# Country Music Song Subjects **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129 "2016-04-25T21:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dante\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@Dante\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_G)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/1 "2016-04-25T21:55:25Z")
We all hear the cliche about country music songs being all about the singers dogs and their trucks and such … but really? Are there actual country songs about the singers trucks? Their dogs? I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised, but does anyone have any examples? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/2 "2016-04-25T21:58:22Z")
Trucks: Kip Moore: Something About A Truck Tim McGraw: Truck Yeah Toby Keith: Big Ol’ Truck for starters ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/3 "2016-04-25T22:07:42Z")
“M” is for the mudflaps she gave me for my pickup truck." - _Redneck Mother_, Ray Hubbard _Convoy_, C.W. McCall (who did a lot of trucker songs) _Old Blue_, a traditional folk song about a dog, sung by a variety of singers, including Joan Baez. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/4 "2016-04-25T22:17:44Z")
Here’s one about a cheating wife and a dog, although the dog isn’t the singers. [Ol’ Red by Blake Shelton](https://youtu.be/asxrMSVrJ08) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/5 "2016-04-25T22:41:34Z")
Cheatin’ dogs are the worst! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/6 "2016-04-25T22:47:43Z")
Mandatory reference to “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” which references trucks, being drunk, Mama, trains, death and prison… [You Never Even Called Me by My Name - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Never_Even_Called_Me_by_My_Name) ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/7 "2016-04-25T23:27:19Z")
More Dogs: “Old Shep” by Red Foley (covered by Hank Snow and Elvis Presley) “Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog” by Johnny Cash ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/8 "2016-04-26T00:28:16Z")
And mandatory ancient bad joke: Q: what do you get when you play your country records backwards? A: you get back your truck, wife, dog, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/9 "2016-04-26T00:33:58Z")
[How Come My Dog Don’t Bark When You Come Around?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0U_UxoFPOQ) - Dr. John Perhaps not country music, however. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/10 "2016-04-26T01:16:06Z")
Country music isn’t about that stuff anymore. Except for the truck part. But not 18 wheelers. Pick Up trucks. Only pickup trucks. And it’s about the old swimmin’ hole. I guess Momma and Daddy still qualify. The old hometown that don’t exist anymore. And America. A whole lot of America. Won’t get quibby here, not the right thread. But it’s all nostalgia mixed with a cold beer on a Friday night. I prefer Outlaw Country. It still has some of that shit in it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/11 "2016-04-26T01:49:44Z")
Tom T. Hall: _Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine_ Tom T. Hall is my default answer for everything good about country music. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/12 "2016-04-26T02:09:37Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > “M” is for the mudflaps she gave me for my pickup truck." - _Redneck Mother_, Ray Hubbard > > _Convoy_, C.W. McCall (who did a lot of trucker songs) > > _Old Blue_, a traditional folk song about a dog, sung by a variety of singers, including Joan Baez. You know that Ray Wylie Hubbard was being sarcastic? That song was not dedicated to a rural maternal figure–but to the stereotypical inbred of those days who enjoyed beating up longhairs. More recently he wrote [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-cFtSPIF4Q&list=RD8-cFtSPIF4Q)–which he introduces by saying “the trouble with irony is that not everybody gets it.” The Dillards perform["Old Blue"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMw2Fdylb4E)–& refer to Joan’s version. In which you hear their classic bluegrass & the humor that made them regulars on Andy Griffith’s show. (Before they split up to help create Country Rock with _Wheatstraw Suite_–and the Dillard & Clark Expedition.) If you want to learn about Country Music, listen to some. But I’d recommend starting with Old Timey & moving through Western Swing, Honky Tonk, Bluegrass & what’s called “Americana” nowadays. Listen to modern commercial country radio at your peril… ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/13 "2016-04-26T02:59:23Z")
Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” is about a woman getting revenge on a cheating boyfriend by smashing up his truck – I dug my key into the side Of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive, Carved my name into his leather seats… I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights, Slashed a hole in all four tires ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/14 "2016-04-26T03:19:32Z")
Then there’s R W Couch & the Bum Steers. More famed for the [cover of their LP](http://www.amazon.com/You-Divorce-Baby-Wholl-Truck/dp/B0089M5722) than its contents. (Yes, there _was_ a Divorce Hotel on North Main some years ago.) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/15 "2016-04-26T19:24:34Z")
Yes, a lot of trucks and dogs. Here’s one about [Hank 3’s dog Trooper.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV9nAGsQn-k) And Johnny Cash on the [Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYNK8A_bXwA). [Alan Jackson - Drive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQe3DKDQRRs) about fathers teaching their kids to drive boats and trucks. Brad Paisley has a new truck and wants to take his honey to get a little [Mud on the Tires.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_eyvTPgnM4) And not just trucks but [tractors](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWu4aynBK7E) too. Another about tractors, [International Harvester](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePjFAZKWKVo). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/16 "2016-04-26T20:47:36Z")
Maybe the list of songs _not_ about trucks mama and dogs is a shorter one. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/17 "2016-04-27T00:31:37Z")
There’s “I Drive Your Truck.” Plus, a ton of songs which mention trucks. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/18 "2016-04-27T02:44:43Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > There’s “I Drive Your Truck.” > > Plus, a ton of songs which mention trucks. Oh, God, “I Drive Your Truck” makes me cry every freakin’ time. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/19 "2016-04-27T03:28:59Z")
Today’s country music is heavy on pop psychology. Think of songs like “I Hope You Dance” and “Live Like You Were Dying.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129/20 "2016-04-27T16:02:57Z")
**Feed Jake** by _Pirates of the Mississippi_ is one about a dog. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-music-song-subjects/753129.md?page=2)