Alan Jackson - Gone Country

Honey, just 'cause I talk slow doesn't mean I'm stupid.

There are quite a lot of "sophisticated" folks out there that think that Country Music isn't anything but cousin marryin' rednecks who think that the county capital is the "big city".

What's funny is that they don't realize that the joke's on them. There's a deep vein of music about ignorant city slickers who need to get a clue, and nobody's done that better than Alan Jackson.

While long time readers know that I keep a pretty open mind about what "Country Music" is, there's no doubt that Alan Jackson is "real" country. No hiding the twang, or the steel guitar, or the fiddle, his is Old School country. But just because he wears boots and a cowboy hat doesn't mean he's stupid. And that goes beyond the 25 number 1 songs he's recorded.

It's likely that the reason a bunch of the sophisticated types don't like his music is that he's seen the big city, and has chosen the country. He knows what he likes, and while the wine and cheese set is all very nice, it's not for him. It's the rejection of all the Learned Advice from our Betters that stings.

Gone Country captures the sense that "Flyover Country" has that the coastal elites don't think much of them, that it mostly comes from uncritical acceptance of stereotype, and that as people from the elite find out what they're missing, some of 'em will like what they see. Done with a sense of humor, indeed, a twinkle in the eye. Taking that ignorant stereotype and making fun of it.

I hear down there it's changed you see

They're not as backward as they used to be



Gone Country (Songwriter: Bob McDill)

She's been playin' in a room on the Strip
For ten years in Vegas
Every night she looks in the mirror
And she only ages
She's been readin' about Nashville and all
The records that everybody's buyin'
Says 'I'm a simple girl myself
Grew up on Long Island'
So she packs her bags to try to her hand
Says this might be my last chance

She's gone country, look at them boots
She's gone country, back to her roots
She's gone country, a new kind of suit
She's gone country, here she comes

Well the folk scene is dead
But he's holdin' out in the village
He's been writin' songs speakin' out
Against wealth and privilege
He says 'I dont believe in money
But a man could make him a killin'
'Cause some of that stuff don't sound
Much different than Dylan
I hear down there it's changed you see
They're not as backward as they used to be

He's gone country, look at them boots
He's gone country, back to his roots
He's gone country, a new kind of suit
He's gone country, here he comes