song lyrics

[junksuph]

Modern Rap music is notorius for stinging, violent and demeaning lyrics. How many bluegrass songs speak of murder, robbery (Vincent Black Lightning), alcohol abuse....and on and on...

How long untill the PC police start snooping around our back yard? Thank god, most of them wouldn't be caught dead,listening to "uneducated hick music"

[Ken Sager]

Why make up a threat that doesn't exist? Name a few bluegrass songs that use the explicit language that rap uses (f-words, n-words, and others). Isn't that what prompted the explicit warning labels? Murder, abuse, robbery, etc., have been themes of music since lyrics were written.

[bjc]

A lot of what was originaly marked were lyrics that were believed to be "bad." Lines like "sweet little sister" (Tipper said it was about incest) Sister slang for girl, "Make it hurt so good" (Stated to be about S and M) when it was about a relationship and the song song "Suicide Solution" (encouraged kids to kill themselves) it was about alcoholism..."Wine is fine, but whiskey's quicker, suicide is slow with liquor"...Thanksfully we are past that point now.
But if you want to hear some raunchy old songs get some of that blues stuff (particularly by the women) from the 20's and 30's...Whew doggie

[junksuph]

I intensionally left out foul language, because it doesn't exist in bluegrass that I know of, however you can't listen to a pure bluegrass station without hearing songs like "Pretty Polly" , where Polly is murdered by her lover, or, "the blackbirds and the crows", where a guy marries a "wild" woman and, she wants to leave her man for the night life she missed. He kills her, and burys her in the field where only the blackbirds and crows know where. Do you see what I'm saying....If one had a mind to, they could have a field day with alot of bg songs. I'm not suggesting that bg song lyrics be looked into by any means. I just was provoking a little thought. That's all. By the way, I love these songs and will defend them till the day I die.

[357mag]

I see your point Junks, but Rap to me in in another galaxy as far as being street dirty is concerned. If a Rap driver pulls up next to me at a red light, I hear words coming out of his car I wouldnt use in front of my wife. There is no line drawn there.

I think bluegrass, as with other types of music where there are lyrics, its more inuendo and not nearly as graphic.

[250sc]

Maybe not as graphic but there are at least a few songs about killing a lover who left.

[picksnbits]

The biggest difference I see in the treatment of murder, violence, mayhem, drunkenness, cheatin, etc in traditional bluegrass and old time songs is that most of them paint a pretty negative picture of the consequences for such activities.

[junksuph]

One thing we have that the hip-hop/rap community doesn't have, are songs about huntin and fishin

[DryBones]

did a search for Little Wing on MSN music and found a version by the South Austin Jug Band with the "explicit" tag on the file but not on the original Hendrix song or Claptons version, even though they all sang the same lyrics...go figure http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

btw, the South Austin Jug Band cd is great!

[tiltman]

Hey, Johnny Cash "shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"! But he did so without using any foul language!!!
Kirk

[John Rosett]

wow, if they ban songs about cheatin', insest, alchoholism, drug abuse, and violence, all the honky-tonks in the country will have to shut down.
if you want a really good laugh on this subject, check out the cd "frank zappa vs. the mothers of prevention".

[bsimmers]

I just think "anything goes, nothing should be censored" is just too far; the vulgarity, porn, cop killing videos and music. I'm just not a supporter of the 'flag burning', 'free speech supercedes everything no matter what' crowd. I think there should be a line somewhere.
I'm sure you and others disagree. But, we'll just agree to disagree.

[swampstomper]

Cocaine's for horses, not for men // they say it'll kill me but they don't say when... (Greenbrier Boys via Dave van Ronk)

And some bands do Bill Anderson's song (Porter's hit) Cold Hard Facts of Life...
check out this link (http://atlantatimemachine.com/misc/porter1.htm) for the album cover and lyrics

Hey, BG is country and country is about life and there are some nasty things going on in life. How about Rhonda's "Little Angels" about a victim of pedophilia??

[GVD]

I think there should be a line somewhere.

That's the whole problem with censorship, who draws the line and where do they place it? Like the old saying goes "One mans trash is another mans treasure". If you don't like or agree with something just don't listen to it.

GVD

[luckylarue]

I don't see much difference between a tune like "Knoxville Girl" and some of the violent, demeaning gangster rap. People's realities are different - if you grew up in a neighborhood engulfed in poverty and violence, you wouldn't sing about the train comin' 'round the bend. The language in some rap songs are more in-your-face and vulgar, but the images are just as gruesome as any of the old murder ballads, imo.

[MartinD_GibsonA]

On the side facing me, the major difference is that bluegrass -- for the most part -- simply recounts tales of murder, drug/alcohol use, etc and the songs typically express some sort of regret or sorrow for them. #Urban/rap/hip-hop, on the other hand, actually seem to *promote* these behaviors and take some sort of pride in them.

Don Smith

[Pedal Steel Mike]

How many BG musicians have murdered other BG musicians?

[swampstomper]

Roy Lee Centers RIP murdered by a friend

[bjc]

Hate to point this out but hip-hop is not designed to appeal to people over 30...so we are really talking about something not designed to be be understood by most of us...believe me I'm not a fan, but if I was it'd screw up the whole genre of "music."
So maybe there's an idea:
Everyone start wearing your ball caps sideways, your pants 5-6 sizes too big, put tires on your car that put the vehicle 2 inches off the road, wear a lot of fake tacky jewlry and start saying before you really say anything: "Ya know what I'm sayin?" Maybe we'll inspire a new generation to pick up mandolin...Just a thought

[Jim Yates]

A group I played in about ten years ago had a complaint made about a murder ballad "condoning" spousal abuse. I think it was Little Sadie or Down By The Willow Garden. It caused me to think about whether I should sing these songs any more. I decided that most of the songs that are narated by the killer, end with him spending the rest of his life in jail or hangin' from a white oak tree. Unfortunately, mmost of these songs give no reason for the murder and the killer shows little or no regret.
Delia has several versions. Johnny Cash showed a bit of compassion when he sang:"First time I shot her, I shot her in the side. Couldn't watch her suffer but with the second shot she died."

I've stopped singing "It's a shame to beat your wife on a Sunday, when you've got Monday, Tuesday..."