Lubbock or Leave it...

Its always eerie to hear a critique of the place where you were brought up, and maybe it is especially eerie when it is a critique you share. On the Dixie Chick's latest album, which is largely a response to the betrayal and abandoment of their fans that occured when they spoke critically of President Bush at a concert in London in 2003, Natalie Maines writes of our hometown, Lubbock, TX.

The pit of my stomach sinks and hair raises on the back of my neck everytime I hear the song; commons signs I have come to experience whenever there is guilt, conviction, despair, and a host of other grave conditions present. She has exposed the cheap grace and self-righteousness that so many American religious groups are peddling.

I suspect that many Lubbock-ites will be very hostile to this message (someone wise once said that a prophet is never received in her hometown), but I believe that Ms. Maines and the Chicks have hit on some points that many "small-town", religious centers should take into consideration as they evaluate the effectiveness of their generally good-hearted intentions.

Lubbock or Leave it

Dust bowl, Bible belt
Got more churches than trees
Raise me, praise me, couldn't save me
Couldn't keep me on my knees
Oh, boy, rave on down loop 289
That'll be the day you see me back
In this fool's paradise

Temptation's strong
(Salvation's gone)
I'm on my way
To hell's half acre
How will I ever
How will I ever
Get to heaven now

Throwing stones from the top of your rock
Thinking no one can see
The secrets you hide behind
Your southern hospitality
On the strip, the kids get lit
So they can have a real good time
Come Sunday they can just take their pick
From the crucifix skyline

Temptation's strong
(Salvation's gone)
I'm on my way
To hell's half acre
How will I ever
How will I ever
Get to heaven now
Get to heaven now

International airport
A quarter after nine
Paris Texas, Athens Georgia's
Not what I had in mind
As I'm getting out I laugh to myself
Cause this is the only place
Where as you're getting on the plane
You see Buddy Holly's face

I hear they hate me now
Just like they hated you
Maybe when I'm dead and gone
I'm gonna get a statue too

Temptation's strong
(Salvation's gone)
I'm on my way
To hell's half acre
How will I ever
How will I ever
Get to heaven now
Get to heaven now
How will I ever

Get to heaven now