I have a certain fondness for old-timey hillbilly music, the kind of stuff you can find on any number of great compilations on Yazoo records. But sometimes, alas, the lyrics to the songs reflect some old-timey bigotries that are much less charming than the music itself. Poking around on YouTube earlier today looking for the stuff I ran across this little ditty:
The lyrics:
Well, it’s a shame to whip your wife on Sunday.
Yes, it’s a shame to whip your wife on Sunday.
When you’ve got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
It’s a shame to whip your wife on Sunday.
It’s a shame to get drunk on Sunday.
Yes, it’s a shame to get drunk on Sunday.
When you’ve got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
It’s a shame to get drunk on Sunday.
Pity about the lyrics, because it’s got such a nice little banjo riff.
Cleanse your ears out with this song, a perky little number called “Hallelujah to the Lamb,” that I think would leave even Satan himself tapping his cloven hooves.
Well isn’t that… special.
Well, bless his heart. He always was [i]such[/i] a card.
It’s so messed up that he sings about whipping his wife and then sings about fishing, playing cards, and drinking as if they’re all the same kind of activity.
@thebionicmommy: The only way this makes sense to me is if “whipping your wife” is an euphemism for sex.
I suppose you don’t like the song “Wee Cooper O’Fife”?
We mention God quite frequently during Thanksgiving: “God dammit when’s dinner going to be ready?” “Goddam, this is good food!” Etc.
I’m trying to understand it even from his perspective. If playing cards, getting drunk, whipping your wife, etc., are all sinful and shameful things that you shouldn’t do on a holy day, then where does fishing fit in? Is it the sloth? Are we dealing with a puritanical worldview where everything remotely pleasurable is automatically sinful?
BlackBloc: I vote for your explanation to be the official one.
Maybe it’s the earliest known instance of “edgy” humor?
“It’s a shame to whip your wife… ON SUNDAY! Gotcha!”
Robert Johnson, “Me and the Devil Blues.”
Unpossible.
Oh, that makes a big difference. Of all the euphemisms for sex, though, why that? He made it sound way worse than it really was.
Hah. I remember hearing a Nirvana cover of that song. I always thought it was meant to be pretty tongue in cheek.
I don’t know what to say! One day out of seven–especially if it is the Sabbath–ain’t bad! There is still time to learn about the other six days, after which he will believe that it is ” a shame to beat your wife, or to get drunk”, seven days out of seven.
Like all civilization, improvement takes place slowly, if at all!
Enjoy the music!
He also forgot to say if his nearest and dearest wasn’t especially lovable and obedient on Sundays, hence nullifying his need either to get drunk, or to thrash her. Just a thought.
“He also forgot to say if his nearest and dearest wasn’t especially lovable and obedient on Sundays, hence nullifying his need either to get drunk, or to thrash her. Just a thought.”
You know human beings as a whole get grumpy, snarly, and angry sometimes, right? Not just men?
Yes. Yes it is.
The next time you have a thought… Let it go.
You know human beings as a whole get grumpy, snarly, and angry sometimes, right? Not just men?
this response assumes dkm considers women to be human. you know this isnt true.
WOMEN are certainly human! “Modern women” and feminists, I am not so sure about! Women can have many human, indeed lovable qualities, and nobody in his right mind would want to beat them, on Sunday or any other day.
Androgynous, man-hating, opinionated and over-educated modern feminists, on the other hand, given that men (except for saints, perhaps) have our flaws, moral and otherwise, may provoke what neither they nor the men that they are with, want, and the unhappy result is a visit to the ER for her, and to jail for him, and nobody wins!
Even for you, Meller, what was the point of that post other than to excuse domestic violence?
WOMEN are certainly human! “Modern women” and feminists, I am not so sure about! Women can have many human, indeed lovable qualities, and nobody in his right mind would want to beat them, on Sunday or any other day.”
So by the time this song was current, Modern Women had already taken over?
P.S. – Did I just fail to happify my husband enough when he knocked my tooth out?
Meller: But it’s totally and always wrong to hit, isn’t it? That’s what you keep saying, but you always seem to find exceptions.
I certainly did NOT :”excuse” domestic violence. Read the final sentence: “She goes to the ER, he goes to jail, and nobody wins!”
Domestic violence is a foul and tragic phenomenon which cannot end soon enough. However, denying the possibility, if not likelihood, that women could do A LOT more to prevent what they supposedly don’t want anyway–I am sidestepping the ‘good fight before a good night’ type of couple where what we call DV may well be consensual with both partners–is simply good sense! Wives or ladyloves KNOW what their men like and don’t like, and too often respond in just the way to provoke the response. No surprises, I hope.
Don’t ask DKM stuff like that, zhinxy. His answer will always be “Yes”.
Meller: So it’s wrong to hit someone unless they provoke you? This seems to be the takeaway from you posts – don’t hit your wife, unless she’s mouthy, then go ahead.
“Domestic violence is a foul and tragic phenomenon which cannot end soon enough. However, denying the possibility, if not likelihood, that women could do A LOT more to prevent what they supposedly don’t want anyway–I am sidestepping the ‘good fight before a good night’ type of couple where what we call DV may well be consensual with both partners–is simply good sense!”
Fuck you and your complete misunderstanding of BDSM, DKM.