Give me a break!
This entire song can relate to every culture, ethnicity, and 'community'; as well as economic level. It all depends on the values brought forward by parents, and the perception of the parents values by the child. ...Some kids growing up to recent and/or reject them all together!
1) Its 'small town' "tradition" that says have "two kids by 21" or you might "die alone"? Well it must be inner city tradition that says have 3-4!
It isn't "tradition", or the small towners wouldn't marry to begin a family (to keep from dying alone!). Those who create families by accident seldom marry. If they stay together, it isn't out of a fear of "dying alone". It's monetary.
The "tradition" thing? BS! It's all biology and values.
2) Those parents that are born again Christian, Hasidic Jews, even devout Muslim, and all other believers in God, 'force' their children to join them in worship. ...They do it in the hope their children will find the same knowledge of God that they have. (I won't elaborate on that. The believers know. Those who don't ...well...). And, fact is, there are VERY few Hasidic Jews, Muslims, or other non-Christian groups in the small 'country' towns.
3) "Same hurt. Different park?"
Try "same hurt, different ???" (street, borough, suburb, housing complex, apartment building, etc., etc., etc.,), because the kind of "hurt" she mentions throughout the song is found in the families of every race, religion, and area of the world. Economy and status aren't exceptions either.
4) The rest?:
Stats, across the board, show most marriages are to first loves. (And more 'first loves' are born during the last years of school.)
Taking for granted the statement "we won't end up like our parents" means 'separated or divorced', again, divorce is an across-the-board thing and who, ANYWHERE, marries thinking there's any chance of it ending that way.
"Tiny little boxes in a row...ain't what you want...it's what you know.": Inner city slums? Low income apartments? Oh yeah! It's JUST small towns that a (decent) young person feels "bored", and like "dust" becomes settled (trapped!), never feeling able to financially leave. And cashing checks of burger-flipping level pay; spending it on frivolous "distractions".
(The "bored so we get married" is just stupid. One doing it doesn't set a precedence.)
How naïveté to think vanity, drug use (of any kind), and adultery are exclusive to small town America.
In fact, they are found much more often in areas where families are considered wealthy.
---In the end: rich, poor, and in the middle and whether in the country, suburbs, or inner city, we ALL find ourselves on a merry-go-round. For some the ride is smooth and great for the duration. But if we decide we are on a "broken" one, it can be hard to find our way to get off. And some just accept it, saying it's too hard to alter. Or, like the addict and perpetual-adulterer, they love their broken ride; like Jack and Jill, the drugs/alcohol and false love leave them dead inside. Then even the "two kids by 21" can push back that lonely feeling at death.
Of course, there are those who blame their parents or the rest of the world for being on it and just sit and sing the blues.
@Proteus' wife I really like how you tried to tear apart the song and instead just proved its point. The basis of these lyrics is to highlight how the South DOES suffer from these issues like many other places do, but in the South, it is very frequently buried under the idyllic dream and perception of a white picket fence, happy family, married with children, etc, when this isn't really the case at all. It's just a precedent and trope that we almost always see in country music, and her song is a subversion of that trope.
@Proteus' wife I really like how you tried to tear apart the song and instead just proved its point. The basis of these lyrics is to highlight how the South DOES suffer from these issues like many other places do, but in the South, it is very frequently buried under the idyllic dream and perception of a white picket fence, happy family, married with children, etc, when this isn't really the case at all. It's just a precedent and trope that we almost always see in country music, and her song is a subversion of that trope.
Give me a break! This entire song can relate to every culture, ethnicity, and 'community'; as well as economic level. It all depends on the values brought forward by parents, and the perception of the parents values by the child. ...Some kids growing up to recent and/or reject them all together! 1) Its 'small town' "tradition" that says have "two kids by 21" or you might "die alone"? Well it must be inner city tradition that says have 3-4! It isn't "tradition", or the small towners wouldn't marry to begin a family (to keep from dying alone!). Those who create families by accident seldom marry. If they stay together, it isn't out of a fear of "dying alone". It's monetary. The "tradition" thing? BS! It's all biology and values. 2) Those parents that are born again Christian, Hasidic Jews, even devout Muslim, and all other believers in God, 'force' their children to join them in worship. ...They do it in the hope their children will find the same knowledge of God that they have. (I won't elaborate on that. The believers know. Those who don't ...well...). And, fact is, there are VERY few Hasidic Jews, Muslims, or other non-Christian groups in the small 'country' towns. 3) "Same hurt. Different park?" Try "same hurt, different ???" (street, borough, suburb, housing complex, apartment building, etc., etc., etc.,), because the kind of "hurt" she mentions throughout the song is found in the families of every race, religion, and area of the world. Economy and status aren't exceptions either. 4) The rest?: Stats, across the board, show most marriages are to first loves. (And more 'first loves' are born during the last years of school.) Taking for granted the statement "we won't end up like our parents" means 'separated or divorced', again, divorce is an across-the-board thing and who, ANYWHERE, marries thinking there's any chance of it ending that way. "Tiny little boxes in a row...ain't what you want...it's what you know.": Inner city slums? Low income apartments? Oh yeah! It's JUST small towns that a (decent) young person feels "bored", and like "dust" becomes settled (trapped!), never feeling able to financially leave. And cashing checks of burger-flipping level pay; spending it on frivolous "distractions". (The "bored so we get married" is just stupid. One doing it doesn't set a precedence.) How naïveté to think vanity, drug use (of any kind), and adultery are exclusive to small town America. In fact, they are found much more often in areas where families are considered wealthy. ---In the end: rich, poor, and in the middle and whether in the country, suburbs, or inner city, we ALL find ourselves on a merry-go-round. For some the ride is smooth and great for the duration. But if we decide we are on a "broken" one, it can be hard to find our way to get off. And some just accept it, saying it's too hard to alter. Or, like the addict and perpetual-adulterer, they love their broken ride; like Jack and Jill, the drugs/alcohol and false love leave them dead inside. Then even the "two kids by 21" can push back that lonely feeling at death. Of course, there are those who blame their parents or the rest of the world for being on it and just sit and sing the blues.
@Proteus' wife I really like how you tried to tear apart the song and instead just proved its point. The basis of these lyrics is to highlight how the South DOES suffer from these issues like many other places do, but in the South, it is very frequently buried under the idyllic dream and perception of a white picket fence, happy family, married with children, etc, when this isn't really the case at all. It's just a precedent and trope that we almost always see in country music, and her song is a subversion of that trope.
@Proteus' wife I really like how you tried to tear apart the song and instead just proved its point. The basis of these lyrics is to highlight how the South DOES suffer from these issues like many other places do, but in the South, it is very frequently buried under the idyllic dream and perception of a white picket fence, happy family, married with children, etc, when this isn't really the case at all. It's just a precedent and trope that we almost always see in country music, and her song is a subversion of that trope.