I was laying in bed last night in head-imploding allergy agony. For some reason, I started thinking of all the songs I’d heard on the radio that day with some combination of ‘dirt road’, ‘truck’, ‘tail gate’ and ‘cut off jeans’. I’m trying to put my finger on why those words frustrate me. Is it because I don’t have the specific personal memories to relate? Or because it just feels like too many people are saying the same thing? Not all the lines in all these songs are the same, of course. But those bits and pieces stick out to me and I wonder if they could’ve tried harder on those lyrics; if they’re just filler. But, at the same time, I am listening to those songs on the radio. So, clearly, I’ve something to learn from them!
I started imagining the scenes. Driving off away from the hustle and bustle to be alone in nature with the woman you love. It’s certainly an inviting scene.
Maybe the dirt road and the jean shorts and the truck and the tail gate are the common triggers that country fans and folks from the south and west all remember fondly from their own stories. The rest of the lyrics are the writer’s story, which is widely accessible and friendly, but it’s one person’s story. Maybe that handful of commonly recurring trigger words are the things that bridge the gap between the writer’s/singer’s story and the listener’s own similar stories. Between the song's fantasy and life's reality.
And maybe I’m just sore that I don’t have some of my own teenaged, back-country road snuggle memories. After all, I never had a truck, just borrowed my folks’ K-car occasionally!
Well, wouldn’t you know it, but that allergy headache kept me awake long enough to write two verses and a chorus for my own little back-country road snuggle song. No mention of a truck or dirt road or cutoffs, but there are jeans and t-shirts and boots and trees and grass and beer and water. Some of my own faves. And a girl who I’d one day like to be in the scene with.
And, yeah, I wouldn’t mind having a truck too. :-)
