While I am doing some site maintanence work with both blogs (I also run a blog on eschatology called World Without End), I decided to share some posts between the two, posting some of the best of 2010 at the other blog. This is from last June and it was one of my favorites.
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One of the classic country songs is the seminal "A Country Boy Can Survive". I remember driving around listening to this song in college and loving it. It was enough of a cultural marker to be parodied by the rantings of a homeless man in Canadian post-rock Godspeed You! Black Emperor's song Providence. I think it functions as a great marker of a secular and escapist eschatology.
And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry
The interest is up and the Stock Markets down
And you only get mugged
If you go down town
I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
Because you can’t starve us out
And you cant makes us run
Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn
We came from the West Virginia coalmines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I’d send him some homemade wine
But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
Id love to spit some beechnut in that dudes eyes
And shoot him with my old 45
Cause a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
We’re from North California and south Alabam
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
The interesting thing about this song (written in 1981) is the cultural ideas of both escapism and separatism, manifest in Williams thematic description of the city as a dangerous and ruthless place. It was also re-written and re-released in 1999 by Chad Brock in reference to the supposed Y2K catastrophe.
For those who live in the country, life skills held are what separate them from those who have migrated to the city. It will be these skills that will allow them to function inside an apocalyptic scenario, and ultimately be the holders of power (another interesting marker). If anything, this song serves as an introduction to the phenomena of survivalism.
For Christians, this isn't a good view because it places the realm of trust inside of self-sufficiency, either individual or cultural. The mark of individuality makes Bocephus thoroughly postmodern, although I imagine I would get chewing tobacco spit in my eye if I accused him of such. One of the patterns that needs to be developing in the current church culture is the reliance and separation from current systems and instead placed in Christ and His kingdom. The Church is the alternative city, instead of a set of skills and a cultural marker. Where Hank mentions saying "grace", it is placed in the context of a general moral structure, looped in with niceties such as "ma'am". Faith is mentioned as a passing nod towards a cultural system that is propped up instead by distinction and self-reliance. To a Christian, faith in the promise of God as well as reliance on His faithfulness is the foundation of a hope centered eschatology.
I hope this little piece shows how much these ideas have crept into mainstream society, even in a 30 year old country song.
Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
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