The song is a masterpiece in subtlety really. The story unfolds slowly without plodding while Winchester paints an array of vivid of images. Also, this was one of the first recordings that showcased Reba’s unequaled grasp of divine interpretation of a lyric.

Side note: I love, “Mistakes like Me”. I watched Melodee perform this song with just her and the guitar at Fuel downtown during a writers night. In a bar with beer and drunks, it made me tear up — beautiful choice

In addition to “Don’t Tell Mama” and “Lovin’ You Against My Will”, Gary has a few others that a wonderful, and most won’t know it unless they buy the album.

Check these out:

What Kind of Fool~ Tough All Over
I Just Got Back From Hell ~ Tough All Over
See If I CAre~ See If I Care

this is why the 9513 is such an awesome blog. Intelligent, informed, serious discussion about country music. I, too, have deep appreciation for your opinions. Now onto your points.

“I’m not sure I agree with the general principal that songs themselves contain ‘truth’ or ‘meaning’ or ‘emotion’….the music we hear has only the truths and meanings that we assign to it.”

How very post-modern of you Jim. I understand that a text (any text, song, poem, play, novel, whatev) is partly defined by its relationship to the reader. However, I am not in the radical post-modern camp of “things don’t have meanings per se, but only the meanings that we ascribe to them individually or as a society” I think that the reason that we still read Greek tragedies, recite ancient creeds, study Milton and Dante, and have Shakespeare festivals is that those pieces of art contain something that we recognize. (I’ll drop the term “truth” since its a pretty weighted term that puts a discussion on the fastrack to getting bogged down.) But in any case “art” (suchas country music) when it is what its supposed to be, contains something that resonates with people across different times, cultures, economic systems, and so on and so forth. My asserion is that weighty country music is equally appealing across time, culture, etc etc becuase, like Milton, Dante, Shakespeare and so on, it contains something that truly and deeply rings with people. I would claim that the best country music, like any great art, helps people feel more alive, more real, and expands their sense of personhood and their understanding of the human experience. And for all his majestic glory, I would not place the music of Garth Brooks into that category.

As far as the “Mama Tried” and “The Dance” comparison, a few things.

First of all, I’m 24, so generationally I assume we are on roughly equal footing.

Secondly, its a good observation that a song does not often exist in a vacuum, especially a Garth Brooks song, and that a song (like, for example cheesy 80’s children cartoons) can gain worth because of communal recognition. However, I think that the worth of communal recognition is super trumped by the “test of time” so to speak. The real question we are addressing (Garth’s legacy being similiar to Billy Ray Cyrus’, i.e commercially impressive, but artistically not so much.) can really only be decided by the test of time. I mean, if in 30 years noone who is serious about country music can find any value or worth in “The Dance” because they weren’t around when it came out, it means that “The Dance” didn’t have enough real substance to retain meaning when its era was over. (which, in fact, is what I predict will happen to most of the popular country music of the past 20 years, like I said before, I belive that once this whole pop country thing has passed, future generations wont find enough artistic merit in the music of Kenny Chesney, Trace Adkins, Big and Rich, and the like, to re-examine them.)

And one last point as to the “narrowness” of Mama Tried. I don’t know man, I mean, I know its a specific story of a guy growing up in a single parent house who ends up in jail, but I think that it artfully and concicesly tackles many many very timeless and universal themes. One’s obligation to present a return on the investment their parents place in them and balancing that obligation with one’s own right to self destruct, having to endure hardships as a child, struggling to take responsibility for ones failures when faced with the heartbreaking results of ones actions on loved ones. I mean, I think that the ability to address the human experience so broadly and deeply via stories that are short and concise is the real triumph of country music as a medium. That’s why no matter how many building pre-choruses, reflective bridges, and sweeping choruses that radio country has, I feel that it by and large misses the mark.

Under appreciated songs
1) the “Sounds of Goodbye” – not the Crystal Gayle song but the first recorded hit written by Eddie Rabbit. Unfortunately, three acts issued singles on it at the same time and split the action – each of the three (Tommy Cash, George Morgan and Vern & Rex Gosdin) had regional success with it, but no one had a national hit with it

2) the following Tom T Hall songs:

I Can’t Dance
Ode To A Half Pound of Ground Round
Pinto The Wonder Horse Is Dead
Salute To A Switchblade Knife
Ballad of Forty Dollars
Pamela Brown (Leo Kottke had a good recording of this song – I don’t recall if he issued it as a single)
The Monkey That Became President
St Louis Named A Shoe After Me
The World According to Raymond

3) any serious song written by Roger Miller – peolpe know him for the offbeat stuff but Roger was an excellent tunesmith writing a bunch of hits for others. “Tom Green County Fair” is a good place to start

A couple of comments related to your last post:
I’m not sure I agree with the general principal that songs themselves contain “truth” or “meaning” or “emotion”. There are two reasons we listen to music–self definition and self elaboration, and although songs can be crafted in a way so as to suggest certain feelings, the music we hear has only the truths and meanings that we assign to it.

This doesn’t always happen individually–it can happen culturally, too. And since you used “The Dance,” and “Mama Tried,” as an example, I’ll continue with that.

We live in a very different world than we did when Merle Haggard released “‘Mama Tried.” I’m pretty young, and I didn’t grow up in that world. I can go back and listen to his records (which I have done many times), and I can think about what those records meant, but they will never, ever mean the same thing to me as they did to the people who first heard them.

“The Dance,” however, means a great deal to me and to the generation of Country Fans who were growing up when it was released. When I heard that song for the first time, it seemed to explain exactly how I felt about the crazy world of love–that even though it was stresful, and painful, and sometimes more trouble than it seemed worth, in the end I never regretted falling in love because the good moments were worth more than all of the bad.

And it became a communal property, because as this song played on the radio, it was something I shared with my friends and my enemies. Some people loved it and I had a bond with them, and some people hated it, of course, and I defined myself against them in one way or another.

Music helps us find identity. It is interpersonal, and that’s one of the reasons it’s so damn hard to critique, especially across generations.

We can critique the craft and the art of the music, however, and in that I agree with you 100%–”Mama Tried,” is a much “better” song than “The Dance.”

The problem is, though, that we can’t judge the longevity of a song or an artist on creative or artistic merits alone. While “The Dance,” might be simple, abstract, or over-dramatic, in the social context it is very important.

And it has an advantage over “Mama Tried,” because whereas the Haggard song is a relatively narrow topic, “The Dance,” is a song that people can come to for a variety or reasons and with a variety of emotions.

And that’s partly a shift in the way the genre is constructed, because a song like “The Dance,” would not have worked as well in an era when Country songs were expected to tell a very specific story, and “Mama Tried,” is probably too specific to be widely successful today.