# Willie Nelson just wrote the greatest protest song ever **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 1, 2004, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089 "2004-01-01T08:01:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/21 "2004-01-01T16:05:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mehitabel \* > \*\*I like it until the ‘bewildered herd’ line. I disagree with the mainstream therefore I am a brilliant iconoclast and those who agree (or at least don’t mind it too much) are mindless sheep. And not a mention of how our opponent ran his country shedding blood like a Gothic horror movie. > > Still, good for him for putting it out there, I guess, if that’s how he feels. I hope ‘conservatives’ don’t waste any ink attacking him. \*\* Notice that he uses the word “we” in that verse. He includes himself as part of the herd, “Hell they won’t lie to me/ Not on my own damn TV…” It was my impression that Willie is saying that he initially believed Bush too and now feels betrayed. I didn’t feel that he was trying to put himself above the “herd.” He was counting himself as _part_ of the herd. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/22 "2004-01-01T16:06:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Finagle \* > \*_Greatest protest song \* ever_??? Apparently that’s just because it disses your personal \* bete noire \*, Bush. > > How about “Fighting for Soldiers”? (“You haven’t an arm, you haven’t a leg, the enemy nearly slew you. You’ll have to be put out on the street to beg, Oh Johnny what have they done to you?”) How about \* Joe Hill \*? How about Phil Och’s or Woody Guthries entire canon? > > Get some frigging perspective, DTC. This probably isn’t even the greatest protest song of 2004 to date. \*\* Don’t forget Neil Young’s “Ohio” either. I know the thread title is hyperbolic. I was just excited when I read the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/23 "2004-01-01T16:58:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*I think it’s worth remembering that Willie is taking a risk by releasing a song like this because it has the potential to anger a lot of his fan base. He’s not Cheryl Crow or Chrissie Hinds or someobody who normally performs for a liberal, anti-war audience. He performs for conservative country music fans. He not only acknowledges that he could piss off his fan base but says that he hopes it does. He’s willing to speak his mind about this war and doesn’t care if it costs him. > > He’s also not someone who normally would try to draw attention to himself with a grandstanding political statement. His “activism” as it were, usually runs to more to causes like Farm Aid and the decriminalization of marijuana. he obviously really _means_ it with this song. > > \*\* Funny - when I think of activist entertainers, Willie Nelson is always among the first to come to mind. Certainly he has “conservative country music fans,” but I think the bulk of his fan base is much more old hippies (like me.) Willie has almost always been a country music rebel, an outlaw, even. I agree that he has never been a grandstander, but he has always been outspoken and involved. And **Washte** - my personal opinion is that John Mellencamp is a twit and a wannabe and always has been. ---
**Author:** ![eli\_the\_fanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ccd318/32.png) [@eli\_the\_fanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eli_the_fanatic)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/24 "2004-01-01T17:04:03Z")
In one of his last interviews, Johnny Cash also spoke against Bush and the war. JC was a Christian and a patriot. It’s probably confusing to the Bushies that someone can both be a patriot and be against the war, because they’ve had it into their brains that you have to vote Republican if you’re Christian and you have to support any Republican-mandated military action to be a patriot. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/25 "2004-01-01T17:13:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Don’t forget Neil Young’s “Ohio” either. > > I know the thread title is hyperbolic. I was just excited when I read the lyrics. \*\* Or [“Strange Fruit”](http://womhist.binghamton.edu/aswpl/doc1.htm). That’s my point. Hyperbole isn’t helping to get your point across here. When you persist in posting things that are just patently silly like “greatest protest song ever”, then how are we supposed to take you seriously? How about just titling the thread, “Hey, Willy wrote a protest song.” and maybe you won’t be dismissed out of hand by everyone but those inhabitants of the same fringe upon which you exist? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/26 "2004-01-01T17:16:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Still, he called Bush a liar. He gets major points for that. \*\* So he _won’t_ be performing at the Republican Convention? ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/27 "2004-01-01T17:22:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I like it until the ‘bewildered herd’ line. I disagree with the mainstream therefore I am a brilliant iconoclast and those who agree (or at least don’t mind it too much) are mindless sheep. And not a mention of how our opponent ran his country shedding blood like a Gothic horror movie. Then why couldn’t we have been told in the first place “Sadaam is sheeding blood like a Gothic horror movie. He poses no direct threat to us, but we need to go to war against him for this reason, because we are the United States and we always ride to the protection of innocents opressed.”? Why did they have to make up some cock and bull story? Why are you not outraged that the President of the United States looked you right in the eye and lied to you in order to start a war of choice? If the cause was noble, why didn’t he just tell the damned truth in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/28 "2004-01-01T17:22:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Still, he called Bush a liar. He gets major points for that. \*\* So he _won’t_ be performing at the Republican Convention? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/29 "2004-01-01T17:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LifeOnWry \* > \*\*And **Washte** - my personal opinion is that John Mellencamp is a twit and a wannabe and always has been. \*\* If Willie Nelson agrees with you he must have hidden his feelings when John Mellencamp invited him and Neil Young to form Farm Aid in 1985. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/30 "2004-01-01T18:37:16Z")
…but the one in the middle sure looks like Willie Nelson. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/31 "2004-01-01T18:51:00Z")
I thought that the song was not his best. Frankly, I thought it was sorta sophmoric. I appreciate the sentiment though. I love Willie. I saw him not long ago. The old fart played a righteous, raucous 3 hour show. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/32 "2004-01-01T19:18:38Z")
I’m a big Willie fan. Have been since his ‘Outlaw’ days. And I never mix politics and music (or any other art for that matter). A good song is a good song whether I agree with the sentiment or not. I’m a big Dylan fan, too, and I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with a word of what he had to say. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/33 "2004-01-01T19:38:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don’t ask \* > \*\*If Willie Nelson agrees with you he must have hidden his feelings when John Mellencamp invited him and Neil Young to form Farm Aid in 1985. \*\* Don’t misunderstand - I can appreciate and admire what Mellencamp has done on behalf of farmers, and I’m not at all saying that’s a bad thing. I just think that, good motives and actions aside, he’s a hack. You CAN be a talentless hack and still be a good person. ---
**Author:** ![eli\_the\_fanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ccd318/32.png) [@eli\_the\_fanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eli_the_fanatic)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/34 "2004-01-01T19:43:18Z")
\>I’m a big Dylan fan, too, and I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with a word of what he had to say. Hm. How do you “disagree” with something like > [@](#): > > I was riding on the Mayflower > When I thought I spied some land > I yelled for Captain Arab > I have yuh understand > Who came running to the deck > Said, “Boys, forget the whale > Look on over yonder > Cut the engines > Change the sail > Haul on the bowline” > We sang that melody > Like all tough sailors do > When they are far away at sea You have to UNDERSTAND it to disagree with it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/35 "2004-01-01T19:47:59Z")
I would disagree. I think Mellencamp started out as a hack, then transcended that with some great, meaningful music. I can’t think of very many artists who’ve done that, usually it’s vice-versa… ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/36 "2004-01-01T19:49:05Z")
Oops, that was meant to be in response to **Life on Wry’s** post. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/37 "2004-01-01T19:51:57Z")
I guess Robert Redford was getting lonely in the “People who own or have owned private jets and complain about American oil consumption” club. Willy’s still the man, but I’ll take my politics from others, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/38 "2004-01-01T19:53:11Z")
Well, since we’re all comparing dicks, I say that Gerome Ragni was the greatest protest song writer. _Ripped open by metal explosion, Caught in barbed wire, fireball, bullet shock, Bayonet, electricity, shrapnel, throbbing meat. Electronic data processing, Black uniforms, barefeet, carbines, Mail order rifles shoot the muscle. Two hundred and fifty six Viet Cong captured. Prisoners in Niggertown, it’s a dirty little war._ ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/39 "2004-01-01T20:01:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > **I think it’s worth remembering that Willie is taking a risk by releasing a song like this because it has the potential to anger a lot of his fan base. He’s not Cheryl Crow or Chrissie Hinds or someobody who normally performs for a liberal, anti-war audience. He performs for conservative country music fans. He not only acknowledges that he could piss off his fan base but says that he hopes it does. He’s willing to speak his mind about this war and doesn’t care if it costs him.** Won’t matter much if it doesn’t get air time. Look for Clear Channel to give him, or at least this song, the ol’ Dixie Chicks blacklist treatment, while doubling up on Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?”. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089/40 "2004-01-01T20:05:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LifeOnWry \* > \*\*You CAN be a talentless hack and still be a good person. \*\* I’ll let him know he’s not getting your [vote](http://news.softpedia.com/news/2/2003/September/4775.shtml) for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-nelson-just-wrote-the-greatest-protest-song-ever/222089.md?page=3)