A Bit of My Life » Why Country Music is More Appealing When You Are Older

Why Country Music is More Appealing When You Are Older

Right now a spate of really bad shit is happening to our parents and the parents of our friends. Between brain tumours, cancer, and death 2008 has doth sucked the bone extremely hard, except for the birth of my second niece, which of course is awesome.

I used to not understand why any fool in their right mind would enjoy the simple, depressing lyrics of country music. In fact, country music is so depressing that I’m surprised My Chemical Romance hasn’t released a cover of Hank Williams greatest hits by now. Johnny Cash proved just how uncomfortably close the genres of alternative and country were to each other when he masterfully covered Nine Inch Nails “Hurt”. Trent Reznor marveled that he had made the song “his own” after he saw the video. And he did - because sad songs belong to both genres.

Check out the lyrics of the following song:

Capo: 2nd fret/key: e/play: d
[d] in the world’s mighty gallery of pictures
Hang the [g] scenes that are painted from life [d]
There’s pictures of love and of passion
Then there’s [e7] pictures of peace and of [a7] strife
There hang [d] pictures of youth and of beauty
Of old [g] age and the blushing young [d] bride
They all [g] hang on the wall - but the [d] saddest of all
Are the [a7] pictures from life’s other [d] side.

[d] just a picture from life’s other side
Some-[g] one has fell by the way [d]
A life has gone out with the tide
That [e7] might have been happy some [a7] day
There’s a [d] poor old mother at home
She’s [g] watching and waiting a-[d] lone
Just [g] longing to hear - from a [d] loved one so dear
It’s just a [a7] picture from life’s other [d] side.

The first scene is that of a gambler
Who had lost all his money at play
An’ he draws his dead mother’s ring from his finger
That she wore long ago on her wedding day
It’s his last earthly treasure, but he stakes it
Then he bows his head that his shame he may hide
But, when they lifted his head - they found he was dead
That’s just a picture from life’s other side.

Now the last scene is that by the river
Of a heart-broken mother and babe
As the harbor lights shine and they shiver
On an outcast whom no one will save
And yet, she was once a true woman
She was somebody’s darlin’ and pride
God help her, she leaps - for there’s no one to weep
It’s just a picture from life’s other side.

Extra verse:
The next was a scene of two brothers
Whose pathways so diff’rent had led
One lived the life of a rich man
The other one begged for his bread
Then one night they met on the highway
“your money or life”, the thief cried
And then with his knife - took his own brother’s life
It’s just a picture from life’s other side.

Who do you think wrote this? Christian Death? Sisters of Mercy? The Mission? My Chemical Romance? Marilyn Manson? Nope - Hank Williams.

When we are young, alternative music makes us feel like adults - when I was young, listening to alternative music made me feel like I belonged in those ultra cool Black Label commercials - although maybe not this one. God, that beer was awful. But its marketing was brilliant; it got “rebels against society” to drink the very same beer as each other. Enough about the beer of the early 90’s alternative scene - the music is why we are here. I loved, and still love, the hard driving music of Ministry that presents a nihilistic view of society. I adored the dark tones of Andrew Ulrich singing about Lucretia Borgia - it seemed intelligent at the time.

When you “grow up” you long for simpler tunes, ones that don’t require a degree in literature to figure out. Maybe it has something to do with the mental laxity that we all settle into when we have been out of school for 10 years or more - maybe it is just the amount of brain cells that we have murdered along the way. The upshot is, I enjoy a good boot kickin’ country tune now just as much as I love Skinny Puppy. Yes, I know that is entirely too fucked up. Yes, I expect that the people in the Black Label commercials would be picking up their beer at this very moment and moving away to other tables. But there it is.

When we start experiencing real death and horror, maybe we don’t find the concept so romantic anymore. Death feels final rather than curious. Sickness feels more like pain than an excuse to stay home from school or work. Mostly, you realize that life is infinitely more enjoyable than the concept of death, and you would give your left kidney to experience just one more moment with someone special, or just have a chance to say goodbye.