Okay, somewhere between these two songs is everything you need to know about a certain strain of American Christianity. I will leave it to you to work out for yourself what that “everything” is.
This first clip is… is… Okay, I’ll just say it. It’s a karaoke performance apparently in and during church of Ray Stevens’s “Dooright Family,” which is one of the songs on the soundtrack of my childhood. Why folks would be singing this song in church, I don’t know. This either makes them the most awesome congregation ever or the least self-aware. I choose to go for “most awesome.”
(As a side note, best Lee Greenwood story I ever heard was how he was coming in to play at Opryland and the girl who was at the artists’ gate about fell over gushing over him, telling him how much she loved him and knew all his songs. He thanked her and was feeling all great until she said, ‘You have a good show, Mr. Stevens.’ It kind of makes me love Greenwood a little bit that he’s willing to tell that story about himself.)
And here are Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers doing “Born Again, Again.” I couldn’t find the lyrics to post for you, but the best part is something like “Born again again. In and out of sin and back in. Guess I’m a little noncommittal. I’m born again, again.” There are no obvious penises that I saw in this video, but if you like scrawny white boys, this one’s for you.
Tiny Cat Pants 