fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on Jun 17, 2017 2:56:26 GMT -5
Hoping my #1 can be #1 but I feel like my #2 has a better chance of being #1. I would love to be proven wrong though!
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YotamTS
2x Platinum Member
"It's funny how the music put times in perspective. Add a soundtrack to your life and perfect it"
Joined: December 2015
Posts: 2,503
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Post by YotamTS on Jun 17, 2017 3:27:49 GMT -5
I have my #1 & #4 remaining. I will be happy with both winning because they're both two great country songs. I still prefer my #1 to win though.
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Post by The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷 on Jun 17, 2017 9:06:07 GMT -5
It's not my top 3, but how can u lose with Kacey songs?? Lol Most songs would be deserving of a top3
Have to say though, seeing Dime Store Cowgirl so high is sort of a vindication it should've been a big hit for her... the fact that it didn't even chart its a crime
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toomuchboy
6x Platinum Member
Joined: October 2012
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Post by toomuchboy on Jun 17, 2017 9:26:49 GMT -5
My #2 and #3 made it to the end at least. I adore both of these songs.
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.indulgecountry
Diamond Member
Best Country Poster 2011, 2017, & 2018
"You left a mark on my face // And brought a dozen red flags in a vase"
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Post by .indulgecountry on Jun 17, 2017 12:57:13 GMT -5
Not surprised by this final 2 even though "Dime Store Cowgirl" is my fave. I'm glad it made the Top 3 at least. <333
"Merry Go Round" ftw please!
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Sambalada
8x Platinum Member
Founder of Rankdown ca. 2016
Mmmmmmmm....
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Post by Sambalada on Jun 17, 2017 19:46:31 GMT -5
Runner-Up: Merry Go 'Round - 452 points"Mama's hooked on Mary Kay. Brother's hooked on Mary Jane. Daddy's hooked on Mary two doors down. Mary, Mary quite contrary. We get bored, so, we get married Just like dust, we settle in this town. On this broken merry go 'round and 'round and 'round we go Where it stops nobody knows and it ain't slowin' down. This merry go 'round."#1: zaclord 🌈#1: Au$tin#1: Kurt#1: zjames#1: fearlessarrow#2: recordyear#3: toomuchboy#3: The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷#3: castleoblivion26#3: Linnethia Monique#4: Daryl the Beryl#4: .indulgecountry#4: someguy#4: austin#4: Kanenrá:ke#4: YotamTS#5: dm2081#5: Sambalada#13: bboat11#22: d3vin44AVG: 4.4 SD: 4.903274953 (4th lowest) Winner: Follow Your Arrow - 457 points"If you save yourself for marriage You're a bore If you don't save yourself for marriage You're a whore-able person If you won't have a drink Then you're a prude But they'll call you a drunk As soon as you down the first one
If you can't lose the weight Then you're just fat But if you lose too much Then you're on crack You're damned if you do And you're damned if you don't So you might as well just do Whatever you want So
Make lots of noise Kiss lots of boys Or kiss lots of girls If that's something you're into When the straight and narrow Gets a little too straight Roll up a joint, or don't Just follow your arrow Wherever it points, yeah Follow your arrow Wherever it points
If you don't go to church You'll go to hell If you're the first one On the front row You're self-righteous Son of a- Can't win for losing You'll just disappoint 'em Just 'cause you can't beat 'em Don't mean you should join 'em
So make lots of noise Kiss lots of boys Or kiss lots of girls If that's something you're into When the straight and narrow Gets a little too straight Roll up a joint, or don't Just follow your arrow Wherever it points, yeah Follow your arrow Wherever it points
Say what you think Love who you love 'Cause you just get So many trips 'round the sun Yeah, you only Only live once
So make lots of noise Kiss lots of boys Or kiss lots of girls If that's what you're into When the straight and narrow Gets a little too straight Roll up a joint, I would And follow your arrow Wherever it points, yeah Follow your arrow Wherever it points"#1: Daryl the Beryl#1: recordyear#1: castleoblivion26#1: austin#1: Linnethia Monique#1: YotamTS#1: Sambalada#2: toomuchboy#2: zaclord 🌈#2: someguy#2: Kurt#2: zjames#2: fearlessarrow#3: d3vin44#4: The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷#7: Au$tin#9: Kanenrá:ke#10: .indulgecountry#10: dm2081#21: bboat11AVG: 4.15 SD: 5.039580183
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Leo ✔
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Julia Michaels Stan
Happy happy happy ♪
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Post by Leo ✔ on Jun 17, 2017 20:01:35 GMT -5
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OMG :c
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Jun 17, 2017 20:07:04 GMT -5
happy with these results, "Follow Your Arrow" is a great song and very deserving
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Au$tin
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Post by Au$tin on Jun 17, 2017 20:09:47 GMT -5
Aww, damn it! :(
It was so close too!
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toomuchboy
6x Platinum Member
Joined: October 2012
Posts: 6,733
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Post by toomuchboy on Jun 17, 2017 20:56:27 GMT -5
So happy FYA won. :)
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recordyear
Diamond Member
album listener
Joined: January 2017
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Post by recordyear on Jun 17, 2017 21:50:11 GMT -5
The top 2 has the same rank as I ranked them
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zaclord 🌈
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Jesus Jamz POTY
It'll all be alright...
Joined: July 2009
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Post by zaclord 🌈 on Jun 17, 2017 21:54:05 GMT -5
Whoa, all but TWO people had Merry Go Round top 5! Love both songs so much, but Merry Go Round is hands-down the greatest song of all-time in my opinion. I love Follow Your Arrow SO much, but it cannot hold a candle to Merry Go Round's lyrical genius.
First, Kacey and company SO accurately describe small town life that everyone I know that grew up in a small town said "wow, that's my hometown in this song" when they heard it. Kacey has SUCH a pulse on how small town life goes, like I mentioned before. The first time I heard this song was when I was driving in Nashville. I don't listen to radio, but I had somehow found this song (probably from someone posting on here or it was featured on iTunes or something) and added it to my current music playlist without listening to it, since that's what I usually do with new music. I was driving in a parking lot about to go into the mall and when I heard the song I literally pulled my car into the first parking spot I could find because I was so taken aback by the lyrics. I listened to it five or six times in a row and was completely astonished at how accurately it depicted my hometown and it made me cry for those people I knew that got sucked back into this broken merry go round of life. Every single lyric in this song adds to the heartbreak and the complacency of where I grew up and it broke my heart.
If you ain't got two kids by 21, you're probably gonna die alone - at least that's what tradition told you So many of the people I grew up with had dreams and ambition, but ended up getting married and/or having kids young (which is completely fine), but it makes me wonder how much of this was by choice, and how much was due to the fact that this is what small town life teaches you: get married right out of high school, or by your early 20s at the latest and then have kids right away (if not prior). There's hardly any room for dreams and ambition when you're raising a family.
And it don't matter if you don't believe, come Sunday morning you best be there in the front row, like you're s'posed to The South is hailed as the Bible Belt, but the vast majority of the kids I grew up with, you would never know they were Christians by the way they act. Church is a requirement that again is in place by small town society. I never learned what having a relationship with Jesus was truly like until I went away to college and made the decision to go to church on my own. When church is compulsory, you don't really learn or grow in the same way, which is why you show up, sit there, dose off the whole time, leave, and then repeat week after week.
Same hurt in every heart. Same trailer, different park What I said earlier about how literally everyone that I've talked to about this song that grew up in a small town said that this song so accurately depicts their hometown proves how true this lyric is. This whole song speaks in generalities (not talking about one individual or group), but at the same time is so specific that people literally visualize their lives and experiences when hearing it.
We think the first time's good enough so we hold on to high school love. Say we won't end up like our parents Going back to the young marriage, the number of people who marry their high school sweethearts or the first serious relationship they are in as an "adult" is astronomical. There are so many people I went to high school with that are now married to each other. Some didn't marry high school sweethearts, but they married the first person that came along that was "good enough".
Tiny little boxes in a row. Ain't want you want it's what you know, just happy in the shoes you're wearin' This is my favorite line in the verses of this song because it hits at the core of the issue here. Ambition is thrown out the window for the majority of people in small town life. There are no dreams to chase. There are no risks to take. Nobody leaves to experience what life could be like elsewhere. Life is fine enough as it is, so they let it continue. They see no reason to change what they know and what they are comfortable with, so they stay. Forever.
Mamas hooked on Mary Kay. Brothers hooked on Mary Jane. And Daddies hooked on Mary two doors down Drugs, culture's definition of beauty, and affairs all show how little people in small town life value themselves as individuals. They're not living lives that they want - they are just living in a way that is acceptable; in a way that is the best that they possibly could conceptualize in this small town.
Mary Mary quite contrary. We get bored so we get married and just like dust we settle in this town on this broken merry go 'round and 'round and 'round we go, where it stops nobody knows. And it ain't slowin' down, this merry go 'round I once had a conversation with someone on Pulse that criticized this song by saying that a merry go round wouldn't spin if it were broken, so the round and round motion of the wheel didn't make sense. I'm pretty sure I went on a 3 paragraph tirade about how wrong they were. The merry go round is broken in the sense that normal merry go rounds will eventually stop because of physics, however, in this song the continuously spinning merry go round symbolizes the never-ending cycle of complacency in small towns. The merry go round never ends because the cycle never ends. The merry go round is broken as is the natural tendency in these individuals to strive and dream. Their kids, grandkids, great grandkids, etc. will live the same lives that they did and the cycle will continue forever. You get bored so you get married. You use the checks you earn to buy distraction from the fact that you are not truly happy. It's about settling for what you have and not dreaming of what you could become. The line just like dust we settle in this town is the most heartbreakingly beautiful analogy I have ever heard and it ties everything from this song together in these few little words. Dust settles because there is nothing moving it anywhere - people also settle for the same reason. Without people in your life (friends, parents, siblings, etc.) to encourage you in a direction other than the constant cycle of complacency, you're going to settle where you land.
I could go on and on and on and on about how magically Kacey uses language to craft the perfect image of life in a small town. There has never been a song to so beautifully and intelligently use language to make a true work of art. This song stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it, and it continues to amaze me every single time I listen to it. Growing up in a small town (albeit as a transplant, not part of the cycle), I see how my friends have fallen into this life and how easily this could have been me as well. Luckily my family and friends financially and personally supported me to follow my dreams, and continued to support and encourage me when those dreams changed. They wouldn't let me settle even if I wanted to. I love my job; I love who I am; I love my life; and I love the potential I have in front of me. If I had stayed in my hometown instead of moving to Nashville for college, maybe I would be married to the girl I dated in high school and have kids already and work for the manufacturing plant that my dad manages. Maybe I'd be doing something different, and maybe I would have gotten out of the cycle eventually. But there is no doubt that I would be a completely different person than I am today without pursuing my dreams.
Many of my favorite country songs are about death and with "Merry Go 'Round" it is no exception. This song is all about death; the death of aspiration. So while Kacey's "don't give a fuck", yet motivational attitude and the clever lyrical genius of "Follow Your Arrow" is nothing short of incredible and anthemic, it cannot hold a candle to the honesty, the longing, the ache, the truth in Kacey's lyrics and vocal performance of "Merry Go 'Round". So while it may have not won this rankdown, it is and forever will be my favorite song and the greatest piece of musical art I will ever experience.
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LBTrocks
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Post by LBTrocks on Jun 17, 2017 22:17:23 GMT -5
Well... at least "Blowin Smoke" made top 10. "Follow Your Arrow" is cute and I like the lyrics but man, her vocals are really weak on it and makes the song a chore to listen to. bboat11 I'm surprised you dislike it but that makes me happy cuz it will hopefully mean you ranked it lower in the 2014 rankdown . I really don't want the song to win that rankdown too lol.
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2017 22:24:48 GMT -5
Well... at least "Blowin Smoke" made top 10. "Follow Your Arrow" is cute and I like the lyrics but man, her vocals are really weak on it and makes the song a chore to listen to. bboat11 I'm surprised you dislike it but that makes me happy cuz it will hopefully mean you ranked it lower in the 2014 rankdown . I really don't want the song to win that rankdown too lol. Oh gosh if that song doesn't win, I have a feeling there'll be a massive riot in that thread.
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YotamTS
2x Platinum Member
"It's funny how the music put times in perspective. Add a soundtrack to your life and perfect it"
Joined: December 2015
Posts: 2,503
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Post by YotamTS on Jun 18, 2017 0:44:35 GMT -5
Yay FYA won Thanks for hosting Sam!
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fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on Jun 18, 2017 6:53:21 GMT -5
I really wanted to see "Merry Go 'Round" win :( I love "Follow Your Arrow" but MGR is one of my favorite country songs of all time so I'm really sad that it lost to FYA.
Melody is usually the aspect that gets me hooked to a song, but MGR was one of the rare songs where the lyrics really drew me in.
Great rankdown!!!
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