Tom T. Hall - America The Ugly 

D'Ascoyne no one has the balls these days

They wouldn't get past the title without a total shitstorm.

@@janitorbill7654 said but true

Would never get on the radio!📻

Iris Dement has her own version and performs it regularly, "Wasteland of the Free". She is one of my heroes for that reason.

We lost it before you were born

I am a session picker, ascap writer, producer, and artist. Woodie Guthrie, Kris, and Tom T. Hall are the three best writers in your lifetime. Look back and forward, listen to the past and the future. Make America Great again is nothing but the American people being conned. When we come back together as a people, respect each other, pay a decent wage and dethrone these rich scoundrels, and make them pay for what they get like the rest of us. Take back our free press, and act like human beings. UNTIL THEN WE ARE AMERICA THE UGLY.

William Kimbler Unfortunately, not a damn thing has changed for the better after all the time and money spent.

Look out your window today

@@dappy848 6 yrs ago I wrote that, now look at how foolish and embarrassing our president is and disgraceful our country is becoming.

@@williamkimbler1375 Six years ago? There's a direct line from Ronald Wilson Reagan to Donald Trump Jr. As for the so-called opposition, the unDemocratic Party...they are paid to lose. Like the Washington Generals vs. the Harlem Globetrotters. ~

I'm an Aussie and i can see what Tom.T saw, great song, RIP SIR.

Been a fan of his since I was a kid in the 70s never heard this until today!! So true today!!!

Was just thinking the exact same thing because I know all the rest by heart

billy sellers see?

Great story.

billy sellers We need that spirit today 🙏🏼

billy sellers God bless you. I’m a pastor also

THE PIKEVILLE PROPHET

If people are familiar with former WSM disc jockey, Eddie Stubbs, he used to use the phrase "deep catalog". Well, if people go deep catalog with Tom T. Hall and listen to his album tracks, that is, the songs not released as singles, you'll hear a lot of social commentary wrapped up in his signature delivery style. "One Hundred Children", which was a single release, happened to be social commentary without the stinging bite, unlike "America, The Ugly" or other songs like "Greed Kills More People Than Whiskey", "Watergate Blues", and "The Monkey That Became President". He also recorded a song about racism called "The Man Who Hated Freckles" in which Tom T. rejects hatred and bigotry.

@@ACcountryFan I like to think TT had as many if not more double sided hit singles than CCR and the Beatles combined. Many many of my Fav songs of his are on LPs not singles. Once upon a road and Little Brown Suitcase come to mind.

A-fracking-men. Dead as a door nail.

A 12 packs says I'm gonna

Please elaborate on your experience while under the influence of this substance and this music.

People waiting on non-existent gods instead of taking action is a huge part of the problem here.

Jesus said the poor will always be with us. If the Son of God said that, I think you have a valid point.

Unfortunately, it also looks like religion will always be with us.

Possibly

That's not entirely true.

@Everett Crawford I dont think this should have even been said on here but no one but the mamas is to blame, if anyone for babys deaths. They did that before it was legal. The only difference is a lot died with the baby,but that's what you guys want,I understand that.you completely missed the meaning of the song.

Whoa is right, mamas or dads are not to blame for the situation, not just in america, it is the filthy rich corrupt pollies and people who have no sence to see the actual way it is and are just sheep, tom t sings and writes the truth.

And even more so in 2018!!

@@michaeldinsmore5539 and still in 2019.....

And even more so in 2020.

2024 checking in. Soup and Beans.

Well said.

Yup, and today's generation is living an almost exact replay of the time it was written. Divided country, protests, never-ending wars, controversial President, greatest wealth disparity in many generations, 2018 is like 1968, we just waiting on the modern My Lai, Watergate and 2019 song to be written about it.

FreeLantz78 What’s your point? The song is about poverty and there is a much greater disparity of wealth now than there was then.

walter kersting - Not sure if you are referring to this TTH song when you say it's somebody else's fault and somebody else needs to fix it, but at the end of "America The Ugly" Mr. Hall clearly states, "if "we" get our heads and hearts together..." So just a bit confused here.

Steven Spolar the song has an implied message that is subversive beyond its meaning at the surface; another one like it: Born in the USA; played as an anthem on patriotic holidays but it really is a put down of American life and values. T may have wanted to give himself an outie by saying look at the lyrical content, but I'm looking at the spirit of the thing: at best we as individuals are somehow personally responsible for how the communists hold our country in contempt because we are so ugly, really just for not being liberal enough to suit TTH. I grew up revering T and still do, but I don't indiscriminately swallow all he did whole just because it's him.

walter, I think you're missing the point of the song and the point of Steven's comment perhaps. I see you bring up the spectre of communism/socialism, so let me start with Eisenhower. During his 1956 remarks during the night of his reelection victory, he stated that everyone deserved to share in the greatness of this nation regardless of any accident of birth (rich or poor), race, religion, handicap or any other factor. Patriotism is about much, much more than just saluting the flag and singing some propaganda song to go along with it. As I found out in the military it's also about being a model citizen, doing what is right, taking care of everyone, placing less importance on self and greater importance on service, particularly service to others. That's what the military life was all about. It was drilled into us constantly that when we put on that uniform, we didn't just represent ourselves, our community we grew up in, our home state, we represented the entire nation as a whole. And our actions spoke for every bit of that. Now think about what is spoken in that song. The example used. The fact that we allow some to live in obscene opulence while others are forced to live in squalor, that right there speaks for the entire country whether you agree with it or not. That is exactly what Tom T. Hall is saying. I get it. I don't know why it's so hard for other people to grasp, except that they are perhaps engaging in the self-deceit that their country can do no wrong and therefore nothing should ever be questioned. Actually, raising questions is patriotism too. The fact that someone loves their country so much that they say we can do better, that is patriotic. Just look at how the Constitution is written. It's written in a way in which we are only supposed to advance, to move forward, to become better and freer over time. If you need help finding it, look at the 9th Amendment. And then realize we're allowing our disgusting politicians put our rights and privileges as American citizens up for a vote. Whether it's Proposition 8 that was done in California or some Supreme Court case about a baker... it's wrong. I find it revolting and disgusting in the maximum as a veteran to see self-serving politicians dividing the country, pitting classes against each other and then forcing a vote on the people while those self-same politicans shirk their duties and responsibilities. It's their damn job to decide things. That's why they are representatives in a representative republic. By the abominable action of forcing the people to vote on an issue is just their giving themselves an easy way out, a way to say, "Well, you voted for it, nobody to blame but yourselves" when it fact it should have never been allowed to be voted on in the first place. Do you ever see this being done in other countries? Hell no. They're not stupid. We Americans are stupid. That's why this Fall, I'm voting to fire them all.

FYI TTH is a Democrat . You may be on the wrong team

It got way uglier under the Trump regime. Tax breaks for the super rich, the working class got worse off. All the horrible stuff that happened under Trump, he tells us to vote for him so it won't happen again. Not to mention the rise of white supremacy that Trump brought out into the open and endorsed. Tom T. Hall could add a few verses to this song.

What in God's name are you blathering about? Tom T would be embarrassed if you think this is a pro police song.

No it isnt. Both parties failed USA.