Old outlaw country is just as degenerate as modern rap. Change my mind.

Posted by Rambler in Music (edited )

I'm not saying either genre is bad

I love old outlaw country. Waylon, Hank, David Allen Coe, Johny Paycheck and others. I'm also known to turn up some Freddie Gibbs in the car or spin the Wu-Tang Vinyl when cleaning the house.

But a lot of people shit on rap and hip hop for the lyrics glorifying degenerate behavior. Drugs, womanizing, a life of crime. But have we forgotten some of the best outlaw country songs?

For example, I'm listening to Johny Paycheck right now. Let's listen together, shall we?

Johnny Paycheck - Only Hell my Momma Ever Raised

Great song, many of you probably first heard it in whatever GTA game had it.

This song was recorded in the 1970's with lyrics such as:

Well, I cant sell my momma short on loving me
I guess that's why she let me go so far
Momma always stopped me short of stealing
I guess thats why I had to steal that car.

She told me not to smoke it
But I did and it took me far away
And I turned out to be
The only hell mama ever raised.

I pulled into Atlanta, stolen tags and almost out of gas
I had to get some money, and lately I'd learned how to get it fast
Those neon lights was calling me and somehow I had to get downtown
I reached into the glovebox, another liquor store went down.

...

When they put those handcuffs on me, Lord how I fought to resist
But that agent clamped 'em tighter, 'til that metal bit into my wrist
They took my boots and my billfold, my fingerprints, and the profile of my face
Then they locked away the only hell my moma ever ever raised.

Full lyrics: https://genius.com/Johnny-paycheck-im-the-only-hell-my-mama-ever-raised-lyrics

First two verses you have a good ol' country song about stealing a car and doing drugs followed by a verse about armed robbery. Later, about resisting arrest.

Hank William's Jr - OD'd in Denver

I love Hank. But let's take a listen.

We started the tour out in Denver Colorado
I made the first one but I did not make the second show
Cause I met this girl there that brought about quite a big change
But I OD'd in Denver and I just can't remember her name

I guess you could say that my love life would not up to part
Too many nights alone had left some permanent scars
She told me she'd love me and I told her I'd do the same
Then I OD'd in Denver and I just can't remember her name

I brought it on myself and I guess that I shouldn't complain
Doc said son you can't do anymore of that cocaine
But she made me higher than all of those expensive things
But I OD'd in Denver and wish I could remember her name

I turned to other things tryin' to make my daydreams real
But they don't take the place of the woman's face and her feels
She treated me nice and I like to find her again
But I OD'd in Denver and I just can't remember her name

I brought it on myself and I guess that I shouldn't complain
Doc said son you can't do anymore of that cocaine
But she made me higher than all of those expensive things
But I OD'd in Denver and wish I could remember her name
Kinda overdid it in Denver and I just can't remember her name.

Drugs. Women. Common theme in modern rap, yeah?

David Allen Coe is almost cheating. With such hit songs as, "Finger fucking sally" and his great live from prison concert where he rambles on about his time locked up, trying to escape prison, and the stuff he did as a younger man. "I found out right then and there that no matter how young and skinny or pretty you are that you got the strength in your two arms to kill a motherfucker if they fuck with you."

Honestly, for as lewd as some modern music is I can probably find a D.A.C. song that is just as lewd.

Even lesser known musicians such as Townes Van Zandts, one of my all time favorites... Could he be compared to modern (well now dead) Lil Peep?

Take a listen to this song about his struggling with addiction.

Townes Van Zandt - Waiting 'Round To Die'

Sometimes I don't know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I don't even know the reason why
But I guess I keep a-gamblin'
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
Well it's easier than just a-waitin' around to die

One time, friends, I had a ma
I even had a pa
Well he beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried
She told him to take care of me
Headed down to Tennessee
Well it's easier than just a-waitin' around to die

Well I came of age and I found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit in on the sly
I tried to hide the pain, I bought some wine and hopped a train
Well it's easier than just waitin' around to die

A friend said he knew
Where some easy money was
We robbed a man, and brother did we fly
The posse caught up with me
And drug me back to Muskogee
Two long years waitin' around to die

Well, now I'm out of prison
I got me a friend at last
Well he don't drink or steal or cheat or lie
His name's codeine
He's the nicest thing I've seen
Yah, together we're gonna wait around and die
Yah together we're gonna wait around and die

I'm not really sure what the point of this post is.

Your parents and grandparents probably listened to Johnny Cash. They probably listened to Elvis. A lot of modern rap is auto-tuned garbage that sounds like two fax machines being tossed into an industrial shredder, but some of it is good. And those who say that the "message sucks" hasn't listened to the music your parents grew up on.

I'll probably post more examples soon. I'm just going through some of my music collection and sharing.

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Comments

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burnerben wrote

modern rap sucks assssssssssss but my dad listened to lots of Johnny Cash so.

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spc50 wrote

Totally true.

Outlaw country = the trailer park and mucky farms. Rap is urban asses fault, I mean asphalt at 130F and projects and hoods.

Different wrappers on the same social dysfunction.

Often poverty as major underlying cause. Mental health like 80% of time in play. Drugs and alcohol are almost always an arm length away. Abuse soon follows.

I am okay with both forms of music. So long as it isn't horror and gore just for shock value. So long as it isn't artist just trying to be a bad ass cause of their scary past.

I like music that tells stories. Prefer true stories. Doesn't need to be their own story.

Not into degenerate, demeaning, etc. Some old stuff that I tolerate like that. Gil Scott Heron back in 1970s had a choice track about trannies parading around New York City. Today he'd get endless terror because of. Back then it was edgy but fine. Not mainstream airplay, nor was much of his large body of work.

WAP? Sure that's a good thing and saves on the KY. But that's some filthy ghetto stuff and no place should be for it on the public radio waves. Include in that big chunk of rap, and big chunk of outlaw country.

Toss in metalcore too and the endless satan signaling, blood worship, etc.

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boobs wrote

country is just rap for white people.

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dontvisitmyintentions wrote

Nothing new under the sun, but if you shake out your powdered wig you might find things worse than DAC's nigger tunes coming from the big studios.

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Wahaha wrote

I didn't even know "outlaw country" was a music genre, but hey, I can't tell the difference between rock and pop, so what do I know.

But I do know that rap doesn't - on a technicality - qualify as music. It's more like reciting poems.

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