In “Poetry for the People,” Raines and Walker note that counter music “must always stay ‘in touch’ with its audience. In the post-WWII years a large part of that audience was white, Southern, working-class people. What might the country songs listed on the syllabus reveal about white working-class outlooks and experiences after WWII?
February 26, 2019 at 5:27 pm
Throughout their text, Raines and Walker clearly demonstrate how country music has “always been based on its audience’s ability to relate to the message.” I don’t particularly enjoy country music (maybe it’s because I can’t relate to it), but I still think that this concept is pretty powerful and impressive! The fact that the music stays/ has stayed ‘in touch’ with its listeners and is used as a medium of creating a community allows people to feel that they are not going through their hardships alone, regardless of what time period one examines.
Specifically after World War 2, listeners were predominantly White, Southern, and working-class people. The country songs listed on the syllabus reveal to outsiders that the white working-class felt a sense of relief and joy once the war was over! Unlike Black Americans (for example) who struggled in terms of their lack of civil rights and economic justice, most White Americans experienced unprecedented economic prosperity. In most of these songs, time/ days of the week are referenced to, alluding to the fact that the White, Southern, working-class ‘worked hard’ during the week in order to ‘play hard’ and de-stress during the weekend, focusing on pleasure. These songs serve as helpful, concrete examples that compliment the points made in Raines and Walker’s text.
February 26, 2019 at 10:17 am
“Poetry for the People,” is a piece that demonstrates how music can be a unifying component of a ‘community.’ This community, that being white, southern, working-class people, rallied around this genre of music that gave them a prospect of hope after a depressive war-time economy and after returning from war. Many of these audience members, the southern working class, were prominent members of the military and many were sent overseas. On page 45, Bill Malone wrote that, “Just as the war enlarged the scope and magnitude of American life, so did it affect the character and popularity of country music… it would become a national phenomenon during the war.” It’s evident in some of the songs listed on the syllabus, that they held onto their southern music roots while deployed abroad, and further, audience members at home found solace in this genre.
The song, “Sixteen Tons,” is about coal miners in Kentucky, was released in 1947 after the war. Many of the citizens who were deployed abroad were faced grueling work of coal mining upon their return. The lyrics discuss increasing debt and, owing their “soul to the company store.” This song emerges as an ode to all the veterans that came home to a less-than-adequate situation. In the comments of the “Sixteen Tons” youtube video, a listener commented on the video talking about their time being deployed in Hungary, post WWII. The veteran tells a story about him and his friend singing a gig at the only local pub they were able to go to. The contributor writes that a local Hungarian requested the song “Sixteen Tons.” The contributor wrote,
“Part of our problem was we had no idea what they wanted to hear. We were getting ready to pack up and leave when a man walked up from the other end of the restaurant with a yellowed piece of paper with this scribbled on it: “16 Tonnes.” I had the song in a cheat book, and another friend of ours who was there sat in and played guitar (he was far better than me) and my buddy played harmonica while I did my best Tennessee Ernie Ford imitation. We absolutely killed, huge applause” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pfVvqLM_e4)
It’s evident that even after WW2 and the post-WW2 era, soldiers were still holding onto this genre of music overseas.
Artists, like Hank Williams embodied the ideal of post- WW2 prosperity in his music. Raines and Walker write about America’s economic growth after the war, and that the music industry was thriving again. Raines and Walker write that, “Into this Mulieu stepped young Hank Williams, who seemed to be a living, breathing example of the new lifestyle,” and that , “Williams lived the kind of life that his young southern audience admired.” However, the songs on the syllabus appear to be songs that that appeal to a group of destitute people that have returned from war. The song, “Men With Broken Hearts,” is about the hardships that come with losing a loved one. The other Hank Williams songs are likewise slow, and somber, like “Mansion on the Hill,” and “A tramp on the street.” it’s interesting to note the discrepancy in attitudes and outlooks post ww2, where popular culture and the economy suggest a prosperous time period, however, those same attitudes are not always present in the music of that period.