Reply #16: Anti hippie anthem [View All]

[randr]

that it was. The song was played more often than the National Anthem. It represented a sense hillbilly pride I guess.
Funny thing is a few years back I heard an interview with ol Merle hisself and he discribed the writing of the song. Seems the boys were on tour out in the heartland and had picked up a local paper which had an article about some rednecks and the problems they were having with some hippies. Some of the boys in the band of course were black and they most always to acception to the actions of anyone displaying any form of prejudice. Well Merle claimed that since they had been smoking some killer hash that day they started joking on the article and before long a song was born. He swears he had no idea it would become the anthem to many people he personally found lacking.
I think the interview may have been on FreshAir w/Terry Gross. It would be fun to see if it is still around and resurrect it.