Mary Chapin Carpenter

[stoutfellow]

I only have one album by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Come On, Come On. She may, though, be my favorite female country singer. Patsy Cline had a better voice, I think, and Suzy Bogguss can gut-wrench with the best of them, but I enjoy Carpenter more than either.

One theme extends through several of the songs, with varying stances being taken. "The Bug" ("sometimes you're the windshield...") irreverently looks at the ups and downs of life, chalking things up to fate. "I Feel Lucky", though, puts more of the responsibility on the individual; one after another, omens and signs warn that she's in for a bad day and should stay home, but she defies them because, of course, she "feels lucky" - and she is. "Passionate Kisses" and "The Hard Way" turn from focusing on fate to demanding what the singer deserves. (The former song is humorously intended, but the second includes in its chorus the words "Everything we got we got the hard way.") The pendulum swings yet further in the defiant "I Take My Chances"; she sings "some people say that you shouldn't tempt fate... I say fate should not tempt me." This isn't the passive, reactive position taken by Tammy Wynette; this lady is out for what she can get.

Speaking of Tammy Wynette, it's interesting to contrast her "D-I-V-O-R-C-E", which focuses tightly on the event itself and on its sorrows, with Carpenter's "He Thinks He'll Keep Her", tracing the entire history of a marriage to its breakup and ending, oddly triumphantly, with "Now she's in the typing pool at minimum wage".

But there's another side to Carpenter, and one which actually appeals to me even more. Several of the songs on the list are soft, slow, and melancholy. The elegiac "I Am a Town" nostalgically evokes the heart of the rural South (and it may be my favorite song on the album), and "Only a Dream" and "Rhythm of the Blues" are mournful laments on breakup, filled not with the misery typical of Wynette, but with a grim acceptance and determination. Unlike the songs I named earlier, these feature only the sparest instrumentation - a softly strummed guitar, a gentle piano - and the singer's voice sometimes approaches speaking rhythms.

Rounding out the album are "Not Too Much to Ask" (a duet with Joe Diffie), "Come On Come On", and "Walking Through Fire". The first two are slow-paced love songs, more content than sad; in the last, the singer warns her lover of danger to their relationship, though she still is determined to maintain it.

In an earlier post, I said that the difference between Lesley Gore and Tammy Wynette was, at least partly, one of maturity, with Gore adolescent and Wynette adult. I'm tempted to extend the comparison further: the majority of Carpenter's songs are more mature yet. Where the emotions of the moment seem to swamp the singer in many of Wynette's songs, Carpenter holds steady in the storm. She can take the long view (which also enhances her nostalgic pieces), and she is more responsible, more grounded. I think that's why I like her. (You may point to "I Feel Lucky" as a counterexample, but then, that's probably my least favorite track on the album.)

Comments

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

If you like Come On, Come On, you may want to pick up a copy of her greatest hits album Party Doll and Other Favorites. It has some live versions and other lovely stuff.

I do like "He Thinks He'll Keep Her".

DV

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll look for it.

[filkferengi]

I really enjoyed the video for "I Feel Lucky" and "He Thinks He'll Keep Her." I'm not that familiar with the other stuff, but am about to go hunting the album, you evil, evil man. ;)

Thanks for the recommendation!

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

They're both on the greatest hits one as well.

I *loved* the video for "I Feel Lucky". 'Cause yes, there was a time in the nineties where I thought Dwight Yoakum was a catch too.

DV

[filkferengi]

The video was kicky & funny, but Dwight Yoakum hung out with Buck Owens way too much in his early days to qualify as a catch, back at the dawn of time. ;)

Fortunately, I found the cd quite reasonably priced on half.com [eBay feedback points, yay!

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

Yes.

My grandmother dated Buck Owens. Mom is eternally grateful that they didn't get hitched, as she got her looks from her father's side.

DV (who now has the Streets of Bakersfield stuck in her head)

[filkferengi]

That is a very weird feeling, meeting someone who knew someone who knew someone as a real person, not just the cardboard cutout he played on tv.

Remember Miles' comment in Komarr? Ekaterin asked him if tv made him see his parents strangely, & he replied to the effect that they made him see tv strangely. :)

Re: Mary Chapin Carpenter

[ndrosen.livejournal.com]

I remember "He Thinks He'll Keep Her." I heard it on a shuttle bus years ago, when I was a captive audience for rock and other noise I disliked, but that was different, and I liked it much better. I heard it a couple of times, when it went through its week or whatever of being played on the radio, but I didn't know who had sung it until now.

Maturity

[p-o-u-n-c-e-r.livejournal.com]

If you are the sort of music scrounge who likes digging thru the bargin bins for lost albums you might add K.T. Oslin to your list of artists to look for.

Contemporary with Carpenter but rather over-focused on the "maturity" thing you mention -- she sings several various nice little numbers exactly nailing that theme, and sadly not much else. "Eighties Ladies" (girls of the 50's, growing up ... ) being the archtype. "Hey, Bobby!" is skewed to a _slightly_ younger change of life-stage -- (first time the POV character is able to splurge on a brand new car ...)

Regarding "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" it's strikingly ambiguous. On the one hand she greets him at the door sitting atop, perhaps HIS, packed suitcase and apparently surprises him with news he, admittedly, should have deduced long before, but didn't. She doesn't love HIM anymore, and so kicks him out. On the other hand, it might appear she's tired of carpools and PTA and general mommy-ness and so she packs HER suitcase, and surprises him with the news she doesn't love (plural) "you" -- him and the Xmas card "perfect family" -- anymores, and so she leaves him to cope with the carpool, etc while she starts over a "single" again. It's a Rorshach-test of a story -- how people interpret depends on them more than what's there. In either case, of course, it's HIS fault. Hmmm.

Re: Maturity

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendation.

As for "He Thinks He'll Keep Her": the lyric is clearly "she packs his suitcase". In any case, I hear no imputation of fault in the song, though, with the disputable exception of the line about holding a job for x years "with no increase in pay" - and the problem there is social, not individual. (I seem to recall its being discussed on the LMB list more than once...)