Ray in Exile

A couple of years ago at Willie’s Fourth of July Picnic I heard this band called Cross Canadian Ragweed. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention, I was mostly napping in the sun, but they sounded like a fun kind of dope-smoker redneck country rock, and it seemed like a lot of folks sitting near us knew all the words to their songs.
So a few months later I picked up one of their CDs, but hadn’t really listened to it much, other than one time while I was doing yard work I had it on outside where I couldn’t really hear the words.
Last weekend I get to sorting out my CD collection, re-alphabetizing and finding all the ones that I bought but haven’t listened to enough to feel like they’re ready to be filed away where I’ll never see them again. (And you wonder why I liked High Fidelity so much. That’s me in that book.) And I run across the CCR. It looked lonely and unloved, so I moved it into the car where it’s more likely to get some air time.
And yesterday I finally listened to the lyrics.
And as Bill Hicks would say: “Oh, my God, they’re idiots”.
They’ve got this one song called “The President’s Song”, which talks about all the things the guy wants to do when he becomes president. First he wants to make everybody get on their knees and give praise to Jesus Christ because that’s where the office of the President gets its power.
OK, so a little weird for a band who’s biggest hit is a song about how people in Oklahoma roll their joints different from people in Texas, but so far I’ve got an open mind.
The next verse says he’ll make Jerry Jeff Walker his Chief of Staff, and I’m thinking I like them a little better maybe, Jerry Jeff being pretty dang left-wing for somebody who gets played on country radio in Texas.
And then they start talking about nuking Iraq and burning down every country that insults the USA.
And THEN they want to put everyone in prison who doesn’t like Willie Nelson.
I just can’t connect all the dots here.
Jerry Jeff fans. Willie fans. Dope smokers. Who want to bomb the world.
How the HELL did I end up driving down the road playing redneck Okie frat-boy country? Somebody tricked me.