MetaChat - Yet another (really) weird music post!

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16 February 2006

Yet another (really) weird music post! complete with crackpot theorizing!→[More:]

David Allan Coe - Longhaired Redneck
David Bowie - Oh, You Pretty Things

These two very different songs both produce a very similar reaction in me. David Allan Coe is an ex-con country singer and David Bowie is, well, David Bowie. Coe's song makes me wanna put on a cowboy hat and raise hell in a bar. Bowie's song makes me want to put on makeup and make out with men. But they both are about asserting a difficult identity. and they both do it so well as to inspire you. and, of course, they're both named David. It's really interesting to me that two songs about supposedly antagonistic worldviews invoke a similar emotional response in me.

post by: jonmc at: 20:24 | 6 comments

I confess I have often wondered what David Allan Cowie would sound like.

posted by Eideteker 16 February | 20:34

Heh. Coe actually did a duet with polka king Frankie Yankovic (no, I am not kidding) called 'The Night Frankie Yankovic Came to Town,' so he's a pretty open-minded guy. And Bowie's a huge rockabilly fan based on interviews I've read, so who knows? It could happen.

But then again I'm one of those cockeyed optimist/hopeless integrationist types who gets weepy hearing 'Everyday People' and looking at the back cover of War's 'Why Can't We Be Friends.'

posted by jonmc 16 February | 20:37

I think that's a fascinating observation, Jon... I can definitely see the connection.

posted by BoringPostcards 16 February | 21:04

It took me awhile to sort it out, BP. It's similar to the reggae fascination with American action heroes (witness Lee Perry's 'Clint Eastwood'), it seems contradictory at first glance, but really isn't if you dig deeper.

But Willie Nelson has recently recorded a song called 'Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Eachother.' The Braided One, as always, leads the way. The sequel to that song would have to be 'My Heroes Have Always Been Transvestites.'

posted by jonmc 16 February | 21:08

jon, I (humbly) think that an even better example of a very gay song that even very macho guys love to sing together would be Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes", also coincidentally written by Bowie.

But because I also have a soft spot for David Allan Coe, here's the perfect country western song.

posted by yhbc 16 February | 22:46

jon, I (humbly) think that an even better example of a very gay song that even very macho guys love to sing together

I miss the days when gay music was unafraid to rock out and get macho.

posted by jonmc 16 February | 22:47

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