I grew up hating country music. While my classmates in elementary and middle school were listening to whatever country music artists were big back then (I don't know, because I wasn't listening), I was listening to The Beatles. I was a weird kid, I guess.
In high school, the songs everyone else was crazy about like "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" just made me feel more alienated from the country music genre. I just didn't get it. Did these people really feel connected to this song? Did they think tractors were sexy? I sure didn't.
I don't know if it was me or the music that changed, but now at 25, the songs I feel most connected to are country. NO, I still do not think tractors are sexy, and there are still many, many country artists I will not listen to. But I think as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate more where I'm from and the wonderful things about the South that people from other parts of the world don't understand. Zac Brown Band perfectly describes life in the South with "Chicken Fried" and "Toes," and I swell with pride when I hear those songs.
But, on a deeper level, country artists tend to better capture my emotions. They aren't so concerned with being poetically vague and artistic with their lyrics. They just say what they feel. While I'm not a big Taylor Swift fan and I find her sugary songs like "You Belong With Me" the one about Romeo and Juliet to be a little too naive (maybe I'm just jaded), her song "Cold As You" perfectly describes what it feels like to love someone who won't love you back. Everyone writes about unrequited love, but no other song has ever hit me as hard as this one. It's so simple. She doesn't try to be too metaphorical and cliche. It's the right mixture of sadness and anger, and the super simple line "Oh, what a shame" just completely nails it.
Another country girl who totally gets me is Carrie Underwood. Again, it's so simple and direct. Her song "Undo It" says what every girl has felt: "You stole my happy, you made me cry. You took the lonely and took me for a ride, and I wanna undo it." How much more to the point can it get? It's not fancy, it's not overdone, it's just real.
There's nothing like listening to a song and thinking "This was written for me!" They tend to come along at just the right time and make you feel not so alone in your feelings.
I find the second verse of Taylor Swift's song "Cold As You" to be particularly strong. It's sad, for sure, and she's lamenting the fact that he wouldn't let her tear down his walls, but at the same time she's pissed off, and the line "You come away with a great little story of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you" is packed with so much anger. Who is he to think he's too good for her? I can just see this arrogant guy talking to his friends about this dumb little girl who had the "nerve" to fall for him. It's so much more effective than the typical lamentation songs, just crying over a guy. This more fully explores that feeling, because there's always anger that comes along with it. I like that she acknowledges that.
Taylor Swift "Cold As You":
You have a way of coming easily to me
And when you take, you take the very best of me
So I start a fight cause I need to feel something
And you do what you want cause I'm not what you wanted
[Chorus:]
Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day
Just walk away, no use defending words that you will never say
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through
I've never been anywhere cold as you
You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray
And I stood there loving you and wished them all away
And you come away with a great little story
Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you
[Repeat Chorus]
You never did give a damn thing honey but I cried, cried for you
And I know you wouldn't have told nobody if I died, died for you
(Died for you)
Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day
Every smile you fake is so condescending
Counting all the scars you made
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through
I've never been anywhere cold as you
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