Search - Various Artists :: God Less America

This is a strange, sad, funny album.

M. Courtois | Fayette, MO | 04/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What was it David Allen Coe said about the perfect country and western song? It has to say something about mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin' drunk. You get all of this and more on "God Less America," a collection of obscure country/western songs from 1955-1966. The timeless themes are there, but the stories themselves are horribly, laughably wrong. There are songs about the evils of nicotine (it leads to every drug man has ever known), the evils of drunk driving (you'll inevitably run over your son), and even about a boy's mama (my favorite song title on the album is "Please Don't Go Topless, Mother). I get the idea that when the musicians recorded these songs, they didn't know how funny the songs actually were. I can't tell if these songs were intended to make you laugh or break your heart. So listening to the album is a little discomforting at times, not unlike listening to the Shaggs--the notoriously bad girl group-- or Wesley Willis--a schizophrenic singer/songwriter. Then again, they could've been intended as novelty songs, which would make laughing at them acceptable, I guess. It's hard not to. I know it's difficult to get your hands on this one, but it's well worth it."