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Memory of Home in Country Music: I began to notice a pattern among country songs that contain the singer and/or songwriter's memory of home. I noticed some clear differences in what things are remembered in newer songs from what are remembered in older songs, and the difference caught my attention. I thought this trend was worthy of investigation in order to see whether a larger pattern is present and, if so, what these changes in the memories in the music say about the society in which we live.
The first category is songs
that are focused on a female love interest of the writer/singer of the
song. Some examples of older songs centered around the girl left at
home are the Carter Family's "Clinch Mountain Home" (first
recorded in the 1930s) and "Carolina Mountain Home" (recorded
by Ricky Skaggs). While "Carolina Mountain Home" includes
references to home and a desire to return, for example, it centers on
a particular love interest, as the following lyrics illustrate: I love those Carolina mountains I looked out my window
and wondered The second category is
songs about leaving home. An example of a song about leaving home is
"Fancy," recorded by Reba McEntire, which tells of a young
girl forced out on the street at a young age because of her family's
desperate poverty. The city's just a prison
without fences In the end, he returns
to his idealized rural home to settle down (as the song lyrics tell
it, "He went home to raise his family on the farm"). My fourth category of song is the song about destruction of a place. Two examples of this are "Paradise" written by John Stine, and "Willow Creek Dam," both of which have, over the years, been recorded by several different artists in various styles. "Paradise" is about the destruction of a town in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, by a big coal company. The song reflects an attitude very opposed to change, with the sentiment that what is being lost in development is not worth the cost paid: Then the coal company
came with the world's largest shovel And, Daddy, won't you
take me back to Muhlenberg County The fifth subcategory is
songs about the longing to return home. These songs don't get into details
but focus on some very simple aspect of home surrounded by vague idealization.
They may focus on pines or rivers, for example, the sort of image that
can elicit a fairly universal feeling, and while they may be inspired
by a specific place are centered on the emotion experienced. One example
is "Cabin on the Hill," recorded by Lester Flatt and Earl
Scruggs, which repeats the simple images of a hilltop cabin and a shady
tree: There's a happy childhood
home in my memory I can see Oh I want to wander back
to the cabin on the hill The sixth classification
is songs about change itself, usually observed differences between an
idealized small-town or rural life of the past and the current look
of or situation in a place. Some of these songs deal with the change
in an idealized picture of the hometown. One example is "Little
Man," recorded by Alan Jackson, which tells of the destruction
of small-town life: Now the court square's
just a set of streets Another example is "Nobody
Home," recorded by Amy Grant, which features sentiments exhibited
by such lines as "Main Street USA, boarded up and dry. Knowing
what once was here just makes me want to cry." Another song of
this type, showing the trend in various places throughout the region,
is "Look Away," which was recorded by John Anderson. It tells
of people who return to their hometowns in Tennessee and Florida to
discover that so much has changed they have a hard time recognizing
the place. The tormented meaning of the song is reflected in the following
lyrics: Dixie had a face lift A song about this trend
in a rural setting is "Long Time Gone," most recently popularized
by the Dixie Chicks: Daddy sits on the front
porch swingin' Brother got a job in Indiana Interestingly, there also
exists a positive version of this sort of song, which presents a desirable
aspect of the old hometown being the lack of change. One example of
this is "My Town" a fairly recent addition to radio playlists,
in which a man sings about his old town and moving back to a place that
has experienced minor changes but nevertheless is essentially the same
as always. The final subcategory,
and the focus of this study, is songs that describe a place in time,
often as a memory or daydream about something past. These are songs
based on pure memory of a place, as if describing a dream or memory
in vivid detail. The reason they interest me in particular is that these
songs reflect the things, places and values that were important to the
writer/singer in the time and place they are about, not tainted by any
political message or moralizing observation and, while reflecting a
personal memory, are focused on describing the place itself rather than
on any story about the individuals involved or changes that have happened
since the memory was recorded. Like the other subcategories, the songs
are idealizing times past, but they do so through the rose-colored glasses
of memory, unclouded by the desire to promote modern political considerations. I chose to focus on this
particular subcategory of songs in order to compare these instances
of pure memory as relates to different time periods of the 20th century.
Because the songwriters/singers are not generally making the comparisons
in the songs, but merely recording their own recollections, they are
open for comparison to other songs by someone outside the songs themselves.
While the songwriters may often choose to describe things that were
different at the time of the writing than they were in the songwriters'
childhood, there is no reason to believe they are any more or less likely
to do this in one time period rather than another, so the songs from
the various times equally reflect the time periods they were written
about. My goal in comparing songs
of this type was twofold. First, I sought to determine what elements,
exactly, have changed in the different singers'/songwriters/ memory
in successive generations and over time, as society changed, and compare
the periods of social change to the changes in the music. My second
goal was to determine, through the same process, what elements, values,
traditions, and/or descriptions had remained the same in the songs independent
of when they were written. I analyzed the songs by
keeping track of a long list of elements that appeared or were mentioned
in the songs, as shown by the chart that is attached at the end of this
paper. The chart lists the items and shows which were mentioned in particular
songs or, in some cases, the specific way in which they were mentioned.
In the table, I arranged the songs in chronological order so it would
be easy to see the trends. The results of this study
have turned up several clear results. One very noticeable change was
the transition from farm life, poor in material goods but idealized
for other qualities, to a suburban and rural non-farm lifestyle, of
a far more affluent nature. They are idealized differently: the older
songs center on hard work on basic tasks, tight-knit family life, and
often a high importance placed on religion and moral training, all of
which, taken together, are remembered to more than make up for hard
work and material privation. The younger country music generation, however,
idealizes childhood as a carefree, comfortable existence. Some changes apparent over
time, for example, is simply in technology as more modern conveniences
became available. Over the course of the generations represented by
these songs, for example, wagons are replaced by cars and coal oil is
replaced by light bulbs. Another indication of the increase in material
prosperity is what the songwriters remember buying. Several of the earlier
songs talk about buying clothes and shoes, and that is represented as
an annual event coinciding with the harvest season. The most recent
generation of songs (those written by folks born around 1970), however,
mention other material goods: a television set, packaged ice cream,
a car, and a bicycle. The increased material
prosperity is significantly reflected in the mention of brand names
in more recent songs as well. One example of this trend is "Sweet
Summer," written by Neil Thrasher and Michael Dulaney and popularized
by the band Diamond Rio. The lyrics of this song mention four different
types of ice cream treats sold from a truck and two other brand names,
Chevrolet and Schwinn. The song describes a decidedly suburban existence,
far removed from the hard work of the generations preceding it. It begins: He had a freezer full of
bomb pops Lookin' underneath the
Chrysler in the driveway Other songs, too, reflect
this change in society. While one could perhaps study the use of brand
names in commercialized music, the increased use of brand names seems
to reflect the simple fact that the songwriters are attempting to be
as descriptive as possible in all cases. In the older songs, specific
details were a different sort - consisting, for example, in the mention
of things relating to agriculture such as "choppin' cotton and
pushin' plows" ("High Cotton") or shelling "black
land dirt" ("Daddy Sang Bass"). The difference is that
the details available to describe in the newer songs, those a generation
removed from the farm, simply relate to different things - ice cream
varieties sold from the truck, vehicles parked on driveways, toys played
with by children. While many things have
changed, however, some things have remained constant in the songwriters'
memory of home, regardless of which time period they are in. While children in more
recent times have more free time and the South is more built up and
economically better off, the fact that these things continue to be mentioned
in the songs is a sign that they are enduring values in the region,
despite the massive changes that have occurred in the last century. Interestingly, the increase
in indicators of a more affluent, non-farm lifestyle and, eventually,
the increase in mention of specific material goods and brand names,
also coincide with a decreasing focus on the things previously important
in the songs: family, religion, hard work and moral values. The increased
focus on material possessions and mention of brand names, combined with
the decreased mention of these other themes, even when they are still
present, perhaps indicates that an increasingly materialistic view of
the world has developed in Southern society over this time period. It
is also necessary to ask whether decreased mention of the values previously
central to the songs and replacement of them with other things reflects
a decreasing commitment to these older values. This is not a question
I believe I can answer in a paper of this scope, but merely a question
that my analysis of the music necessarily raises. I know of one song that
very specifically discusses some of the roots of this societal change,
from a poverty-stricken, mostly agricultural region to a region materially
better off and increasingly less rural. "Song of the South,"
made famous by the band Alabama, includes stanzas of lyrics surprisingly
like those in both eras. The first era is represented by the beginning
of the song, including many of the characteristics of that period: cotton,
working in the field, poverty, and the influence of parents. It also
brings in the politics of social class in that era: Cotton on the Roadside,
Cotton in the ditch Lyrics in the middle of
the song discuss the transition relating to the New Deal, the U.S. government's
response to the Great Depression of the 1930s, which the writer of this
song identifies as a key turning point in regional change: Well somebody told us Wall
Street fell The final stanza discusses
how life has changed as a result of the programs aimed to improve the
economic well-being of people in the South, though not without an indication
of some loss and emotional impact from the changes: Well mama got sick and
daddy got down Note the mention of material
goods and a brand name in the last line of the song, reflecting both
increased material prosperity and increased materialism. Meanwhile,
the chorus reflects some things that, according to the songwriter, haven't
changed, most notably food and respect for parents, with the ending
indication, like that of other songs written on change and development
(such as "Look Away," a song cited earlier), that there is
no going back to how things used to be. Song, song of the South Since even the songs stress
the importance of not looking back, perhaps it is appropriate then to
look forward toward where this trend might be going next. The most recent
of country songs bring in technologies like cell phones, answering machines,
and computers have a kind of dual representation in recent country songs.
On one hand they are looked at as vices, much like marijuana and LSD
are looked at in the old anti-protest song "Okie from Muskogee."
In most instances, however, they find their way into songs as a mere
fact of life. In the same way that older artists once sang about coal-oil
light and scrubbing clothes on a washboard, today's singers mention
using their cell phones and driving on interstate highways in talking
about their lives. The question, then, is what singers and songwriters
of my generation - and especially the kids born just a few years later,
many of whom have grown up with computers from a very young age - will
be singing about in when they look back and idealize their childhood
in the South. It will not be surprising if some images present in songs
now will be replaced by pictures of technology. More important, however,
is what the central values are in the songs. Works Cited: DiMaggio, Paul, Richard A. Peterson, and Jack Esco, Jr. "Country Music: Ballad of the Silent Majority," The Sounds of Social Change. (Serge Denisoff and Richard A. Peterson, ed.) Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1972. Songs Cited: |
