I Don't Understand Willie Nelson

I like his music and his politics (environmentalism, campaigned for Kucinich, Farm Aid). His song What Ever Happened to Peace on Earth? is great. Worth reading the entire thing, but here's a segment:

So I guess it'’s just
Do unto others before they do it to you
Let'’s just kill 'em all and let God sort em’ out
Is this what God wants us to do

(Repeat Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we'’ve been told from our birth
Hell they won'’t lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

Now you probably won't hear this on your radio
Probably not on your local TV
But if there's a time, and if you're ever so inclined
You can always hear it from me
How much is one picker'’s word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth?

When I heard about him getting an award for Beer for My Horses a few years ago, which he recorded with Toby Keith that seemed weird to me given Toby Keith's politics. In Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue he sings:

Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage:
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage.
An' you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.

Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.

I recently quoted this as the introduction to a paper I gave in my graduate history seminar on the (mistitled) Spanish-American War. I compared it to jingoistic songs from that era (the assignment was to analyze the lyrics from a stack of sheet music from around 1898).

Last night I was driving and the local country station played Beer for My Horses. I'd never heard it before. The title sounds like maybe it's a nice gentle song. So I was surprised to hear this:

Grandpappy told my pappy, back in my day, son
A man had to answer for the wicked that he done
Take all the rope in Texas
Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys
Hang them high in the street for all the people to see that

(Chorus)
Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we'll sing a victory tune
We'll all meet back at the local saloon
We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singing whiskey for my men, beer for my horses

We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
We've got too much corruption, too much crime in the streets
It's time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send 'em all to their maker and he'll settle 'em down
You can bet he'll set 'em down 'cause

Kucinich voters for capital punishment and frontier justice?

Sometime I'll write about why I listen to the country station.