I want to sing this.1 Drop it a half step or so, shuffle some pronouns, and I think it'd be a blast. Ladies give class rings to their manfriends, right?
I've been on a country kick for the past month or two, which is a long while for me to focus on any one particular thing.2 Not modern radio county (which, for the most part, seems to be a bizarre amalgam of '80s hair metal and Radio Disney) so much as the older stuff that I used to find on cassettes in my grandfather's car. I didn't really appreciate it back then, likely because the cassettes didn't feature the pop stylings of my first true love. Lately, though, I've been playing catch up, from Willie to Waylon.
On the whole, I can't really say that I've lived a tumultuous enough life to "identify" with a lot of these tunes. I grew up in the suburbs of Connecticut with a large, loving family that actually supported my interests and talents. Sure, I've had some shitty years - '96 was awful, and I'm probably still hung over from The Great Fallings Apart of '07 and '10 - but I've lived a happy, comfortable life.
As country tropes go, I'm about as well-equipped to identify with this stuff as I was for the blues. The music to which I've been listening divides pretty neatly into two categories: gospel songs and heartbreak songs. As much as I love gospel music, growing up in a church that seems to have conveniently forgotten the whole "love thy neighbor" thing has soured a lot of that content for me.
As for heartbreak, well... that's a bit easier to grasp. I'm a walking Pisces stereotype. I emote hard.
Generally, the rule of "Right Song, Right Time" applies. It just takes one little song with the right timing to throw you head over heels for a whole branch of music that would have sent "middle school you" tearing towards the frequency knob.
And honestly, I think that's what music is supposed to do.
1 So long as Haley doesn't mind, since she's the one who introduced me to the song in the first place. When I'm an eccentric billionaire, I want to hire her as my official music recommender.
2 Thanks, Spotify!
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