A Dirt Road A Cold Beer Blue Jeans
The Land of Pandering
How Bo Burnham Exposed New-Age Country Music
Growing up in the south, avoiding country music was impossible. No matter what music I tried to surround myself with, I'd always hear it on car rides with my parents, at high school football games, and live bands performing it in most restaurants in downtown Rome, Georgia. A fan favorite amongst my town's citizens was "Country Boy's World" by Jason Aldean. In this top-of-the-charts popular song, Jason Aldean sings "ever been to Rome, Georgia, picked peaches off the trees?" It gave us a sense of pride knowing such a big name referred to our small town, however, no one cared to acknowledge one little flaw. There are literally no peach trees in Rome, Georgia. The ignorance of Jason Aldean and many artists like him are brought to light in a hilariously satirical performance by Bo Burnham.
"A dirt road, a cold beer, blue jeans, a red pick-up"
As these lyrics ring out, a listener might begin reminiscing on a past memory of listening to a light-hearted country song on the radio on a long car ride or while spending time with good friends. This song, however, is far from that level of sentimentality. In fact, this song was written and performed as a medium to show fans of "stadium" country music that what they're listening is just a show that holds no emotional or personal weight by the artist. As the final words from this line float from his mouth, "rural noun, simple adjective", the listener begins to realize what they're really getting themselves into, a classic performance by comedian/songwriter, Bo Burnham.
Bo Burnham's artistic style revolves around two main things, self-deprecating humor and his conscious analysis of art in our society. Throughout his career he has produced many songs and routines based on judging popular music, covering every genre, from critiquing country music to pop music and rap music. In each performance, he discusses flaws with each specific genre. The routine that left the biggest mark on me was his critique of country music. I come from a town in northwest Georgia, and even though I've never been a fan, I was always surrounded by country. After hearing what he had to say about the matter, I couldn't help but laugh at how accurate some of the things he said really were.
"I walk and talk like a field hand, but the boots I'm wearing cost three grand"
Burnham attacks many different facets of country music but his main complaint with the genre is its lack of honesty. Country artist Thomas Rhett is this verse manifested into a person. The up and coming artist owns 40 pair of shoes costing all the way up to 2,400 dollars. This one of Bo Burnham's examples to show the lack of honesty amongst country artist. Many artists try to sound like the people they are trying to sell copies of their music to. When a listener feels like they have a connection to a song or artist they want to buy that copy, but in many cases, that "connection" is vague so anyone to relate to it.
"I write songs about riding tractors, from the comfort of a private jet"
After delving deeper into this line and seeing what artists lived lives like this, I was thoroughly surprised at my results. George Strait, Kenney Chesney, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw, and Jimmy Buffet all fly from place to place from the luxury of a private jet. These artists write some of the most down to earth lyrics for the working-class citizens and they act like they don't live lavish lifestyles.
"Hunting Deer Chasing Trout, A Budlight With the Logo Facing Out"
It is no surprise that famous people are used as sponsors. They have a job and need to make money. However, after my research I learned that country music is crossing a line into something not acceptable. The Country Music Association held a meeting bringing in many top executives of big name companies ranging from Pepsi to Proctor and Gamble. In this meeting, the executives of the CMA explained that their genre music is a prime source of advertising. If a specific artist decides to promote some shoe or clothes brands by his or herself, that is understandable, but if an executive takes advantage of a medium with the intentions of big companies, that's when something is wrong. Country music should be country music and nothing else, not a tool to promote a soft drink or any other company.
Sleeping with a Scarecrow: An Interlude
At this point we have reached the half way point of the song. It may begin to seem like he is getting a bit too preachy, but luckily his supplies the audience with some of his off the wall humor to bring the people back, just in case they had lost interest. At the beginning of the second verse he misjudges a figure in a field to be a beautiful woman but is in fact a scarecrow, which elicits a chuckle from the crowd. Later he builds up a story of sleeping next to his girl, and undressing her after she falls asleep. "I put my hands on your body, it feels like hay it's the fucking scarecrow again."
"We got to bed, you doze off, so I take your country girl clothes off"
Burnham precedes this line by saying "Now it's time to talk to the ladies, I'm hoping my southern charm offsets all these rape-y vibes I'm putting out". There are many songs throughout the genre that talk down to women. A prime example of this can be found in the song "Blue Ain't Your Color" by Keith Urban. Nestled away in the second verse, Keith Urban shows his southern charm with the line, "I'm tryna drink you up, I'm tryna take you home". In my Sexual Assault course, we learned that is not okay. Although country music does not have lyrics discussing rape, artist have an extreme level of confidence to the point that the things they said are a little uncomfortable. Nothing exemplifies that country confidence than the title (that I'm kinda uncomfortable saying) "Who's Your Daddy?" by Toby Keith.
"I write songs for the people who do jobs in the towns that I'll never move to"
This line had a surprisingly personal impact on me and my family when I showed it to them. "Country Boy's World" by Jason Aldean mentions my hometown. "Ever been to Rome, Ga and picked peaches off the trees". As stated earlier, there are no peach trees in Rome. Even with this apparent fact, everyone in my town played this song including my family because it felt good to have our small town get a shout out. When I showed my parents this performance by Bo Burnham, this was the part they began to hate the song. They were upset because they felt like they had been tricked (which they had) into thinking this big-name country star liked our town.
It shouldn't go unnoticed that country music isn't the only genre of music that is guilty of these sins. Every genre of music has certain artist that make broad, dishonest, music in hopes of making as many sales as possible. The radio is full of music that lacks any resemblance of personality leaving the listener feeling that the 4–5 minutes they spent listening to a song were "passable". Just like how Jason Aldean clearly didn't know what he was talking about. Every genre has some pretty stupid lines.
Even though the outlook may seem bleak for good music, God blessed this world with talented musicians. Many artists can craft poetic works of art that delve deep into their emotions and pull out the best (and sometimes worst) of humanity. If honesty is a factor someone searches for in music, there's more than enough of it. Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, after a hard break-up, moved to a cabin in the middle of the woods and wrote an album about his failing relationships and his trials throughout life. Kendrick Lamar performed a song while getting drunk and sobbing into a mic discussing his abandonment of his home of Compton, his sister getting pregnant, and the death of 3 of his friends. What Bo Burnham is attempting to craft with his country song, as well as many of his others, is a call to arms. Art is the epitome of self-expressing, and we as people should never settle for any imposters that tries to mimic true art. Society defines the music scene. We get to pick what's on the top charts because were the consumers. Why should we settle and eat a burger from McDonald's when we could eat a high-end steak? We need to seek out those who make true art and raise them up for everyone to experience. The top charts shouldn't be held by Lil Yachtys or Nicki Minajs, the should be held by the people that pull material from the deepest depths of their hearts and souls, not from cookie cutter "artists".
Lyrics to Bo Burnham's "Country Song": https://genius.com/Bo-burnham-country-song-lyrics
Lyrics to Keith Urban's "Blue Ain't Your Color": https://genius.com/Keith-urban-blue-aint-your-color-lyrics
Bo Burnham "Country Song" image: http://www.onecountry.com/bo-burnham-country-song-1875930933.html
Source: https://medium.com/@clb89602/the-land-of-pandering-f3b9669c33cb
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