James Akenson
Buggy whips, lets face it, went the way of the DoDo bird. Cars made the horse and buggy obsolete. The buggy whip maker didn’t have a source of income and faded into the sunset. Some folks cry Corporate Foul as products are planned to be obsolete and require new products to be purchased. Not good you say? Are you sad that you no longer are playing VHS tapes on your RCA, Panasonic, or other tape machine? Or have you happily moved on to digital, on demand, DVDs, or even watching movies on NetFlix?
Well, the same might be the case for Country Music references. Do you want to give up your smart phone…..I want an Apple iPhone 11pro since it’s good enough for Lady GaGa but she ain’t Country…and go back to a corded land line phone? Well then, we’re all part of the problem. We like new gadgets and new toys. When we buy the new toys then we’re helping to put some folks out of work.
Classic Country Music songs include references about obsolete technology that made the songs great. We might even be able to suggest some updates to bring then into the third decade of the 21st century. Then again updating classic Country Music might not be the best idea. Let talk about it.
Might as well get train songs out of the way. Yes. Train songs are iconic. From Frank Hutchison’s Hell Bound Train and Roy Acuff’s Wabash Cannonball to Willie Nelson’s City of New Orleans and Johnny Cash’s they’re immortal. Yes. I love them. And…it’s too bad they’re hardly used for passenger travel since cars and paved roads everywhere made driving so easy. If you want lots of contemporary train songs the equal of the Delmore Brothers Midnight Train then you best think about giving up your car, ute, or truck so blokes and blokettes will be riding them again. Amtrack doesn’t seem to be showing up in Country songs.
Bullet Trains like in Japan aren’t likely to spring up in large numbers so that’s not a likely option. Doesn’t matter. Train songs still are powerful. Even if they’re mostly out-of-date for passenger service…at least in the U.S.
I’m particularly partial to references dealing with the obsolete telephone operator and related phone technology such as answering machines. I remember having to place some long-distance phone calls through the operator, calling the operator if you needed a number not listed in your limited geographic area, and grandparents telling how early calls had to go through the operator.
Picking up the phone and hearing other people on your party line meant you couldn’t be certain of using your phone exactly when you wanted it. Each line had separate sounding rings…kind of like Morse Code. The old time radio program Lum and Abner featured references to that’s our ring.
I still rather like our first answering machines with LP (Life Partner) Mickie recording to the cassette tape Thank you for calling the Akensons. We are sorry we can’t receive your call at this time. After the beep, please leave your name and number and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
So…let’s think in depth about Country Music songs that mention the operators and answering machines plus maybe think how they could be updated. How about a Randy Travis classic 1982. Randy wants the operator to please connect him back to 1982 so he can apologize for what he didn’t do. That’s some kind of figurative speech. It’s touching that Randy Travis felt bad about the things he did and didn’t do. It does make for a classic country song made popular during the New Traditionalist era.
I still get chills listening to Blake Shelton’s Austin with a love finally calling Blake after a year separation and hearing the answer machine proclaim his love ‘P.S. if this is Austin. I still love you.” Now that is carrying-a-torch’!
I also like Tanya Tucker’s Soon as she wants to hear his voice on his ‘code-a-phone’ with his recorded message and a beep.
Garth Brooks had fun in the arms of a girl in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and spent a lot of time and money Callin’ Baton Rouge. Brooks needed the help of the operator since he wanted to call Samantha every hundred and fifty kilometers of so. Come to think of it.
Why didn’t he get number in the first place? Simple…cell phones hadn’t become available so he had to stop and use a pay phone. Come to think of it. You don’t see many, if any, pay phones anymore. Think about the workers who lost their jobs because cell phones became available.
Jim Reeves’ He’ll Have To Go takes us back to pay phones and rotary dial phones. Reeves tells his love to put her sweet lips a little closer to the phone and ultimately directs her that the man she’s with he’ll have to go. It’s stood the test of time.
I also love Hawkshaw Hawkins’ Lonesome 7-7203 as it uses the much older pre area code style phone numbers. There’s nothing like a heartbroken hillbilly who’s lost his love and tells her that his new phone number is Loneome 7-7203.
Lots of other Country Music artists including Tennessee Ernie Ford Operator (Give Me Jesus On The Line) John Schneider’s At The Sound of the Tone, and Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn As Soon As I Hang Up The Phone have had success with phone songs. If I’ve not been clear, I like Country Music Songs that have stood the test of time even though technology has moved on and made the references seem quaint.
Well, you, say, let’s update these songs with contemporary references. Stop living in the past. Get with the program, mate! BUT…..Would even a Bro Country re-recording update give these songs have the same impact to millennials or Gens X, Y, Z and beyond?
The usual cell phone greeting Hi I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible doesn’t grab me. It doesn’t lend itself to Blake Shelton adding a message that he still loves Austin. Forget the answering service typical Your party can’t come to the phone right now followed by four or five options including If this is Austin I still love you push 6.
Garth Brooks Callin’ Baton Rouge would need nots of changes since he could be on his cell phone with Samantha every mile from Baton Rouge, texting her, and sending her selfies. I’m thinking that going through the operator makes it more difficult and romantic to maintain the relationship with Samantha.
I’m also thinking Randy Travis’s 1982 would lose something even if it could be updated. Operator VR (Virtual Reality) me back to 1982. OOOPS…. One writer says Phone-based VR is officially over so forget those cardboard holders for your smart phone. Maybe 1982 could have Randy singing about his Oculus Rift….provided that programmers make 1982 possible. I’m not seeing it or feeling it, though.
Then again, 1982 songwriters Louis Schoori, Berti Blackman, and Mark Ashley Richardson might find that Oculus works into a new rhyme scheme. I’m nearly goin’ blind from staring at her through Oculus in 3D all the time. Ya think it might work? I’m not so sure. Sticking with the operator still makes it powerful and even Generation ZZZZZ and beyond can learn a snippet of history and get with the groove of the story.
What about Siri? I went ahead and asked Siri, please connect me back to 1982 but she replied I didn’t get that could you try again? Another try …Siri said That may be beyond my abilities at the moment. Another try…Siri said OK and then tried to open iTunes. On a final try I asked Siri, please connect me back to Randy Travis and 1982.
Siri managed to get me to ITunes and Kacey Mussgraves’ Merrygo ‘Round. Don’t think it’s going to work with Siri on 1982. But…maybe as a lyric Siri please connect me back to 1982 would work just fine as an update. Not so certain, though, that it has the same impact. Siri really isn’t a telephone operator as in the past. Then again, it might give it a humorous dimension that works. After all, the Big Bang Theory episode in which Raj felt attracted to Siri and brought her flowers is really quite funny.
Maybe asking Siri would be able to do better with Calling Baton Rouge. So… I asked, Siri. Can you put me on through I’ve got to send my love to Baton Rouge. Siri responded I didn’t get that can you try again? Even though Siri can’t seem to handle such classic Country Music lyrics it just might work instead as a lyric instead of asking the operator.
I’m thinking that even Gen ZZZZ listeners might find the old technology lyric just as effective. It could be part of their discovering classic Country Music and provide them with phase that they can talk about when they’re in their mid-to-late 40s and older.
And Alexa doesn’t interest me at all since I’m an Apple fan. And…let’s forget trying to tweet back to 1982 or Samantha in Baton Rouge. Randy Travis and Garth Brooks have more to say than what can be done in 140 characters. By the time they add items such as @Samantha, #BatonRouge, @1982, #SoSorry4WhatIDidn’tDo there wouldn’t be much of a lyric to drive the songs forward. And what about a Direct Message (DM) on FaceBook. That seems awkward like I DMed Samantha in Baton Rouge or Reply to my DM about 1982 and what I didn’t do.
Jim Reeves doesn’t need an update. It wouldn’t make sense to tell his love to put her lips closer to the Bluetooth speaker. Siri couldn’t possible get Lonesome 7-7203 even if an area code could be assigned.
Despite the options to revise….I’m against it. If some future Gens don’t like it… SCREW EM! Great songs have a timelessness even if the obsolete technology is dead and gone. We get the message. If Shakespeare is considered essential and hip four hundred years after his death then a classic Country Music song can still be understood. It doesn’t have to reflect cutting edge technology.
How about this from the Bible Belt in particular. In this Post Christian era the King James version of the Bible…a.k.a. KJV…still has lots of impact and followers who love the content and particularly the regal majesty of the supposedly out-of-date language. The KJV still makes it’s way into Country Music songs like Craig Morgan’s Outskirts Of Heaven My friend Randy Williams stays up-to-date on the Sacred and Profane in Country Music. It’s still relevant.
Let’s keep obsolescence where it belongs in Country Music classics…up-to-date, and its own Virtual Reality.
