Dumb Songs

There are some really dumb songs out there. I mean in every genre, though what I'm targeting right now are folk songs. There are tons of songs out there (especially ballads) which tell stupid stories. I don't mean wrong (I don't like "Bogie's Bonnie Belle", but it's got a good story, I'll say that for it), I just mean stupid. They get by because of catchy lyrics or tunes. Here are a few examples:

Barbara Allen. The whole story is stupid. Poor William is in love with Barbara, who could care less about him. You'd think he'd take the the hint that she isn't this great match for him, but, no, he just goes and dies and makes her feel guilty for it before he goes (though he does charge his kith and kin to "be kind to Barbara Allen"). So guilty, in fact, that she dies. And then they are buried together and are so in love that their graves grow red roses and green briars which tie into lover's knots. Oh, please.

The Foggy, Foggy Dew. This one, the story is so bad that I'm not even going to recount it. I found the lyrics once because there were a few in a book I read and that was enough. But let's just say that most of the chorus is some guy making excuses for himself (you can save people from the foggy, foggy dew many other ways than...) and then all of a sudden it's years later and he's still making excuses for himself. And his son happens to be there, working at the weaving trade with his father. Apparently the kid (young man? How old is he, anyway?) takes after his mother. (The one redeeming quality about this song (besides the tune, that is!), is that in more expanded lyrics you find the woman died and so the line "he reminds me of her" is very poignant.) I have mixed feelings about this one.

So, there, I vented about folk songs. You may or may not disagree with me. Who reads this thing anyway? Feel free to leave a comment if you have questions, comments, or just want to say hello. I try to answer all of them.