Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a big fan of country music. Quite frankly, it’s in my blood. I can’t not love it. But I’ve been getting frustrated by the rise in political messages found in the music. It started with 9/11 (Stars and Stripes by Aaron Tippin, Red, White, and Blue by Toby Keith, and Have You Forgotten? by Darryl Worley, just to name a few), and it seems to have continued with Darryl Worley’s new song that is a direct message against our President.
The song is called Keep the Change and would be clever, had that phrase not already been worn out since Obama first began campaigning.
Let me be clear on one thing before I take a look at the lyrics. I don’t fault him for using his voice to say what he wants. We all have the right to say and think what we want to – even when it’s inappropriate. My purpose here is to show how arrogantly ignorant the lyrics are – not to say the song shouldn’t have been recorded or played on the radio (funny thing though, I haven’t heard it on the mainstream country station here in the Triangle – I heard it on the very conservative small town station from a few towns away).
If you see me hold my hand over my heart
Before I start the pledge of allegiance
There’s a reason
It’s to honor those who died
I can’t really say anything negative about this part. It’s a great way to catch your attention for the song though – declaring how patriotic you are.
And if you see me close my eyes and bow my head
Before I break bread with my family
It ain’t a habit, it’s important
It’s my right
Yes. It is your right to do so. Just like it’s my right not to do so. For some reason, you never see the good God fearin’ man standing up for my right not to believe in God.
I work half the year for me
The other half for Uncle Sam
While he’s bailin’ out those sinkin’ ships
And drownin’ the little man
I watch the news and have to wonder
If this country’s goin’ crazy
Talkin’ ’bout how much they love it here
But how they want to rearrange it
Okay, I get it. You’re questioning why we want to change something we claim to love so much. But, maybe that’s why? Progress is inevitable. Change is inevitable. And those who are seeking change are trying to make things better. It doesn’t always work out like that, but there are definitely a lot of things about this country that *do* need changing.
I’m just your average Joe
And that makes me smart enough to know
There’s a bunch of us out here
That feel the same
Wanna keep our God, our freedom
A little money in the bank
Y’all can keep the change
No one is trying to take anything away from anyone. Ever. That’s the exact opposite of what the majority of people want. Okay let me rephrase – no one this song is directed at is trying to take anything away from anyone.
We want you to be able to keep your God. Just like we want you to leave us be and not force your God into our living rooms. The point of keeping church and state separate? It’s so that you can live and worship your way and I can live and not worship mine.
It’s that simple.
Now the fat cats on the hill acting so brilliant
Ain’t smart enough to notice
That we’re angry
And that America’s in trouble
If they don’t wise up and stop
Bustin’ out the blocks that were laid
As a foundation well our nation
Could wake up in a pile of rubble
I can only assume that he’s referring to the belief that this country is a Christian nation founded on the principles of the Bible. See above.
They say we’re making progress
But it’s a big old shame to me
Common sense ain’t near as common
As it used to be
Finally! He said something I agree with 100%!
The rest of the song is mostly repeating the chorus and other lyrics. To what end? Clearly his message is anti-Obama and anti anything that doesn’t involve faith.
I really wish that people would stop being so defensive long enough to see things objectively and realize that just because someone doesn’t believe in the same things it doesn’t mean that they want to oppress or subdue you and yours.
I agree pretty much with what this song says. I don’t know how anyone can say that “No one is trying to take anything away from anyone. Ever.” Of course they are, all the time. Whenever Government gets bigger something has to get small, mainly the amount of money we get to keep. I think Abraham Lincoln summed it up very well:
“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”
This song is right on the money.
“I really wish that people would stop being so defensive long enough to see things objectively and realize that just because someone doesn’t believe in the same things it doesn’t mean that they want to oppress or subdue you and yours.”
I always used to put this down to projection. Sad to say, a lot of the people listening to this music* aren’t bothered by oppression. They’re just bothered that it’s (allegedly) being done to them rather than by them.
These days my opinion is different. I speculate that, from the point of view of the people involved in this sort of political activity, the actual topic isn’t as important as the opportunity for outrage. Outrage is saleable: it helps them build and reinforce their support bases, and demonstrate their commitment to the “tribe”. Truth is an optional extra.
It would be really nice to do some proper research on this to figure out which hypothesis (if either) is accurate. But I have no clue where to start. Anyone got any ideas?
* I shouldn’t single out conservatives here; this applies to people on all sides of the debate.