Country music has long had a reputation for being more on the conservative side, but that has started to shift in recent years as a number of artists have come out against President Donald Trump, his supporters, and the America First agenda he has been attempting to implement since taking office in January 2025. However, there have actually been several songs by classic country artists who slyly included left-leaning lyrics into their work.
One such song is a track by artist Jerry Reed, who is most well-known for creating the song, “East Bound and Down,” which became the theme for “Smokey and the Bandit” in the 1970s. However, Reed had an earlier track that complained about the pollution caused by gas-powered engines and their ongoing costs, stating that such were “a-dollaring me to death.”
Back in those days, electric vehicles didn’t exist, but according to a Democrat from Virginia, David Reid, the singer would be super excited about owning one of these cars, despite the myriad of problems they have been known to cause. His song, “Lord, Mr. Ford,” managed to sneak in some environmental lyrics that a lot of folks likely overlook.
“Well, it ain’t just the smoke and the traffic jam/ That makes me the bitter fool I am/ But this four wheel buggy is a-dollaring me to death/ For gas and oils and fluids and grease/ And wires and tires and antifreeze,” Reed sings in the song. Another topic covered in an old country classic is that of women’s “reproductive rights,” which we know as abortion.
The song, “The Pill,” by Loretta Lynn celebrates the liberal idea of women having the right to kill their unborn children in the womb. The track came out just a few years after the 1975 Roe v. Wade decision that granted women the right to an abortion across the country. That, much to the chagrin of many leftists, has been overturned.
Lynn sings, All these years I’ve stayed at home/ While you had all your fun/ And every year that’s gone by/ Another baby’s come/ There’s a gonna be some changes made/ Right here on nursery hill/ You’ve set this chicken your last time/ ‘Cause now I’ve got the pill.” This one doesn’t seem as sneaky as the previous song by Reed, but a lot of folks tend to not engage with the deeper matter beneath the words of songs they listen to.
Legendary artist Merle Haggard tackled the topic of renewable energy in his song, “Rainbow Stew” from 1981. In the lyrics, Haggard lays out an energy plan that many leftists not only support today but are trying to force into reality, regardless of the lack of its practicality for modern society. The song, which debuted over four decades ago, is beloved by many climate activists today.
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“When they find out how to burn water/ And the gasoline car is gone/ When an airplane flies without any fuel/ And the sunlight heats our home/ But one of these days when the air clears up/ And the sun comes shinin’ through,” Haggard sings in “Rainbow Stew,” which Reid called “one of the most concise, positive and aspirational statements in favor of hydrogen fuel cells, electric vehicles, solar power and electric aircraft.”
Country artist David Allan Coe, who famously crafted an outline for all the elements required to create the “perfect country and western song,” spoke out on the beloved left-wing topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which we call “DEI” today, in a song called “Song for the Year 2000,” that was released in 1999.
“Jimmy’s in the closet, he thinks no one knows/ He likes to wear makeup, and put on woman’s clothes/ When he tries to be a man his feminine side shows/ Jimmy’s in the closet, he thinks no one knows/ But it takes all kinds of people, to make the world go round/ I bent the whole world over, and that’s one thing that I found/ Color does not matter, black, white, or red, or brown/ It takes all kinds of people, to make the world go round/ The world go round, the world go round,” Coe preaches in the song’s lyrics.