Another one of those almost life-defining moments happened to me just recently. I found myself to be an innocent bystander (of sorts) as several adults in my neighborhood chastised my 14-year-old daughter for the antics she displayed when she performed a living-room dance routine to the song, “Shake That Laffy Taffy,” sung by the rap group called Down For Life (D4L).

Admittedly, the song could be viewed as sexually provocative, which added to my ongoing dilemma as a father of a teenaged daughter. As I listened to my daughter being reprimanded for listening to (rap) music that was “degrading to women,” “vulgar” and “morally corrupt,” I immediately agreed with the several positions offered. But as a musician and performer myself, I realized the inequality of these accusations.

As a singer and musician who performs a mixture of country/western and blues music, I realized that the recurring accusations against rap music as being vulgar, offensive and raunchy — although often well-founded — can also be levied equitably against seemingly untouchable country/western artists.

As an example, we might accuse singer Tim McGraw for his lyrics, “I may drink too much and play too loud” and “I may be a real bad boy/But, baby, I’m a real good man.” Another current country music hit is that of Joe Nichols, who sings, “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.” In yet another song still on the top of the country charts, Leann Womack sings “I may hate myself in the morning/But I’m gonna love you tonight.”

If these are not “raunchy” enough, perhaps Big and Rich’s song titled “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.” In this song, these two country artists sing about how “I’m a thoroughbred. That’s what she said, in the back of my truck bed. As I was gettin’ buzzed on suds, out on some back country road. We were flying high, dining, wine, having ourselves a big and rich time, and I was going just about as far as she’d let me go.”

Dwight Yoakum, a now legendary country singer who remains among the top country artists today, sings “She Wore Red Dresses.” Here’s a sample of the lyrics:

“I searched ’til I found them, and I cursed at the sight

“Of their sleeping shadows, in the cold neon light,

“In the dark morning silence, I placed the gun to her head.

“She wore red dresses, but now she lay dead.”

The Dixie Chicks, an infamous female country group, sings “Good-bye Earl,” about a young girl who had to wear shades to hide the bruises left by her new husband. The young bride and her best friend poisoned and killed the young groom and buried him in the backyard. All of this was concealed when the police came to search for the missing groom. The catchphrase of the song was “Earl had to die.”

Garth Brooks of worldwide country music notoriety, sang, “Papa Loved Mama,” a song which tells of a truck-driving father who is often away from home. According to the lyrics of the song, “Mama loved men,” and was in a hotel room one night with one of her male acquaintances when Papa drove his semi-truck through the hotel room in a violent attempt to hurt Mama and her “acquaintance.” The song ends telling, “Mama’s in the graveyard, Papa’s in the pen.”

And let’s not forget Steve Goodman’s lyrics, “I got drunk the day my mom got out of prison.”

Both types of music clearly tell the real-life situations of the artists singing them. Makes me wonder why it is that when rap artists sing about illicit sex, drugs and other supposed vices, we somehow find it offensive and disrespectful. But when country/western artists sing parallel songs, we don’t even recognize it?

Perhaps we’re being a bit unfair to rap music?

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