Prompt: "A song about a man"
Selected by Maeve
"Goodbye Earl"
The Chicks
Fly, 1999
I fucking loooooove a story song. Is that what they're even called? Like a full blown narrative... maybe that's why I'm such a huge fan of songs from musicals. I love that the songs move the plot along and tell you all of the important exposition. "Goodbye Earl" was a classic "blast repeatedly at ten years old in my room and learn every single word" song. It's great.
The plot of this song centers around Mary Anne and Wanda who "were the best of friends / All through their high school days." After high school, Mary Anne left their small town and Wanda stayed put, marrying Earl. It carries on explaining how awful and abusive Earl is, but instead of becoming a sad song, it becomes an empowering country-pop hit about how these friends decide to kill this asshole. Not necessarily a lesson that I needed at ten years old, but I guess my takeaway at that time was probably about how he was a bad guy and their strong friendship was important. I don't know... it was/is just fun to sing. Plus, the video is great!
Of course, I'm now reading that there was controversy surrounding this song. People thought this was advocating premeditated murder? Lord almighty. But apparently the album notes included the disclaimer, "The Dixie Chicks do not advocate premeditated murder, but do love getting even."
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