The Steel Guitar Forum

dang me..

Bill, you're hittin' close to home here with those M.C Hammer lyrics...Oaktown!

Actually one thing you should know is that for a number of years on what used to be the light day of the Friday thru Sunday free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, Hammer has put on a show aimed at Bay Area kids, brought in by the busloads. Can't say that I've seen more than a few minutes of it during any of the years, but I applaud the effort. Probably goes over better with the grade schoolers than Ralph Stanley singing "Oh Death."

When my kids were say 12-14 I used to taunt them with Charlie Daniels doing "The Devil went Down to Georgia" and proclaim that Charlie was "the father of rap music."

Actually, the the rhythm and cadence of that tune probably is pretty rap-like compared to say "Big John."

I can agree with Charlie Daniels, but I'm thinking "Uneasy Rider" as the birth of rap in contemporary popular music!

Mark, MC Hammer is probably the nicest guy you could meet. My little barb was just to make the point that country song writers have no monopoly on silly lyrics. Another one that just popped into my head is CCR's Lookin' Out My Back Door. Or what was that old treasure from the forties...

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

Actually there was some cleverness going on in that one but you can see what I mean.

Tex William's "Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette" was a good country rap tune. Co-written by Merle Travis. It would probably work with modern hip hop beats, too. Johnny Bond's "Hot Rod Lincoln" is another.

actually, 'mary had a little lamb' was quite rap-like, though more sophisticated.
then the diceman spiced that up a bit with more clever rhyming.
then rap music(?) came along with a more dumbass style and quality of rhyming.

i be rhyming while my steel be chiming
hear my noise be climbing feel my amp be diming

Square dancing comes to mind.

Good one, David. I feel this is a really tasteless and unfortunate experiment in marketing. There are many ways to push the envelope - this isn't one of them.

It's just Chris Gaines all over again.