Miranda Lambert - Gunpowder and Lead

She has graced the cover of Garden and Gun magazine. She has a Concealed Carry handgun permit. And she has the prodigious talent to distill into a song the reason for the Second Amendment.

This week's Saturday Redneck is a repeat, from the very beginning of this blog, before I had developed the experience to do the song justice. But ASM826 posted one of her amazing songs this week, which reminded me of just how lucky we are to have Miranda Lambert writing country music.

Lambert's big break was on the first season of Nashville Star, country music's answer to American Idol. She came in third, but only because the show didn't highlight writing talent. Two years after the show, her album Kerosene went platinum. Two years after that, Gunpowder and Lead was a top ten hit and was nominated for CMA single of the year.

A song that works on all levels has to combine several things in a delicate balance. The tune has to be musically interesting, the lyrics have to paint a mental picture, and the subject matter needs to be something that captures the imagination. It's been said that each country music song is about you, or about someone that you know. Sadly, this astonishing song likely lives up to that.



This video was made as a class project. It's amazingly good for a fan video. Watch it all the way to the end for the full effect.

Gunpowder and Lead (Songwriters: Miranda Lambert, Heather Little):

County road 233, under my feet
Nothin' on this white rock but little ol' me
I've got two miles till, he makes bail
And if I'm right we're headed straight for hell

I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight, well now he's got one
And he ain't seen me crazy yet
He slapped my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don't that sound like a real man?
I'm gonna show him what little girls are made of
Gunpowder and lead

Well it's half past ten, another six pack in
And I can feel the rumble like a cold black wind
He pulls in the drive, gravel flies
He don't know what's waitin' here this time

Hey I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight well now he's got one
And he ain't seen me crazy yet
He slapped my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don't that sound like a real man?
I'm gonna show him what little girls are made of
Gunpowder and lead

His fist is big but my gun's bigger
He'll find out when I pull the trigger

I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight well now he's got one
And he ain't seen me crazy yet
He slapped my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don't that sound like a real man?
I'm gonna show him what little girls are made of
Gunpowder and,
Gunpowder and lead

Gunpowder and lead, yeah

Lambert says that the inspiration for this song came when she was growing up. Her parents took in abused women and their children, and Lambert shared her bedroom with a mother and her daughter.

"The song is actually about waiting for a husband to get out of jail so she can shoot him," Miranda told Dial-Global. "But it came from a real place in my life. When I was 14 years old, my parents took in abused women and children. I had to share my room with a mom and daughter. And my brother had to share with two brothers, and their mom lived downstairs, and it was a three-bedroom house. It really has a meaning to me."

Real meaning? Boy, howdy.

All in all, a much better post about this fabulous song than the first one. But I still have to agree on one thing from that post:

And for those of you not from the South, yes, "bail" and "hell" do in fact rhyme. Why did you ask?

We shall watch young Miss Lambert's career with great interest.