July 21, 2004
Culture
Our town takes pride in its self-proclaimed moniker, Music City USA. After all, what else might you call the home of the Grand Ol’ Opry? But if you also happen to have a full-scale copy of the Parthenon in the middle of your downtown park, you might also try Athens of the South.
Country music and Greek mythology don’t always pop into one’s mind simultaneously, but when they do, we’ve got the answer. It isn’t exactly Michaelangelo, but “Musica” is our new sculpture of the muses, forty-feet tall and buck-naked, dancing in a round-a-bout down on Music Row. (The fact that we’re also sometimes known as the Buckle on the Bible Belt doesn’t exactly distract attention from the new work of art.) When negotiating that intersection, however, it’s best to be a passenger if you want to get the full, anatomically correct view.
Nevertheless and not to be daunted, one of our many resident wannabe composers has, of course, come up with just what the Chamber of Commerce feared. The latest hit (and it’s all over the internet, I’m told) is, you guessed it, “Hillbilly Porn.” The chorus — “If it makes you think dirty / go ahead and honk your horn / Oh, the mayor done bought us some hillbilly porn.”
(To hear the whole song, go to