# Rap, Folk, Blues Or Country? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083 "2006-06-01T22:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/81 "2006-08-24T15:33:57Z")
[QUOTE=Enginerd] That’s Stagger Lee, by more people than I can name. Folk or country, occasionally rock. I’ve never heard a rap version, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear an adaptation of it. A man hits a bar on his way home from work Monday afternoon. Instead of going home, he takes off on a week long bender that crosses a border. He ends up in jail on the right side of the border, where his wife bails him out. She helps him get his job back and straighten himself out a little bit. He goes back to work and his normal life, but he just might do it again at some point. [/QUOTE] That would be “The Week of Living Dangerously” by Steve Earle. And I had replied previously to **Lemur 866’s** as “Stagger Lee” or “Stack-O-Lee”, done by a gazillion people, but deleted it. Maybe I overthought it. My reasoning: Billy didn’t grab Stagger’s brand new Stetson hat; he won it. He didn’t pull a gun on the spot; he went home and got his .44. And in all the versions I’ve heard, I don’t remember a trial and conviction. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/82 "2006-08-24T16:02:52Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] Man decides to kill his kin during a drunken stupor, pushes daughter off a cliff, after agonizing over it, kills himself [QUOTE=Enginerd] Country Death Song - Violent Femmes (Country, if you take their word for it) [/QUOTE] [/QUOTE] Don’t think so unless MadTheSwine isn’t remembering it correctly. In Country Death Song they are a poor family without enough food, so the father in desparation pushes his daughter down the well so they won’t have as many mouths to feed, then kills himself out of remorse (or at least he intends to at the end of the song.) ---
**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:** [August 24, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/83 "2006-08-24T16:10:14Z")
Here one: Guy goes into a bar, buys a girl several drinks, convinces her to go for a ride with him. They drive around for a while, then he stops the car and rapes her. Afterward he drives her back to the bar. The next day the girl calls the cops and the guy is sent to jail for 25 years, where he regularly gets raped by the inmates. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/84 "2006-08-24T16:16:44Z")
Try this one: A young girl gets engaged to a nice guy. She is killed in an accident and he commits suicide as a result. The tragedy is remembered by all as a sad example of true love. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/85 "2006-08-24T16:21:05Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump] Try this one: A young girl gets engaged to a nice guy. She is killed in an accident and he commits suicide as a result. The tragedy is remembered by all as a sad example of true love. [/QUOTE] “Teen Angel?” or “Patches?” ---
**Author:** ![dbygawdcapn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dbygawdcapn/32/3995_2.png) [@dbygawdcapn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbygawdcapn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/86 "2006-08-24T16:24:19Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] Here one: Guy goes into a bar, buys a girl several drinks, convinces her to go for a ride with him. They drive around for a while, then he stops the car and rapes her. Afterward he drives her back to the bar. The next day the girl calls the cops and the guy is sent to jail for 25 years, where he regularly gets raped by the inmates. [/QUOTE] Date Rape - Sublime ---
**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:** [August 24, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/87 "2006-08-24T16:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=dbygawdcapn] Date Rape - Sublime [/QUOTE] DING! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/88 "2006-08-24T16:40:18Z")
[QUOTE=Labdad] “Teen Angel?” or “Patches?” [/QUOTE] Nope, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/89 "2006-08-24T17:20:33Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] Don’t think so unless MadTheSwine isn’t remembering it correctly. In Country Death Song they are a poor family without enough food, so the father in desparation pushes his daughter down the well so they won’t have as many mouths to feed, then kills himself out of remorse (or at least he intends to at the end of the song.) [/QUOTE] I think it’s more likely that I’m remembering it wrong. I just keyed on the guy pushing his daughter. > [@labdad](#): > > And I had replied previously to Lemur 866’s as “Stagger Lee” or “Stack-O-Lee”, done by a gazillion people, but deleted it. Maybe I overthought it. My reasoning: Billy didn’t grab Stagger’s brand new Stetson hat; he won it. He didn’t pull a gun on the spot; he went home and got his .44. And in all the versions I’ve heard, I don’t remember a trial and conviction. Dave van Ronk’s has a trial and conviction (“Judge say to Stackolee, Mr. Bad Man Stackolee, gonna hang your body up and set your spirit free… 12 o’clock we killed him, I was glad to see him die”). I figure with so many versions of the story floating around, there’s gotta be one that goes that way. We’d need **Lemur** to tell us for sure, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/90 "2006-08-24T17:40:59Z")
Wow, all these folk, blues, and country songs are full of nothing but murder, bling, and hos. Here are three submissions of my own: #1 A woman who is condemned to die imagines herself returning to her hometown and reuniting with her family. #2 A good-for-nothing layabout recounts the many ways in which his lifestyle is hurtful to his wife and infant, and expresses a desire to be punished for his sins. Ultimately, he blames his upbringing. #3 The narrator recounts a weekend evening in New Orleans. He and his friend go to a house party and witness dancing, fighting, drinking, eating, drug use, and infidelity. A fat man is playing music in the corner of the room. Eventually the police raid the party, and the narrator is beaten up and thrown in jail. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/91 "2006-08-24T17:48:29Z")
[QUOTE=Case Sensitive] To start a new loose end - since I’ve linked to this thread for the Pit - a man kills four others - who killed his brother - in a cocaine deal gone wrong and leaves their bodies abandoned amongst bullet ridden cars. He tried to do right, it, seems, but life had stacked the deck against him. Take heed from his example. [/QUOTE] > [@Neil Young](#): > > Well, he shot four men in a cocaine deal > and he left them lyin’ in an open field > Full of old cars with bullet holes in the mirrors > He tried to do his best but he could not > > Please take my advice, please take my advice > Open up your tired eyes, open up your tired eyes Neil Young’s Tired Eyes, covered by Cowboy Junkies. Mmmm…Margo Timmins. Y’know, I was going to marry her once… ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/92 "2006-08-24T18:03:13Z")
[QUOTE=Labdad] And I had replied previously to **Lemur 866’s** as “Stagger Lee” or “Stack-O-Lee”, done by a gazillion people, but deleted it. Maybe I overthought it. My reasoning: Billy didn’t grab Stagger’s brand new Stetson hat; he won it. He didn’t pull a gun on the spot; he went home and got his .44. And in all the versions I’ve heard, I don’t remember a trial and conviction. [/QUOTE] The song/story version I quoted was from Mississippi John Hurt. “Gentleman’s of the jury, what do you think of that? Stack O’ Lee killed Billy de Lyon about a five-dollar Stetson hat” That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O’ Lee Standin on the gallows, Stack O’Lee did curse, Judge said, “Better kill that man fore he kills one of us” That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O’ Lee And all they gathered, hands way up high, at twelve o’clock they killed him, they’s all glad to see him die That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O’ Lee ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/93 "2006-08-24T20:59:40Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Neil Young’s Tired Eyes, covered by Cowboy Junkies. Mmmm…Margo Timmins. Y’know, I was going to marry her once… [/QUOTE] Ooh, you’re _good_. I was listening to _Whites Off Earth Now_ last night, coincidentally - damn, that’s a good album. ---
**Author:** ![grayhairedmomma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@grayhairedmomma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grayhairedmomma)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/94 "2006-08-24T21:13:04Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] Here’s mine. A young man, the narrator, is mistreated by his stepfather and stepbrothers and made to do menial demeaning chores around the house while they attend a party to vie for the hand of the royal princess. Suddenly a fairy-man appears and suits the young man’s wishes to deed, and creates a stunning ensemble from his meager possessions so he can attend the ball. The young man entertains the princess and partygoers with his velvet-tongued stylings, but alas, the spell ends at midnight and he drives off against her entreaties, losing a shoe in the process. The next day the princess appears with his missing shoe and he changes back into a prince and drives off with his lady-love while his family happily sings at his departure. Rap, folk, blues or country? [/QUOTE] Rap: Cinderfella by Dana Dane 🙂 _(love him)_ ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/95 "2006-08-24T23:12:27Z")
A male vocalist sings the praises of the sexy lady who introduced him to love making. She’s a dancer with a taste for wine, and he wants to take care of her by buying her nice things. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/96 "2006-08-25T03:15:22Z")
A group of petty criminals tell a policeman about the causes of their criminality - which has to do with their psychological, social, and family backgrounds, with an occasional mention that maybe they’re just bad people. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083/97 "2006-08-25T13:37:51Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] A group of petty criminals tell a policeman about the causes of their criminality - which has to do with their psychological, social, and family backgrounds, with an occasional mention that maybe they’re just bad people. [/QUOTE] Sounds to me like “Gee, Officer Krupke” from _West Side Story_ by Sondheim/Bernstein. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rap-folk-blues-or-country/359083.md?page=4)