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?

I wonder if PP are familiar with country music as a genre? Everyone is an alcoholic cheat if the songs are to be believed.

Have we had "don't stand so close to me" yet?

Yes.

"I don't really understand why you're treating the song as if it's intended as a kind of moral lecturer to women on how they should behave if they're worried their husband might cheat, and not simply an expression of a particular set of circumstances from Dolly Parton's life experience that she thought might connect with listeners."

I'm not. I'm talking about that song. DP is blaming her DH's roving eye on the potential other woman in that song.
You could make the same argument about any of the songs here.

@sleveen

Better to have a faithful husband don't you think?

you ever found one of those?

Well about 50% of people cheat so there must be some! In any case if you don't believe it's possible, you live with the cheating I suppose, not go around trying to get rid of all the competition!

Shania Twain
Feel like a Woman.
As if dressing like a (tasted up parody) of s woman is all it takes to be a Woman.

And if you Feel like a Woman, you must be one. Right?
Wrong on so many levels.

I hate the cheesiness of it as well.

"isn't it fair enough to worry that someone who's specifically targetting him might be successful? Is that really the sexist trope of any man follows his penis? Isn't it more like being poached from a job?"

Well, if my boss sacked me and hired someone else in my place, my ire should not be targeted at the new recruit!

Well, if my boss sacked me and hired someone else in my place, my ire should not be targeted at the new recruit!

But if you were coasting in your job, and some recruiter came along and tried to lure you away with promises of sign on bonuses, there's plenty of jobs where the boss might have a word with the recruiter!

You don't need announce that you're not engaging

Thanks for that. However, I announce it as a courtesy to the individual so that if further comments are directed at me I’m not rude in not replying. How about you let me decide for myself what I do or do not say.

One that made me think was from an album of my mother's, By the Time I Get to Phoenix by Eydie Gormet, a LTB ballad, wondered why my mom didn't. (Was still in elementary school, didn't realize there were things like finances to deal with...)

I have only ever heard Glenn Campbell's versions. I just googled and I like her version. I only know her from American talk shows and the occasional appearance with her husband, Steve Lawrence on Carol Burnett.

I feel exactly like that and many other musicals with fabulous songs (Carousel) and many memories that I share with my family.

My friends and I watched My Fair Lady last year. We couldn't believe what an asshole Henry Higgins was.

@PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat

I wonder if PP are familiar with country music as a genre? Everyone is an alcoholic cheat if the songs are to be believed.

Aren't some of them just sad because their dawg has died?

@ErrolTheDragon

Tally ho, Barbara! Hi, Ken! You want to go for a ride? Sure, Ken! Jump on!

I'm a Barbour girl in a Barbour world
No one-use plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my mare, do dressage anywhere
Imagination, second home decoration

come on Barby, vote Tory party!

Oh my days, get on youtube and make this happen :P

Some country songs just make you laugh, though.

Put another log on the fire
Cook me up some bacon and some beans
And go out to the car and change the tyre
Wash my socks and sew my old blue jeans
Come on, baby, you can fill my pipe
And then go fetch my slippers
And boil me up another pot of tea
Then put another log on the fire, babe
And come and tell me why you're leaving me

Now don't I let you wash the car on Sunday?
Don't I warn you when you're gettin fat?
Ain't I a-gonna take you fishin' with me someday?
Well, a man can't love a woman more than that
Ain't I always nice to your kid sister?
Don't I take her driving every night?
So, sit here at my feet 'cos I like you when you're sweet
And you know it ain't feminine to fight

So, put another log on the fire
Cook me up some bacon and some beans
Go out to the car and lift it up and change the tyre
Wash my socks and sew my old blue jeans
Come on, baby, you can fill my pipe
And then go fetch my slippers
And boil me up another pot of tea
Then put another log on the fire, babe
And come and tell me why you're leaving me

On the flip side I've always loved Let 'Er Rip by The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks) trying to get a bloke to just say goodbye and leave already!

I can tell there's something you
Don't wanna tell me
It's killing you cause the words
Are hard to find
I know you want to break it to me gently
Well sweet baby say what's on your mind
Let 'er rip, Let it fly
Come on baby say it do you think
I'm gonna cry
I ain't about to bawl and I ain't gonna die
So if you're gonna say goodbye
Don't take all day and night
Let 'er rip Let it fly
Why the drama, we don't have to drag
Out this situation
It wasn't you, it wasn't me, sometimes
The chemistry don't ignite
There ain't no rings, no morgage, there ain't any complications
It's just a hyphenated word, get it out and
I'm sure I'll be all right
Let 'er rip, Let it fly
Come on baby say it, do you think
I'm gonna cry
Ain't about to bawl, and I ain't gonna die
So if you're gonna say goodbye
Don't take all day and night
Let 'er rip, Let it fly
It ain't no big deal, ain't no great loss
You and I are on the same train of thought
So you don't have to tell me where to get off
Maybe I misunderstood you
But if you're leaving baby would you
Let 'er rip, let it fly
Come on baby say it, do you think
I'm gonna cry
I ain't about to bawl, and I ain't gonna die
So if you're gonna say goodbye
Don't take all day and night
Let 'er rip, let it fly
So, if you're gonna say goodbye
Don't take all day and night
Let 'er rip, let it fly

ErrolTheDragon

PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat

I wonder if PP are familiar with country music as a genre?Everyoneis an alcoholic cheat if the songs are to be believed

Aren't some of them just sad because their dawg has died?

Not funny, not clever but carry on if you want to show up your embarrassing ignorance of a genre encompassing manystylesand subgenres , originating from thefolk musicofworking class Americansandblue-collarAmerican life and having roots inCeltic music,early music of the British Isles,French folk music,African-American music, and othertraditional folk musictraditions.

Oh and a genre in which women actually do extremely well, frequently working collaboratively with other women. And oddly whilst managing to be fully clothed unlike say the the likes of Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion.

Baby Shark. (The moves, not the words).

Whatever I said
Whatever it did
I didn't mean it

Something something

You'll be right ,and understood.

WORST. APOLOGY. EVER

@MissBarbary what an extraordinary response. I was brought up on country. It's my experience that country artists are some of the first to poke fun at its reputation for being maudlin.

OP asked for this thread to stay light-hearted but we seem to have left that behind long ago. Country music is, to me, a storytelling genre and the multiple pp who are determined to misread Jolene literally have also missed the point.

@PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat

Jolene is about alcohol

Not according to Dolly! The name came from a little girl who asked for an autograph, and the story came from a bank teller who had a crush on Dolly’s husband.

I wonder if someone's getting confused with Dolly's song 'Applejack'?

I seem to remember being surprised that the woman in that song is male.

Whether that's true or not, the lyrics are full of sexism and classism.

I thought of the song when I saw the reports of the shootings in Atlanta recently. The gunman reportedly wanted to kill what he saw as temptation.

Feminists seem to believe that you give up your femininity to be a feminist. Bizarre contradiction, but true.

I don't think it's feminists who think that.

Have you ever unpacked what 'feminity' means?

mathanxiety

That was the whole point of the song though. It is about hypocrisy of the posh/business men who frequented the seedy Soho clubs that Mark Almond was hanging out in at the time.

I don't see it as an anti feminist song, it's one of my favourite softcell songs. But when David Grey covered it, it just seemed all wrong coming from him, and yes it just seemed to erk.

A genre in which women actually do extremely well, frequently working collaboratively with other women. And oddly whilst managing to be fully clothed, unlike say the the likes of Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion.

Yep. And they often dealt with social issues the pop stars of the time didn't dare touch. For example, the great and glamorous Loretta Lynn, the coalminer's daughter, wrote her feminist anthem, The PIll:

All these years I've stayed at home
While you had all your fun
And every year that's gone by
Another baby's come
There's a gonna be some changes made
Right here on nursery hill
You've set this chicken your last time
'Cause now I've got the pill

"I'm in the Olympics, way I'm jumpin' through hoops"

Sexy voice, breathily singing about doing anything in the kitchen and the bedroom to please her man

And there is also the association of gymnasts.