Ep.13. The Country Ballad

"Everything except country" is probably the most common answer to the question "What kind of music do you like?" Well, hopefully soon you'll agree that there is some really good country music, so you can reply instead "Everything good."

A "ballad" is generally a slow, sentimental song. The instrumentation is nice in these songs, but I'm going to focus on the story and the vocals this time.

1. Lefty Frizzell - "Long Black Veil" (1950)


There's a murder and all the witnesses say the killer looks like the protagonist, and rather than admit that he was in bed with his best friend's wife, he decides to die. It sounds serious but the way Lefty sets it up is hilarious. I think a lot of these western stories are somewhat tongue-in-cheek like this. After I listened to this about 15 times, it occurred to me: I thought at first he chose not to use the alibi as some sort of sign of honor or something, but if you think about it, even if he had used the alibi, she could have denied it, and then he would have had some deplorable, unpredictable reputation as both a murderer and adulterer with a probable death sentence anyway. So his decision was actually more logical than honorable - just go all in for the murder and keep it classy. Of course it would have to be based on the woman, but her character is unclear from the song. I guess it goes to show how little people cared about murder in the wild west. Another thing I didn't notice at first, even though it's the first part of the song, "Ten years ago..." Because it doesn't really mean anything until you find out he died...meaning that this is a ghost singing this song. So it took the ghost ten years to write this song and get it into the ether so that someone with arms could play the guitar. I'm a little less scared of dying now that I know you can still make music as a ghost.

Anyway, I was reading about the top singers of all time, and found out that Merle Haggard (who admittedly was heavily influenced by Lefty Frizzell), voted for Lefty as #1. Naturally I was curious and came to find out that he is indeed an amazingly good singer, and it occurred to me that the voters are probably biased away from country music just due to overall popularity. It's interesting that Lefty is the Aretha Franklin for some people, and I can't call them crazy. There's a depth of nuance (like the classy use of that country "hiccup" sound) and character in his voice, and he makes use of dramatic, delicate volume and pitch changes with a similar (but more subtle) virtuosity as Aretha, all in perfect pitch. And it all sounds effortless, like this is how he was meant to sing. Also check out "Always Late (With Your Kisses)" on the playlist below.

2. Patti Page - "Tennessee Waltz" (1950)


Haunting...As of 1974, this was the biggest selling song of all time in Japan. It's a heartbreaking song about dancing with your loved one only to lose them to your friend after introducing them. The layout of the song is interesting - there are only two verses (and no chorus), and they repeat nearly identically, so it feels like the singer really can't let go of this, and is just going to keep replaying it in her mind forever. Even when she's a ghost.

3. Marty Robbins - "They're Hanging Me Tonight" (1959)


The stakes are pretty high in some of these songs. This one's about a guy who's lover leaves him for another man, so he shoots and kills both of them and ends up getting hanged. Real hardcore cowboy stuff. But the lyrics are beautifully arranged and sung. There are four verses (with no chorus), and the story is told chronologically, except for the second verse, which foreshadows the ending. Check out the lyrics. It's like an entire cowboy movie in musical/short story form. Marty Robbins has a very strong, operatic voice that always sounds important.

4. Johnny Cash - "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (1959)


I love this song to an unreasonable degree. When I first heard it I think I listened to it about 15 times in a row. Johnny Cash's soul is just pouring out of him and picking up lyrics on the way out. "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" was first recorded in 1909, and is an "American negro spiritual." I love how he sings "Swing" in a way that sounds like it's swinging. He balances the intensely serious first "carry me home" (in each verse) with the equally intensely positive "swing low sweet chariot." You don't have to be religious to appreciate passion like this.

5. Ray Charles - "I Can't Stop Loving You" (1962)


The way they did the backup singing back then was unique. They turned the bass down and the treble up. The best analogy I can think of is that it sounds like a waterfall - it's like a constant almost white noise kind of sound. A painting on the wall. There's still a lot of feeling in it, it just sounds kind of removed. They probably did that partly to make Ray's voice stand out. This song is probably the most sentimental of the bunch. It's not about spirituality or murder so much, it's just an expression of a sad nostalgia. Not only did Ray do country music, he had an entire record called "Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music."

6. Roy Orbison - "Crying" (1962)


According to Rolling Stone, Roy Orbison is the #13 singer of all time and "Crying" is in the top 100 songs of all time. I'm sure a lot of people put him at #1. Just listen to this song. There's a lot there that I doubt anyone else could do. The way he sings the word "crying" at 0:32 is I think the closest you can get to vocalizing the act and feeling of crying. It's like he's creating new vocal vocabulary, and it's amazing. And he sings from deep down, with the power of an opera singer, which really comes through and hits you hard at the end. In terms of effectively communicating feeling, Roy Orbison is at the level of the top soul singers.

I'm just going to drop this little gem in here:


7. Sting - "I Hung My Head" (2010)


Sting is not a country artist (although he's become more folky lately), but he dips into country for this one, with the narrative about accidentally killing someone and getting hanged for it. This version is like folk/country/classical, and is more country-sounding than the original (from the Mercury Falling album), with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra adding nice touches like the harmonica. But there is one thing that sets this song apart from probably every country song and 99.99% of all pop (non-jazz) songs - it's in 9/8 time. If you try to nod your head to it you'll find that you're off beat every other measure because of the odd (literally) time. Try to count it out - start at 0:38 right on "early" - each cycle of 9 lasts about three seconds and ends with the beginning of the next line ("with time to kill..."). You can hear it in the guitar. It's easiest for me if I count it as (1-2-3-4-5)-(1-2-3-4) where the 1's and 3's are emphasized with the percussion. Usually the feeling of listening to odd timing is that you're sort of leaning in the whole time, like the person next to you is always walking a little bit too fast and you're always catching up. You can't just sit back and get into a comfortable groove like you can with most songs. Intriguing.

The playlist: