Saturday, April 1, 2017

Jerry Jeff Walker - Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother

How come I never heard this song before the Queen Of The World looked me in the eye and asked "How is it this song evaded you all these years?"  I mean, Rolling Stone Magazine has this in the top 100 Country Music songs of all time.

Jerry Jeff Walker made this a hit, but it looks like he changes the lyrics every time he performs this.  These are the "standard" lyrics - "A Goat Roper needs love too".

Long time readers will remember seeing the songwriter - Ray Wylie Hubbard - here before.  This is country music at it's not-at-all-like-pop-music-but-brutally-sarcastic-as-if-we-care-what-you-think best.



Should I be scared that the Queen Of The World knows these lyrics by heart?  And sings them?  Loudly?  Gentlemen, you may feel free to envy me.

Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother (Songwriter: Ray Wylie Hubbard)
He was born in Oklahoma
And his wife's name is Betty Lou Thelma Liz
He's not responsible for what he's doing
His mother made him what he is
And it's up against the wall, redneck mother
Mother who has raised her son so well
He's thirty four and drinkin' in a honky tonk
Just kickin' hippies' asses and raisin' hell
Sure does like his Falstaff beer
He likes to chase it down with that Wild Turkey liquor
He drives a '57 GMC pickup truck
Got a gun rack
"A Goat Roper needs love too" sticker
And it's up against the wall, redneck mother
Mother who has raised her son so well
He's thirty four drinkin' in a honky tonk
Kickin' hippies' asses and raisin' hell, ah pick
Ah play it for mama
M is for the mud flaps she gave me for my pickup truck
O is for the oil I put on my hair
T is for T-Bird
H is for Haggard
E is for Eggs
And R is for Redneck
Up against the wall, redneck mother
Mother who has raised her son so well
He's thirty four and drinkin' in a honky tonk
Kickin' hippies' asses and raisin' hell, let's go
Yeah and it's up against the wall, redneck mother
Mother who has raised her son so well
He's thirty four drinkin' in a honky tonk
Kickin' hippies' asses and raisin' hell
What's that spell, let's go get Oklahoma USA

5 comments:

  1. BobApril 1, 2017 at 8:11 AM

    Ray Wylie makes his home in the Austin, Texas area, and his politics are openly leftist, although he's not as obnoxious about it as some of the younger artists, e.g., Steve Earl or the Dixie Chicks. Other artists working in the same general area of songmaking include Hayes Carll, James McMurtry, Gurf Morlix, and Ryan Bingham.

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  2. taminator013April 1, 2017 at 10:57 AM

    I, too had never heard this song until it was featured on an episode of "That '70s Show". Naturally I had to hit the interwebs and immediately buy it.......

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  3. Beaner49April 2, 2017 at 12:00 AM

    Here for your listing pleasure is the world's greatest C&W song....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkKn5HrKgHQ

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  4. TacitusApril 2, 2017 at 9:11 AM

    Of course it is an inspired parody of Okie from Muskogee. Jerry Jeff's politics are, well whatever he wants them to be, but I seem to recall him performing at one of GW Bush's Inaugeral gigs. Showing up for a fellow Texan after all. A fellow former North Easterner transplanted to Texas. I like to imagine him in true JJW fashion showing up late, drunk and at the wrong venue then putting on an epic show.

    To quote another of his songs:

    "One day I looked up, he's pushin' 80.
    Got brown tobacco stains all down his chin.
    To me he's one of the heroes of this country.
    So why's he all dressed up like them old men?"

    Tacitus

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  5. taminator013April 2, 2017 at 3:36 PM

    Steve Diaz: Agree with you on that one..........

    ReplyDelete

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