Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

Eww. I just made the mistake of downloading Darryl Worley's "Have You Forgotten?" He's normally an artist I respect - last year's "I Miss My Friend" was heartbreaking - and I was curious to hear "Forgotten," as it's racing up the Billboard country singles chart at un unheard-of rate (already #9 in just its third week). Unfortunately, my worst fears are realized; this song is as jingoistic and blindly flag-waving as Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." or any of Charlie Daniels/Hank Jr.'s "patriotic" anthems. I practically expected to hear Worley use a word such as "towelhead" by the time I was halfway through the song. This isn't "Courtesy of the Red White & Blue" or "Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagles Fly" - those were well-written songs with sincerity and a deft touch behind them. "Forgotten" is the worst imaginable kind of "patriotic" hokum. Disappointing and appalling.