"Reactionary" to be "Politically Uncorrect"?

September 28th, 2005 12:00 PM

On Monday I posted to TimesWatch.org about a review of Gretchen Wilson's newly-released album All Jacked Up, and how New York Times reviewer Jon Pareles lamented what he saw as a departure from hints of class warfare themes in Wilson's last album to the "market-tested populism" embodied in a new duet with Merle Haggard, Politically Uncorrect.

Not to be outdone, reviewer Britt Robson in her special to the Washington Post today tagged the song as "reactionary":

Wilson is both clever and credible invoking her cultural talismans and puncturing sophisticated airs. Calling motherhood a "Full Time Job" is hardly a novel concept, but it's a tonic to hear a singer fling herself into the subject with the fervor others reserve for love songs, to empathize rather than preach. "Skoal Ring" takes the tongue-in-cheek approach to a new level, as Wilson waxes about the sex appeal of a mouthful of chaw. In case you still don't get her drift, she brings on Haggard, the original Okie From Muskogee, for a vocal duet on the reactionary "Politically Uncorrect."

Maybe Wilson's right, she and ole Hag are just two of the "many who can't get no respect."

For lyrics to Wilson's allegedly reactionary screed, click here.