As an interesting counterpoint to the country song I mentioned in my previous post, I heard this newer one on the radio today:

"Welcome To The Future" by Brad Paisley

When I was ten years old,
I remember thinkin' how cool it would be,
when we were goin' on an eight hour drive,
if I could just watch T.V.

And I'd have given anything
to have my own PacMan game at home.
I used to have to get a ride down to the arcade;
Now I've got it on my phone.

He-e-ey...
Glory glory hallelujah.
Welcome to the future.

My grandpa was in World War II,
he fought against the Japanese.
He wrote a hundred letters to my grandma;
mailed em from his base in the Philippines.

I wish they could see this now,
where they say this change can go.
Cause I was on a video chat this morning
with a company in Tokyo.

He-e-ey...
Everyday is a revolution.
Welcome to the future.

He-e-ey...
Look around it's all so clear.
He-e-ey...
Wherever we would go and well we...
He-e-ey...
So many things I never thought I'd see...
happening right in front of me.

I had a friend in school,
running-back on a football team,
they burned a cross in his front yard
for asking out the home-coming queen.

I thought about him today,
everybody who's seen what he's seen,
from a woman on a bus
to a man with a dream.

He-e-ey...
Wake up Martin Luther.
Welcome to the future.
He-e-ey...
Glory glory hallelujah.
Welcome to the future.

One the one hand, it's good to know that not all country singers see our contemporary society as completely awful. On the other hand, the thrust of most of the song seems to be "hey, ain't all this newfangled technology cool?" Though I do appreciate the last verse, which, without directly referring to Obama (I doubt you could get away with that with a country/western audience) still points to how far we've come in race relations over the past couple of generations. And I suppose the middle verse, besides celebrating improved communication technologies, could also be seen as celebrating the fact that old enemies can now be friends and business partners in such a relatively short amount of time.

I'm not sure how I feel about how he uses religious language to celebrate these innovations and developments, however. On the one hand you can say that he's referencing the Christian eschatological vision of a world of peace and reconciliation. On the other hand, the technology references in conjunction with "Glory glory hallelujah" make it seem too much like he's worshipping human cleverness or looking towards some kind of techno-topia. But maybe I'm overthinking it too much.

Anyhow, I just thought it was an interesting contrast with the other song.