Weekly Written Analysis 3

The topic I chose for this week’s summary is the song “Good Directions” by Billy Currington. This song is basically a love song. There is a man sitting on a truck selling turnip greens. A woman pulls up and asks for directions. He gives her directions which include stopping at the local store to get some sweet tea. He tells her to turn left and that will take her back to the interstate. She does not get on the interstate but she comes back to him.
There are a few stereotypes in this song. The song stereotypes the man selling turnip greens as a redneck. When I am listening to this song I picture a man in dirty clothes sitting on the bed of an old pickup truck. The song also stereotypes the woman asking for directions as a sophisticated Hollywood type. The stereotype of the man may be somewhat true. The stereotype of the woman must be incorrect because she came back to him. If she was so high class or sophisticated she would not have come back to him.
I think the song also stereotypes the south as a friendly place. For example, he tells the woman to ask Miss Bell for some of her sweet tea. There are not too many places these days where people are that generous. I used to live in Georgia so I know that type of hospitality does exist in some parts of Georgia. In the song the man refers to himself as an old fool because he didn’t ask for her name. He also says she wouldn’t like me anyhow. I think that is an inferred stereotype. The man thinks that the woman is out of his league. He thinks that she is too good for him. This is a common way that stereotypes can have a negative effect on someone. He is stereotyped as being a country boy and she is stereotyped as being a Hollywood type therefore he thinks that she would not be interested in her.
This song also has somewhat of a ritual to it as well. The man giving directions does so without thinking about it. This makes me think that he must get a few people asking for directions each day when he selling turnip greens. It is his ritual to tell people to see Miss Bell for sweet tea and then tell them how to get back to the interstate. This ritual helped him find love.


References
Currington, B. (2009). Good Directions. Retrieved June 7, 2009, from Cowboylyrics.com: http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/currington-billy/good-directions-16463.html