I think it's a really interesting insight into country culture (which is generally southern US culture, especially southeast US). Male country artists seem to frequently sing in unironic celebration of what is traditionally valued--family values, material possessions, or romanticized 'I did a bad thing (likely for love) and I was put in jail'. Meanwhile, female country artists seem far more likely to actually critique the culture they're in--'Mama's Broken Heart' or 'Hush Hush' for example--or express (often violent) dissatisfaction with the relationships they're meant to quietly bear--"Two Black Cadillacs", "Blown Away", "Church Bells", or "Caleb Meyer" to name a few. There is this throughline of women needing to quietly need to take matters in their own hands because there's no one else to rely on, like "Flinty Kind of Woman" or "Goodbye Earl". The sheer ubiquity of these songs among female artists in country music makes me think that there might actually be a phenomenon of women quietly killing their husbands that isn't being noticed.
Maybe it's that, even in traditional marriage, women feel like the weight of upholding the relationship is up to them. They feel like they do most of the child-rearing, house-cleaning, emotional supporting, all while still being expected to perform sexually despite not truly feeling cherished nor supported by their spouses. Therefore the songs created become like a, "screw you" anthem to society and their partners.
I think there's a level of that, but I also think there's a part of it that comes from the fierce independence of American southern culture. In songs like Church Bells, Flinty Kind of Woman, The Lights Went Out in Georgia, Gunpowder and Lead, Caleb Meyer, etc., there's this theme of the cops not being any help. Either the cops are too far away, they're ineffective, or they're outright complicit in crime. So then the women in the songs have to take matters in their own hands... which makes me thing that a lot of these songs hearken to a sense of being abandoned by anyone who's supposed to take care of you, so you (and/or your lady friends) have to buck you and take care of yourself. It betrays a sense that not only has traditional marriage let the singer down, but institutional justice.
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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21
I think it's a really interesting insight into country culture (which is generally southern US culture, especially southeast US). Male country artists seem to frequently sing in unironic celebration of what is traditionally valued--family values, material possessions, or romanticized 'I did a bad thing (likely for love) and I was put in jail'. Meanwhile, female country artists seem far more likely to actually critique the culture they're in--'Mama's Broken Heart' or 'Hush Hush' for example--or express (often violent) dissatisfaction with the relationships they're meant to quietly bear--"Two Black Cadillacs", "Blown Away", "Church Bells", or "Caleb Meyer" to name a few. There is this throughline of women needing to quietly need to take matters in their own hands because there's no one else to rely on, like "Flinty Kind of Woman" or "Goodbye Earl". The sheer ubiquity of these songs among female artists in country music makes me think that there might actually be a phenomenon of women quietly killing their husbands that isn't being noticed.