[Ichneumon]

My antennae first went up with the "Earl" song and video...straight out of "women's studies" and only slighty funny...

I saw more as a very true to C&W song. In Texas, for example, there's the unwritten "he needed killin'" defense to a murder charge.

[wardaddy]

I doubt "she needed killin" would have elicited the same innocuous sensibility from those who feel as you do.

Imagine Travis Tritt does a whoop it up and holler song with his buddies about killing his wife and then disposing of her body cause she was being mean or cheating....lol...I can see CMT really playing that one up.

No, in reality...men singing about killing their women is usually more somber like Hey Joe or Down by the River.....songs about anger and despair.....and sadness. Nothing remotely like that with Earl....it was more like the Timothy song of lore from the 60s...a joke...only for some.