Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Chronicles' Country Corner!

In this new feature, the boys analyze the lyrics of popular country songs in an effort to discern the complex messages about cultural values that lie beneath the hokum.

First up: Brad Paisley's "I'm Still a Guy":

"When you see a priceless French painting
I see a drunk naked girl...

Well, love makes a man do some things he ain’t proud of
And in a weak moment I might
Walk your sissy dog
Hold your purse at the mall
But remember, I’m still a guy"


Kip says: "The genius of this song is that most guys can relate. Sure, I might enjoy the artisticness of a painting with a nude girl it it, but I never forget that there's a nude girl in it. You can bet your ass I don't. And holding a girl's purse at the mall...don't get me started. I've been there. What I do is that I hold the purse in one hand and hold my crotch with the other, in an effort to say, 'I may be holding a girl's accessory, but I'm still tough, fuckers!' Once a security guard asked me to leave."

Richard says: "This song taps into a complex fear about the feminization of culture, the strange new world in which Sex and the City can top Indy IV at the weekend box-office. By the time the song ends with "Oh, my eyebrows ain’t plucked / Theres a gun in my truck / Oh Thank God, I’m still a guy," that sound you hear is a million rednecks firing their guns in the air. Take cover."

4 comments:

Dr. C said...

Didn't Kip have a real-life purse-holding moment with his erstwhile "hometown girl"? I think that was in an episode late in the first season.

Looking for profound messages under the hokum (and the hokum under the profound messages) is what being an intellectual's all about.

Anonymous said...

I don't remember the tale of the purse, but it certainly seems plausible!

Kip?

Anonymous said...

I think Paisley's head-on tackling of the blurring of gender roles and how those roles are performed (and even blurred with sexual identity) speaks volumes to men with two first names shotgunning their 14th MGD. I know it speaks clearly to me - I hate those dadgum sissy dogs!

Anonymous said...

Ha ha...Jimmy John wins the prize for best blog comment of the week! Whoever you are, I will buy you a shot when next I see you!