Aaron Lewis - Country Boy

If you need an anthem for the Cold Civil War, how do you choose it?  There's something to be said for letting your enemy choose it for you.  The Village Voice teed off on Aaron Lewis, in a screed worthy of the Junior High school paper:

Politics aside, what's most impressive about "Country Boy" is the way that this "country" song is little more than a Staind track that's angry at the government instead of a girl/mom/cruel world. It plods! It's lyrically awkward! Lewis' vocal range is about five notes wide! Do a side-by-side contrast of the new track with Staind chestnuts like "It's Been Awhile"-- the only differences here come from the verse supplied by the beautifully cracked voice of George Jones and the contributions of Charlie Daniels, who schmaltzes up "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" on his fiddle and provides the following message-board-worthy rant over his string-playing:

"I love my country. I love my guns. I love my family. I love the way it is now, and anybody that tries to change it has to come through me. That should be all of our attitudes. Cause this is America, and a country boy is good enough for me, son."

Daniels' mic stays on after that; the producer allows him to ramble a little bit more, perhaps for the purposes of making the song feel more "real". At the very least, indulging him spares us from Lewis yowling New Hampshire's state motto over and over.

"Country Boy" is a relatively recent release, so whether or not it'll catch fire among radio programmers is up in the air.

The selection is made, by the class of urban intellectuals who are our adversary.  This is our anthem because it gives the Right Sort® the vapors, in a belly laugh inducing way.  The poverty of imagination on display here is impressive.  The idea that there are people - intellectuals, even - who think as well (or better) as the Intellectual Class simply never occurs to the writer.  Apologies to the people who wrote my Junior High School paper - they did a lot better job than this.  And Village Voice?  This video has had 16 Million views:



Country Boy (Songwriter: Aaron Lewis)

Well I grew up down an old dirt road in a town you wouldn't know
My pops picked the place up for 1500 bucks back in 1964

My grandfather was a drinker back in the day he put em down
But a war is known to change a man and the whiskey is known to change a man

That's not me
I rarely drink from a bottle but I smoke a little weed
I still live in the sticks where you wouldn't go
In a town of 1200 off an old dirt road
And a country boy is all I'll ever be

Now it's been 12 years since I sold my soul to the devil in L.A.
He said sign your name here on the dotted line and your songs they all will play

He set up shop on sunset, he put me up at the marquee
He said you wanna sell a million records boy you better listen to me

He said change your style, whiten your smile, you could lose a couple of pounds
And if you want to live this life, you better lose that wife, do you need your friends around?

I said, no that's not me
Cause the biggest things in life are your friends and family
And I like my jeans and my old t-shirts
And a couple extra pounds never really hurt
Cause a country boy is all I'll ever be

Cause Hank taught me just how to stay alive
You'll never catch me out the house without my 9 or 45

I got a big orange tractor and a diesel truck
And my idea of heaven is chasing whitetail bucks
And as a country boy you know I can survive

Now two flags fly above my land that really sum up how I feel
One is the colors that fly high and proud
The red, the white and blue
The other ones got a rattlesnake with a simple statement made
"Don't tread on me" is what it says and I'll take that to my grave
Because this is me
I'm proud to be an American and strong in my beliefs

And I've said it before but I'll say it again
Cause I've never needed government to hold my hand
And I've said it before but I'll say it again
Cause my family has always fought and died to save this land
And a country boy is all I'll ever be

The Cold Civil War is fair joined now.  For a long while half the Republic has focused on the common threads that bind us while the other half has busily been snipping them in twain.  Well, all right then.  No more compromise, no more common ground, no more accommodation with people who have contempt for us.  No more "meet in the middle" for people unwilling to actually meet in the middle. 

I for one return their contempt with interest.  I reject their assertion that they are smarter or better than I, simply because they have swallowed whole an unexamined dogma of centralized Statist (I should say Fascist) control by an unelected and unaccountable so-called "elite".  At least their position is now in the open, with no more trying to shade the truth with a soft marketing spin.  Their intent is well announced.  Fine.  So is mine.

The lines are drawn.  The good news is that this brings clarity, that we each of us must choose one side or the other.  Me, I like the side that makes The Village Voice want to call this one of the 20 worst songs of the year.  It's the kicked dog that yelps.