The most quietly devastating song on Randy Newman’s misunderstood album “Rednecks” reveals its protagonist in a moment of drunken self-awareness and self-loathing that goes a long way to explaining his, and by extension the South’s, resentment of the Northerners who look down on them. I thought it would be appropriate for today, given that Republicans have essentially conceded Trump’s, and their own, guilt.
The first recording of the song, which predates the rest of the album, was actually by Bonnie Raitt, who released her version on “Takin’ My Time” in 1973, the year before “Rednecks” came out.
