Okay, I'm going to start with a disclaimer:
I grew up in New England, and spent endless time in places like Springfield, Hampton Beach, Portsmouth, Glouchester, Portland, Rye Beach, Nashua, Danbury, Lawrence, Andover, Manchester, New Milford, Brookline, Bethel, Reading and Roxbury Connecticut to name a few places near and dear to my heart. I remember fondly Danbury Fair BEFORE it was a Mall. The Big E in Springfield Mass, and an endless stream of country music. I have tastes outside out Country Music, like a deep and abiding love for Opera, for Classical Music as well to pick
just two. Tanglewood anyone? Pops at the clamshell on the Charles?
Music speaks to me, moves me, enriches my soul. Yes, even country.
Especially country what with being a born and bred country girl. I was
weened off Mother's milk (Not to be confused with Mudder's Milk) onto
homemade Cinnamon raisin bread and hot tea while 1050WHN spun good old
fashioned records of Johnny Cash, Crystal Gale, Glen Campbell, StarLand
Vocal band and John Denver. It's in my blood.
I still listen to it. I'm listening to it right now on b105.1 in the
"other" tristate area I've lived in.
And I've been thinking I'm imagining things of late. Country is still
telling stories, modern, American made "operettas" with a twang. Some
of it of late has been damn funny, and serious, talking about this
"brave new world" we live in. So as I'm listening today I hear once
again Phil Vassars new song that just has me marveling at what a
different world we live in.
The song moves too fast, the melody is slightly annoying, and the whole
flavor is way more pop that I like in my country. But, the refrain (the
bridge) is "That's just Bobby with an I." It caught my attention.
I've heard it a whole bunch of times now and nope, I'm not imagining
things. Phil is singing about a man's man who on the weekend lets his
hair down, and dresses in women's clothes. Advising the listener to
leave Bobbi be, he's not hurting anyone. Instead of asserting that
he might hurt you as you could have once expected a song to do, he says one
should be careful how much one drinks because Bobbi looks pretty good as
you consume more.
Wow. I mean really, just wow. The entire song is about a guy who likes
to cross dress and how it's okay. Just like that. Like breathing.
Like seeing the sunrise. Like leave him alone, he's not hurting you and
won't. Like Bobbi's okay and perfectly normal.
While I have so many technical issues with the song, I have to give Phil
two big heartfelt thumbs up for taking something and making it okay.
For "preaching" in the form of a coutnry song tolerance instead of hate!
Well damn! I'm all for letting folks be, live and let live, and this song is an unexpected step in that direction.
Wow. Now that's what I call really new country. Cool that it's a positive message, or as close to it as one could expect.
ReplyDeleteSo funny. Years ago, my brother used to be a DJ on B105.1. He lives across the river. I'm reasonably sure he would never have played a song like "Bobbi with a i."
Wow, talk about a small world eh? Yeah I had to listen to it more than once and then look it up online to be sure I wasn't hearing things.
ReplyDeleteSorry your brother wouldn't have played it. As small as the worlkd is, folks still need to do some growing no?
Too old for my own good, I remember when Charlie Daniels was too rock and roll for country music ("Uneasy Rider"?) and Jerry Reed couldn't get airplay on country stations because of his electric guitar...
ReplyDeleteOf course, there was a guy who was exiled from "folk" for playing one of those...some guy named Dylan?
Sometimes change does come!
alan