Mike, The first thing that isn't country about it is the music. I hear a stew of musical styles - Beach Boy harmonies, gospel singing, hard rock guitar, a banjo thrown in as a bow to country, a B-3 for a little rock feel, etc. etc. Nothing memorable about the melody.

As for the song lyric? The images of a small town are well-written. The tractor and water tower are described. There's an uncle, a courthouse, a flag and a sunset. There's an empty mill, a whistle blowing, a diner, a church where's there's no empty seats on Sunday. There's a highway and a baby and a fight with his Dad and a cemetery where he'll be buried someday.

So the writer crammed a lot of information into a very few lines of writing. But where's the story? What's the plot? Where's the drama? What's the lesson?

What's the emotional effect of the whole thing? Does it move you to feel anything?

In short, what's the point?

I expect you will disagree but I'd say the point of the song is simply to make a dollar for everyone involved in the production of the song. And I would say they succeeded.

But is anyone ever gonna compare it Sunday Morning Coming Down? Unlikely.

It's probably a perfect example of corporate 'country' music circa 2010.





Last edited by Dan Sullivan; 12/29/10 10:36 PM.
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