Covington's "Different World" in a World of It's Own.
You know, I'm not exactly sure how old Season5 American Idol finalist Bucky Covington actually is, but I know he isn't yet even 30, and probably not even 25. In his debut single, "A Different World," which is, to my disappointment, not the theme from the 198o's Cosby Show spin-off, Covington croons about a redneck's idealized version of what seems to be the 1950's, when times were simpler and, once presumes, better. It's a backwoods paradise where moms smoked and drank, cars had no seatbelts, and there were only three channels on TV, and Covington sings about it as if were his childhood that he's describing. That may be the case for whoever actually wrote the song, but the Buckster is, as I stated above, in about his mid-20's and thus came of age in the 1980's and 90's where the dangers of smoking and drinking were well documented, seatbelts were nearly universal and their use mandated in many states, and cable channels proliferated.
However, Covington has become a stronger singer than he was back in his Idol days, and "A Different World" really isn't such a bad song if you don't think too much about it--which I suppose is true for all country music (and the majority of rock and pop, too, to be fair.)
2 comments:
The message is definitely in the sentiment in the song, as it is in most Country music. "Mothers who smoked and drank" and "got Daddy's belt when we misbehaved" probably hasn't been PC for a while now.
But, I have to disagree with you about other aspects of the song. Drinkin' from the garden hose/no bottled water and three TV channels are just a couple of things that Bucky certainly is old enough to have experienced. Cable TV was not available to many small towns throughout the country until well into the '90s.
I think there are a lot of songs that don't necessarily fully reflect a singers' experience, though.
Anyway, I like Bucky's sound a lot, and am planning to buy his CD when it comes out in April.
You're right about the cable TV..We lived just outside of a small town when I was growing up, and now that you mention it I do remember that while the town proper had cable by the mid-80s, it didn't get out to our area until about '89 or '90...and actually I believe that my brother's ex-girlfriend lives so far out that cable lines still haven't reached her.
I probably won't buy the CD--unless its as a birthday present for my niece who turns 12 on the 18th--but, as I say in the last paragraph, for the most part its a pretty good song and Bucky is a good singer.
btw...thanks for the comment
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