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Old July 11th, 2012 #36
Alex Linder
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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Quote:
Originally Posted by procopius View Post
I don't think I belong to that White demographic to fully enjoy it.
Didn't you ever hear 'nothing human is foreign to me'?

Have you ever been in a situation where everyone was telling you one thing, but your brain and heart were telling you the opposite? That's sort of what he's really driving at in this song. We all face the challenge he faced growing up, to a greater or lesser degree. Even if we're not born rebels, we still, all of us, occasionally feel tension between what society/parents/friends tell us to do, and what we want to do. Through Haggard's experience we get this eternal problem on a grander scale, perhaps evoking fear or pity (per Aristotle) or relief and catharsis - or even recognition and epiphany, I suppose. It's a story about him, and in that sense necessarily particular, but it pertains to all of us. Whether we like the song or not.