I was driving to work today, when I heard Blake Shelton’s 2016 hit “Sangria” come on. As I am singing the lyrics, “Wrecking ball dancing down the hallway,” I found myself wondering what is up with all these songs about sex and wrecking balls?
Blake Shelton “Sangria”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoQrH6EMnas
It all started with Eric Church’s 2015 hit, “Wrecking Ball.” It’s a beautiful song to his wife of what he is going to do to her when he walks through that door after being on the road for so long.
“That whole house is gonna be shakin’
I hope those bricks and boards can take it
But I won’t be surprised
If the whole damn place just falls
Wanna rock you baby like a wrecking ball”
Women listening to country radio were taken back to a time of love, warm touches, and that feeling of wanting to be plowed like a wrecking ball. The desperate housewives of the world longing for that kind of love again or even the single ladies saying, “Hey I wanna be rocked like a wrecking ball!” I asked a good friend of mine who has loved “Wrecking Ball,” to put her thought about it into words. Her answer was exactly what I was expecting. “It makes me want to get some, it makes me feel like the guy in the song loves and is so turned on by his gal he can’t get enough of her or get it fast enough. I love that song!”
Eric Church “Wrecking Ball”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fzgyTAJ2h8
Not long after Luke Bryan came out with his hit “Strip it Down,” followed by Thomas Rhett’s “T- Shirt” both songs about having that sexual healing moment with the one they love.
Luke Bryan “Strip it Down”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2BWyY4B36Y
Thomas Rhett “T-Shirt”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VVtOIzPg9Q
Both songs are about the same thing – Sex! The common theme is that the artists wrote these for their wives to show their love and appreciation. Why now? Why after all this time are country music singers getting down and dirty? Truth is: it’s not the first time. Country songs about sex have been around for quite a while. Conway Twitty’s song, “I’d Love to Lay You Down” was a bit of a risqué song back in 1985 with lyrics like:
“Lay you down and softly whisper pretty love words in your ear
Lay you down and tell you all the things a woman loves to hear
I’ll let you know how much it means just having you around
Oh darlin’, how I’d love to lay you down”
Conway Twitty “I’d Love to lay you Down”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoUnKSw92Q4
David Allen Coe has some raunchy songs that I am sure I can’t even mention. If you google “Dirty David Allen Coe songs” you’ll quickly understand why. They are that naughty! But even Alabama’s, “Feels so Right,” pushes the envelope a bit. I grew up listening to it and, at the time, had no idea the meaning behind the lyrics. Then there is Reba’s “Fancy,” about a mother who was selling her daughter to a rich man to give her a better life “than a roach crawling across the floor of her ivory shoe.” All pretty controversial songs for back in the day. Tanya Tucker really set the bar; however, with “Would You Lay With Me.” The song lyrics weren’t as distasteful to listeners as the fact that a fifteen year old Tanya Tucker singing a song about sex. In 1973, it was pretty scandalous to Country fans and radio stations that played it[1].
“Would you lay with me
In a field of stone
Should my lips grow dry,
should you wet them, dear,”
Tanya Tucker- “Would you lay with Me”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNTE1gfLoh0
I remember when “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy” was a popular hit that seemed to play whenever I was at one of the local bars in town. Swing dancing my way through the arms of a bull rider that song always drove me wild. Though I never tried out my cowboy, sometimes it’s better to leave a mind to wander. Unless you are Dierks Bentley, who has a huge assortment of sexual songs that cut straight through a woman’s heart – especially a Dierks lover like me. I had a chance to take this to another level at the Oregon Jamboree. I saw the opportunity, grabbed that hunk of a man, and laid my head down on his shoulder for 30 seconds of pure bliss. Now every time he sings, “Come a little Closer,” I can’t help but imagine that he must be singing about me.
Big & Rich “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HflDc7PUT2g
Dierks Bentley “Come a Little Closer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVGw7FbohY4
There are so many country songs from sweet to dirty – many becoming hit singles. Sex sells even in country music. Times are changing and people are open to sexier lyrics and racier subject matter. Country music has always been a love of mine for its relatablity to life – and sometimes we love to take that music in the bedroom. Between Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Tim Mcgraw and Keith Whitley, there are so many to choose from when you want to impress that special lover in between the sheets. So go out and find some spicy country music, then give your thoughts on what you found in the comments section. You never know, your next fave hit can leave you with “Nothing on but the Radio!”
Gary Allan “Nothing on but the Radio”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tPl3PcOAM
[1] http://parade.com/5111/jmarquez/10-most-controversial-country-songs/