country music pretty hard. I love lyrics too. Thinking about what artists are really saying behind their words, the message they're sending to the world...And well, I've started to notice something. Some of the country artists are starting to get it. If you listen to what they're really saying.
Jerrod Niemann-What Do You Want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97BfC4LgrXk&ob=av2e
I get so tired of living like this.
I don’t have the time, neither do my friends,
To stay up at night, to pull me through,
And to find the things to keep my mind off of you...
Oh baby what do you want, what do you want, what do you want from me?
To come here and make love tonight cause you’re feelin’ lonely.
You keep takin’ me back, takin’ me back where I’ve already been.
When we wake up and say goodbye it’s like I’m losing you again.
Can’t you see? So what do you want, what do you want from me?
This song is heartbreaking. The poor guy can't even stand to talk to her because she keeps using and abusing him. I couldn't put my finger on why I seemed to like it...I'm not a fan of heartbroken country crooning. But I figured it out. Here's another example:
Jake Owen-Alone with you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3EpArAtGJQ&ob=av2e
I don’t see you laugh
You don’t call me back
But you kiss me when you’re drunk...
Don’t put your lips up to my mouth and tell me you can’t stay
Don’t slip your hand under my shirt and tell me it’s okay
Don’t say it doesn’t matter cause it’s gonna matter to me...
You’ve got me out on the edge every time you call
And I know it would kill me if I fall
I can’t be alone with you
Again, another heartbreaking song that makes me sick to my stomach.
One of the most infamous complaints from country music haters about songs like this is that they're so depressing...but has anyone taken a good long look at how the world views love, dating, and sexuality these days? Yeah, pretty accurately depressing. Rap and hip-hop songs describes the stores and frame of mind that leads to country songs like these. The morning after you've experienced the apparent no-consequence one-night stand.
Though I wanna shake Jake and Jerrod and tell them to stop messing with the women that inspire songs like this, deep down, I really like both these songs. Why, you ask?
Because these songs are sung by and for men living in this world who are asking: "Is this really all there is? Breaking hearts and getting my heart broken, getting used and using her?" Now granted, both of these songs describe a man who's stuck and can't seem to find an answer to that question, but I think its a big deal that they're asking it. On secular radio stations with no spiritual agenda. God hears the cries of the heartbroken who sing non-Christian music too.
This song describes a frame of mind a step or two ahead. I fell in love with it immediately.
Lady A-Just a Kiss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_yTphvyiPU&ob=av2e
Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
No, I don't wanna mess this thing up
No, I don't wanna push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby, I'm alright, with just a kiss goodnight
I know that if we give this a little time
It'll only bring us closer to the love we wanna find
It's never felt so real, no it's never felt so right
"I care enough about you and growing in love of you that I'm good with this. This is enough."
Much more romantic. Much less of a mood killer. Much more hopeful. All it requires is some self-control. I don't know. You could probably give me 10 other songs that contradict my point, I'm sure. But these songs are popular. People know what it means to feel that way, to begin to understand that the world's counterfeit love is a lie. Love is meant to set us free, not trap us in despair and depression. I don't know. Makes me hopeful.
This topic also gives me an opportunity to post my new favorite song on here. I melt every time...because Scotty has it SO RIGHT. Women are a mystery, they're beautiful, they have something to offer to their brothers in Christ that can't be experienced elsewhere, and men will always love them. Boom.
Enjoy. :)
Scotty McCreery-The Trouble with Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND-SB3OxP38&ob=av3e
Hope you didn't mind my optimistic ramblings about my favorite genre of music.
Grace to you and peace.
