http://redwoodreality.blogspot.com/2006/06/50-liberal-country-songs.html(not my blog, but a damn interesting post)
1. Man in Black - Johnny Cash - A liberal manifesto, laced with light irony
2. The Pill - Loretta Lynn - about the joys of sexual liberation
3. 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton - about class struggle in the workplace
4. We Shall be Free - Garth Brooks - about equality and diversity
5. Harper Valley PTA - Jeannie Riley (and others) - ballad about small town sexual hypocrisy
6. Take this Job and Shove It - Johnny Paycheck - another class struggle tune
7. Devil's Right Hand - Steve Earle - Anti-gun.
8. Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Earnest Ford - borderline as a "classic folk song." When does a song officially become a folk song anyway?
9. Rainbow Stew - Merle Haggard - lyrics a bit vague, but conjures up liberal imagery
10. Trouble in the Fields - Nancy Griffith - About the near extinction of the family farmer
11. Abraham, Martin, and John (It's a Hard Life) - Emmy Lou Harris - Lamentation about the harsher aspects of American life
12. They Ain't Makin Jews like Jesus Anymore - Kinky Friedman - about
intolerance
13. San Quentin - Johnny Cash - an anti "law and order"approach song
14. America - Waylon Jennings - about diversity, anti-war
15. Heartland - Willie Nelson - about foreclosures and the death of the American dream for some
16. Jesus, the Missing Years - John Prine - irreverent with counter-cultural themes
17. Okie from Muskogee - Merle Haggard - Few people on either side of the political spectrum seem to realize this was satire.
18. Conversations with the Devil - Ray Wylie Hubbard - sort of a modern liberal version of Dante's Inferno
19. Travelin' Soldier - Dixie Chicks - anti-war
20. 40 hour week - Alabama - recognition of working class contributions
21. My Uncle - Flying Burrito Brothers - Song of empathy for Vietnam war draft dodgers
22. Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn - Underpaid working class heroism
23. Ballad for a soldier - Leon Russell, aka Hank Wilson - antiwar
24. Fishing - Richard Shindell - Solidarity values of an illegal immigrant
25. I Washed my Face in the Morning Dew - Tom T. Hall - about the stigmatization of poverty
26. One Hundred Children - Tom T. Hall - liberal message for children
27. Aragon Mill - Dry Branch Fire Squads - all about the consequences of the "restructuring" of the American economy
28. Workin Band - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - about unemployment
29. Right or Left at Oak Street - Roy Clark - presents a less than ideal image of suburban living and the purported American dream
30. Two Story House - Tammy Wynette - about suburban airs and hypocrisy, covered up by calculated appearances of affluence.
31. Church - Lyle Lovett - irreverent, or to quote an old leftist friend - "transgressive and counter-hegemonic"
32. Devil Take the Farmer - Dry Branch Fire Squads - about the death of the family farm
33. Blame it on the Stones - Kris Kristofferson - all about middle class provincialism
34. Skip a Rope - Henson Cargill - kind of a country version of Give Peace a Chance applied to sexual and racial relationships
35. That's the News - Merle Haggard - probably the only song of any genre to address the lame media coverage of the Iraq war
36. A Week in Country Jail - Tom T. Hall - about the pettiness of small town law enforcement
37. Common Man - John Conlee - Working class pride expressed as independence of wealth
38. Kids of the Baby Boom - The Bellamy Brothers - reflection on the banalities of American culture in post-WWII affluence.
39. Mississipi on my Mind - Jesse Winchester written, Jerry Jeff Walker performance - Winchester's personal reflections on Mississippi from his haven in Canada while evading the Vietnam war.
40. Hank Williams Said It Best - Guy Clark - anthem for tolerance and acknowledgment of moral nuance - often referred to by the opposition as "moral relativity."
41. Billy B. Damned - Billy Joe Shaver - ironic comment on law and power
42. Don't you think this outlaw bit's done got out of hand?- Waylon Jennings - Jennings comments on overzealous literacy challenged decency brigades who don't get irony.
43. Lights went out in Georgia - Reba McEntire - About southern justice.
44. Peace on Earth - Willie Nelson - Duh.
45. High Cotton - Alabama - another class piece
46. Why can't we all just get a long neck? - Hank Williams - His version of Imagine
47. White House Blues - Vassar Clements - a very political anthem
48. Saginaw, Michigan - Lefty Frizzell - Ballad of a working class hero using his noggin to overcome class bias
49. Copperhead Road - Steve Earle - About post traumatic stress syndrome due to the Vietnam war (Left out Ellis Unit One because a friend told me the song was written after Earle's "fall from grace" in Nashville, and because it was incorporated into the soundtrack for Dead Man Walking).
50. Hobo's Meditation - Dolly Parton - sympathy for the homeless, whether "truly needy" or not.
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