Girls grow up with fairy tales, knights in shining armor, castles in far off places and damsels in distress that need saving. Nowadays, we hear about cowboys with beat up boots and ripped jeans sweating on a farm. I say it's time to get real.
I've been listening to different country radio stations on Spotify so I'm not knocking the genre. Frankly, I listen to that more than anything else, especially now that I'm home for the summer. But one of these playlists has two antithetical songs and it pretty much holds up what girls expect versus the reality.
"She wants a Cowboy" by Dustin Lynch is all about this girl who wants a hot guy riding a horse in a cowboy hat rather than a guy with an expensive car and nice clothes. It's a fairly short and sweet song when you look at just the lyrics. Sounds like "The Longest Ride" to me -- and I could watch that movie on repeat all day long. Super romantic, right? But in the same playlist you get this next song.
Randy Houser is a little more realistic in the spirit of what a cowboy actually is in "Like a Cowboy." The chorus basically sums it up:
I'll ride in on a sunny day,
Sing you a song, steal your heart away
Like a cowboy
Hang my hat like I'm here for a while
Kick off my boots and drive you wild
Like a cowboy
Well baby you know I can't stay long
You wake up, I'll be gone
Girls, it's time for a reality check: You don't want a cowboy, a guy you'll fall for before he escapes in the middle of the night to avoid the fallout. You want a sweet southern boy who's going to love you and take care of you even when you're PMS-level crazy (whether it's that time or not). You want a guy who's going to hold your hand in church, not leave without so much as a "See ya."
You want country, not cowboy.
The expectations of these guys are ridiculous. No wonder the female population complains about how there aren't any decent guys in the world. They see what we think we want and make sure that's what we get and then we turn around and complain about how it's so hard to find someone good. Maybe start holding them to a better standard and not settle for what you see on TV?
Only two-thirds of the relationships on The Bachelor actually end up in a proposal and in 18 seasons only two couples actually got married. Between that and the sister show, The Bachelorette, a grand total of six couples are actually still together out of 30 seasons.
Reality TV is not reality. And neither are country songs. It's time to let go of these images and look for better relationships.
