Fred Eaglesmith - Johnny Cash

In the last ten years here I've posted over 400 country music songs.  Over the last couple of years it's gotten harder to come up with songs that I haven't posted.  So I went off looking for lists, and stumbled across Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time.  Reading through it was surreal.  Taylor Swift?  Eric Church?  Kacey Musgraves?  What the hell?

Fortunately I'm not (by any means) the only one who wondered where the Adult Supervision was:

It becomes apparent rather quickly that the list is more about political correctness and spreading the interest over a wide age group so as to ensnare as many people as possible. For instance, let's face it, there hasn't been a country song since the '80s that should be in the Top 25. For the most part, country music is old people's music -- no matter what Blake Shelton or Eric Church say. New country, bro-country, hick-hop, it's all just pop crap with a twang, and comes fully equipped with less depth than a wading pool.

But this led me to Fred Eaglesmith.  A Canadian farm boy, he caught a freight train to western Canada (no joke) and founded a band called the Smoking Losers.  I mean, what's not to like there?  More importantly, this sounds like a fellow who has a bit more exposure to country music than the children who write for Rolling Stone.



Johnny Cash (Songwriter: Fred Eaglesmith?)

Well you sure do like Johnny Cash now
Now that they've put him in the ground
You hang his poster on your ceiling
His songs give you a real good feeling
You sure do like Johnny Cash now 

Where were you in 1989?
When it looked like Johnny was on the decline
His career was fading
And his shows weren't selling
You were listening to heavy metal
Well you sure do like Johnny Cash now
You sure do like Johnny Cash now 

Now that they've put him in the ground
The radio station plays him all the time
Too bad you hardly played him when he was alive
But you sure do like Johnny Cash now
Yeah you sure do like Johnny Cash now 

And you sure did like when he sang the Nine Inch Nails
When he looked like he was dying in that video
You liked that did ya?
He was givin' them the finger
Too bad about all that religion
But you sure do like Johnny Cash now
But you sure do like Johnny Cash now
But you sure do like Johnny Cash now

I actually liked Johnny's cover of "Hurt" but it's not the only song of his I ever bought (or posted).  The point of this song is a good one - maybe the idiots at Rolling Stone should take a listen.