Thursday, February 7, 2008

Criticism of a Song

In the last couple of days, I've heard the same song twice, which was a song I'd never heard before. The lyrics both disturbed and pissed me off, hence this blog entry. The song is "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood, which is about a woman with a straying boyfriend:

Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleach blond tramp,
and she's probably getting frisky...
right now, he's probably buying her some fruity little drink cause she can't shoot whiskey...

Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool-stick, showing her how to shoot a combo...

And he don't know...

That I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats...
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...

Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

Right now, she's probably up singing some
white-trash version of Shania karaoke..
Right now, she's probably saying "I'm drunk"
and he's a thinking that he's gonna get lucky,
Right now, he's probably dabbing on 3 dollars worth of that bathroom polo...
And he don't know...

That I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats,
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...

Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

I might've saved a little trouble for the next girl,
Cause the next time that he cheats...

Oh, you know it won't be on me!

No...not on me
'Cause I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats...
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...

Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

Oh.. Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats...

Ohh... before he cheats.
..

Damned straight it wouldn't be her he'd be straying from the next time if I were the man in this song. That psycho bitch's ass would be sitting in jail for vandalism; destruction of property.

This song was disturbing to me because it portrays violence as a normal, commendable expression of jealousy, Unlike raging anger (which this really is), which has generated methods to manage it, jealousy is shown as something that is uncontrollable that someone is perfectly justified in expressing in extreme ways as is shown in this song.

Columnist and broadcaster, Glenn Sacks criticized this song, saying that it is a prime example of the "double standard about domestic violence [that] manifests itself in ... popular culture".Sacks notes that a "song and a video approving of a violent, jealous man destroying his girlfriend's car" would likely receive dissimilar treatment, and undoubtedly draw widespread criticism.

I know it's just a song, but music reflects the culture that generates itself and this song doesn't say something good about ours.

Thoughts?

3 comments:

Kelly Ann said...

I hate that song, always have, but then again..I don't care for Underwood either. The song really is an immature way to try to empower women or some silly thing. I would know better mad or not to smash a mans truck, that's like a death ticket in some places lol.

Lex Valentine said...

Yet another prime example of why I rarely listen to country music. I've never really cared for the lyrics. Too many songs about cheatin', drinkin' and shootin'. Same for rap. Too many songs about same stuff but with gang stuff tossed in. I know that both genres have people who write decent stuff that isn't about those things but you rarely hear about them. It's pretty sad when the most popular songs in our culture are about violence.

Anonymous said...

I agree it's a shining example of the clear double standard. Not to mention -- read the lyrics again -- the guy never actually even cheats. He's in a bar, and the singer thinks of things he's "probably" doing, like playing pool and having a drink with another female without his owner's permission.