03.24.15
WishIWasaRichMancore
Last week, the Republic of WhiteManistan’s favorite song, according to Rolling Stone, was “Buy Me a Boat.” In it, a variation on one of the encapsulated delusions of the ruling tribe (paraphrasing Steinbeck): “Socialism never takes root in America because the poor see themselves not as [screwed over] but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.??? In other words, the opposite of poorcore.
It’s the de rigueur folk art for people who get their highs sniffing the seats of maximum pick-up trucks (or boats) filled with coolers of tasteless light beer.
Like the present day United States, the favorite country music is fossilized. No matter how electric the guitars sound, it’s soft stone with always the same eroded pieties.
Or, as anonymous coward put it in a comment on yesterday’s post:
Perhaps people are so afraid of how close to collapse they are (???one paycheck from disaster???) they can’t stand to look, let alone think about it. Maybe they’re all wrapped up in trying to grab what they can while the getting is good. Maybe they don’t see the difference between one overlord and another. Maybe people would rather believe comforting lies than confront horrible truths.
They need their lullabies.
For all of Friday and most of Saturday last week, the Number One slot on iTunes’ country songs chart was occupied by a rail-thin singer-harmonica player named Chris Janson and his simple man’s salute to dreaming big, “Buy Me a Boat.” The song, which fantasizes about winning the lottery and purchasing a country boy’s wish list of toys …
Janson, though thrilled, isn’t imagining a millionaire lifestyle like the character in the lyrics.
“All I ever tried to do was keep the bills paid and have a great family life,” Janson tells Rolling Stone Country. He says he and songwriter Chris DuBois (who penned Brad Paisley’s Number Ones “Mud on the Tires” and “Water,” among others) wrote “Boat” during an inspired writing appointment. The finished product included a Warren Buffett name-check, a biblical verse, a shout-out to the popular Yeti coolers …
“It’s the perfect feel-good song,” he adds.