Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

Aaron refers me to another of those Top 100 lists that are breeding like mosquitoes in the Louisiana backwaters: the Top 100 country songs.

I'm not the biggest fan of country music. So much of it leaves me totally, utterly cold. But when I find a country song or artist that I like, I really like it. I don't boast enough familiarity with country to have a lot of strong opinions on this list, but I do think that Eddie Rabbitt's "Every Which Way But Loose" should be on there. (By the way, the movie of the same name -- and its sequel, Any Which Way You Can -- are favorite guilty pleasures of mine.) I think "The Gambler" ranks ridiculously low, and "Lucille" should be there. I am also an unapologetic John Denver fan, so a lot of his songs should be there.

I must admit that "Stand By Your Man" is a "leave me cold" song; there's just something creepy about that song that makes me think of an abused wife not leaving. I know, that's not remotely the point of the song, and I have no idea how I ever even formed that association, so don't lecture me on how I'm missing the point. I know I'm missing it, but I can't help it, in this case. Oh, and the song has been irrevocably goofed in my mind by hearing Minnie Driver belting it out in a Russian accent in the James Bond movie Goldeneye. I don't think there are too many songs that can survive that treatment.

And maybe this makes me a bad American, but I just don't like "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. The song itself is OK, I suppose, but the way it's been adopted as the Official Anthem of the Republican Party doesn't do it any favors. Sorry. (I'm pretty tired of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", too. For some reason, my patriotic leanings are most stirred by "The Star Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful". I also dig Leonard Cohen's "Democracy is Coming", which is more of a protest song -- but then, protest is a big part of why America exists in the first place.)