"Goodbye Earl"

Paper Summary:

This paper deals with public outcry against certain country music songs dealing with domestic abuse, namely, "Goodbye Earl" by the Dixie Chicks. It asserts that the public's outrage over the song, rather than the topic the song examines, is a result of socially sanctioned gender roles as well as a misunderstanding of the phenomenon of spousal abuse.

From the Paper:

"Troubled relationships have long been a focus of popular music. From break-ups and resultant depression to serious battery and final retribution, popular music has served as a constant commentary on human beings and their failed attempts at romantic relationships. While most singers and songwriters tend to focus on the more accessible topic of painful separations when looking at failed relationships, many have also taken a close look at the darker side of these relationships, when love transforms into violence. Before the 1960s, most songs dealing with the subject of domestic violence focused only on the abuse and, in some cases, the eventual death of the female partner. It wasn t until the sexual revolution that songs about domestic violence began to be sung from the perspective of the abused."

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