“Well if it was any other man, I’d put him straight awayīut when it’s your brother sometimes you look the other way.” Johnny Cash covered the song on his album from the following year, Johnny 99-titled from another Bruce Springsteen song off of Nebraska.
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Written and performed originally by Bruce Springsteen on his 1982 album Nebraska, it tells the tale of a Highway Patrolman who regularly looks the other way when his brother does wrong in the local community the officer is charged to protect. Though “Highway Patrolman” is seen by many as being against the police state, its message is much more subtle than most. Johnny Cash & Bruce Springsteen – “Highway Patrolman” It was released on their album The Brooklyn Side in 1994, later re-issued by Atlantic Records in 1995. The cowpunk/alt-country entry into the list, “Radar Gun” was The Bottle Rockets biggest hit, reaching #27 on Billboard’s rock charts. “You ain’t nothin’ but a bully with a star on your chest.” One of Wayne Hancock’s signature tunes about being pulled over for doing nothing wrong, “Johnny Law” is something most any American can relate to. “I paid the debt I owed ’em, but they’re still not satisfied. Though there is no shortage of prison songs in country music complaining about how tough it is in the clink or once you get out, “Branded Man” speaks specifically about the inability of the police state to rehabilitate and re-indoctrinate ex convicts back into society. Speaking out about the difficulty felons find in the world after they’re released from jail, this classic country tune was the title track off of Merle’s fourth album released in 1968. So I wrote, ‘Fighting the system, like two modern-day Robin Hoods,’ and they didn’t even know they wrote the damn line. Waylon says in his biography, “They thought that was good but said all it needed was something about two modern-day Robin Hoods, fighting the system. “Just some good ol’ boys, never meaning no harm…” Waylon Jennings – “Good Ol’ Boys” (Dukes of Hazzard Theme) This song’s about the night they spent protecting you from me.” “I’m for law and order, the way that it should be. Waylon blamed the whole episode on the marketing of his music as “Outlaw.” The song includes one of the best lines of any country song decrying the police state. As authorities waited to obtain a search warrant, Waylon flushed the drugs down the toilet, and the charges were later dropped. A courier tipped off Federal agents that a package sent to Waylon from his lawyer/manager Neil Reshen contained 27 grams of cocaine.
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The song is about Waylon’s cocaine arrest in 1977 for conspiracy and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Waylon Jennings -“Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand” Cale’s calling out of middle America’s aggressive police state has also been covered famously by Cody Canada & The Departed, and by numerous bluegrass bands including the Yonder Mountain String Band and the Hutchinson Brothers. When they nailed the savior to the cross.” “So thank your lucky stars you’ve got protectionĪnd don’t wonder who them lawmen was protecting Another song from the album, “Best Of All Possible Worlds” also carries a strong message about the police, but one where Kristofferson admits to his own drunken culpability. Kris Kristofferson – “The Law Is For Protection of the People”įrom Kris Kristofferson’s first, self-titled album from 1970 which also included iconic Kristofferson-written tunes like “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” “Me & Bobby McGee,” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” “The Law Is For Protection of the People” is arguably Kristofferson’s most powerful counter-cultural, anti-authoritarian statement of his career. But no Johnny Cash song spells it out more clearly than “San Quentin”. Many of Johnny Cash’s songs speak out about the inequality and ineffectiveness of America’s jails and the police state in general, and he punctuated this sentiment throughout his career with his legendary prison concerts. Here are 10 country songs criticizing the police state. However the following songs are ones that question if anything was done wrong in the first place, or decry how the system doesn’t allow previous wrongdoers to truly rehabilitate.
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Many country music songs deal with characters being incarcerated, being sent on the lamb, or being killed for things they have done that are wrong. But others step over bounds, grow power hungry in their positions, and some communities have dealt with corruption and brutality in policing for decades to where over the years it has become an eternal theme in American music, and in country music specifically. Every day tens of thousands of people put on the police uniform and put their lives on the line to protect and serve the citizens of the United States, and do it with a servant’s heart and a sincere desire to protect their local communities.