Jolene, and other anti-feminist anthems

[StealthPolarBear]

Just to say this is a light-hearted chat thread.
I love jolene, sing it with a minor adaptation every time I'm cleaning the windows. I have no idea about the background, but it must come near the top of the least feminist songs ever!
Another which I've just heard is sheryl crow, strong enough. "lie to me, I promise I'll believe, lie to me, but please don't leave"
Brilliant song, awful lyrics :)
Any others?

*thank goodness

at “the mk goon” being autocorrect’s rendering of “thank goodness”.

I fucking hate autocorrect.

Lots of early Beatles songs like the ones quoted up thread meet that definition although I can’t help loving them! Petty, possessive, entitled lyrics!

I Will Survive,
Sisters are Doing it For Themselves
We Are Family
could be called feminist anthems

They are all also boring and formulaic. I don't like any of them.

The greatest piece of music ever written,
The Marriage of Figaro would fail at every turn to be a feminist anthem but I'd take Dove Sono any time over them

I'm not really surprised by the Beatles lyrics. John Lennon was hardly a nice man

@napody

You were always on my mind, Jolene, and all the others about a man reflecting on how he has been crap or a woman wanting to stay with a man although he has been crap are not necessarily anti feminist in my view, just human nature. And the pain of wanting someone is the basis of 99% of pop songs... It’s the ones where the man is creepy, doesn’t take no for an answer or puts her down because she turned him down that meet the definition of misogyny.

Yes I agree with that.

You can’t just airbrush out any negative emotions - they’re part and parcel of life! And especially in relationships you’re sometimes going to have difficult times or feel difficult things.

The sexual songs teens listen to today would warp your minds. Yo so innocen

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

I'm not really surprised by the Beatles lyrics. John Lennon was hardly a nice man

Yeah, but you’d thought one of the other three would have said something.

‘Yer can’t say that, John!’

they also don't pronounce their Ts as the end of a word.

@sleveen yes quite. And apparently it’s oh so empowering for women.

im no prude but i cant stand that wap song i think its disgusting

@TheBeardedVulture

There’s a metal version of Jolene where they’ve changed the lyrics and Jolene is now some terrifying and unknownable entity that needs to be appeased before she destroys everything.

@TheBeardedVulture - not metal, but was this what you had in mind?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=NkbFeu6IZwY

You don’t have to say you love me - absolute shocker, begging for scraps!

It’s a heartbreaking song.

@sleveen

they also don't pronounce their Ts as the end of a word.

Neither does what ‘is name in “Fix You”. All the final consonants disappear. Used to drive me mental when it was getting constant airplay.

Luna I'm a bit on the fence about Paul McCartney as well tbh. Those two were the main songwriters so maybe the others had less say. Or were happy to make loads of money and not think too deeply about it. Different times, I guess.

Snoop Dogg. Lodi Dodi

DS and his friends used to play it as a teenagers

The lyrics are pretty bad, but the rhythms are ok.

One especially stands out : ''Lodi Dodi''

''With your wrinkled pussy/I can't be your lover''

...So, dissing a woman over owning a Sphynx cat?

But you can't disparage Paul McCartney when he wrote the best Bond theme and the Frog Chorus.

@Ninkanink

Yes but that could just means she’s not old enough to be getting mixed up in trying to take men of his age home (or be taken home, whatever). If you’re a man in your early twenties I’m sure there are plenty of young girls who think they’re old enough to be wanting to sleep with you. Doesn’t make the girls bad, and it doesn’t make you bad for saying, look, I get what you want to do but it’s not going to happen. The song is clearly about a man who’s not taking advantage and who’s being responsible and looking out for her.

Gosh you’re really trying hard to say this is ok. He says she’s a child and she’s hot. It’s never the child who is responsible.

I was thinking about this the other day.

"She's so pretty but she makes me nervous"

• Australian YouTube blogger family. The Norris Nutts.

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

Luna I'm a bit on the fence about Paul McCartney as well tbh. Those two were the main songwriters so maybe the others had less say. Or were happy to make loads of money and not think too deeply about it. Different times, I guess.

Different times, I agree. And an immaturity too. I guess men that don’t feel that entitlement and see women as people were the exception rather than the rule -perhaps still are-

PS when I say an immaturity, I mean it’s the lyrics they wrote when young that had that tone. I think Paul McCartney grew out of it, and George never felt that way in the first place. Please don’t find examples to prove me wrong

The H.P Lovecraft re-write of Jolene is brilliant.

@thosetalesofunexpected The Pussy at Dolls?

Just watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - I struggle to think of anything more offensive and wrong-headed than Sobbin' Women, but dang it's a fabulous tune.

Let’s face it, just about the whole film is all shades of wrong, but it’s one of my favourite musicals (and my late mum’s), and I’ve no intention of changing my opinion.