One Red Hot Country Mama!

I really liked the song Hey There Delilah by the Plain White Ts until I listened to the lyrics while on the subway the other morning… and realized it was just another Cinderella song – where the guy is going to save the girl from her life through him fulfilling his dream to be a rock star. What a waste of 99c! To make it more interesting, I did a find-replace on Delilah and changed it to Eddy. It seems more ridiculous to put a guy in this hopeless waiting-for-someone-else-to-succeed mode. I am sad to say that we are used to women being portrayed in this way.

Hey there Eddy
I know times are getting hard
But just believe me boy
Someday I’ll pay the bills with this guitar
We’ll have it good
We’ll have the life we knew we would
My word is good

So – why can’t Delilah pay her own bills? Why does she need someone to rescue her this way?

Hey there Eddy
You be good and don’t you miss me
Two more years and you’ll be done with school
And I’ll be making history like I do
You’ll know it’s all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Eddy here’s to you
This ones for you

It looks like Delilah’s highest ambition is to finish school, and the singer’s highest ambition is to make history. Well, it doesn’t sound quite like an equal relationship does it?

I am so tired of hearing so many young girls born in the 80s say that they are just waiting to marry rich… I just want better for them than that. I want them to try at life and pass and fail and feel what it is like to do things their own way. Then relationships can be about love and companionship rather than about how fat the guy’s wallet is.

But hey, I guess lots of people value that Cinderella fantasy more than they value their daughters/nieces/sisters/aunts/mothers/wives/friends/girlfriends/lovers making the most of who they are.