Well, the question wasn't about the song (well written and performed), but the message in the song.

Although the song co-joins "Bible" and "belt", it's really a song about using a belt to punish bad behavior. The singer tells how he was taught to "respect" and "fear" both the belt and the Bible. Two examples were given of incidents worthy of being hit by a belt: lying, and refusing to take back a stolen comic. The belt was applied hard enough to leave a welt.

It implies that now that he has kids he's taking the Bible and belt route with his own children. He admits that some kids were raised without the Bible and belt, and sort of implies that it's rare these days that parents use the two.

The fundamental thesis is that many of the problems he sees in people stem from parents "sparing the rod" (so to speak).

It's a popular sentiment, but from the bio on his webpage it appears that Rory is the father of two girls (likely young adults by now). Do you think he took his girls "behind the shed" and belted them hard enough to raise a welt?

I doubt it.

My own personal experience as a child was that while a belt was a memorable experience, it wasn't particularly effective at changing behavior in the long run. (I'll concede that I never got as severe a belting as the singer appears to advocate).

Speaking as a father of four, I can't imagine a situation where I'd belt my kid, and I can't imagine a situation where it would be helpful in creating long term behavior modification.

Last edited by dcuny; 01/05/12 02:13 PM.
-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?