The narratorprotagonist of "Uneasy Rider" is a long-haired marijuana smoker driving a Chevrolet with a "peace sign, mag wheels, and four on the floor." The song is a spoken-word description of an interlude in a trip from a non-specified location in the Southern United States to Los Angeles, California. When one of the narrator's tires goes flat in Jackson, Mississippi, he stops at a "Redneck" bar and calls a gas station to come repair it. He is alone at first, to his relief, but several local residents soon arrive and question his manners, physical appearance, and choice of vehicle. In order to extricate himself from a potential physical altercation, the narrator accuses one man of being a federal agent working undercover to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan, who removes George Wallace bumper stickers, voted for George McGovern, and has a Communist flag on his garage wall. As the others begin to believe the narrator's story, the man defends himself by saying he has lived in Jackson all of his life, has no garage, is a faithful Baptist, and adheres to the teachings of "Brother John Birch". The distraction lasts long enough for the narrator to escape just as his tire is repaired. After chasing the rednecks around with his car for a short time, he speeds away quickly and resumes his journey to Los Angeles; already on a northward track to Arkansas, he decides on the fly to reroute through Omaha, Nebraska.
Cultural references
The lyrics reflect the cultural divisions in the Southern United States in the early 1970s between the counterculture of the 1960s and more traditional Southern culture. Unlike most country music of the time, Daniels' protagonist is a member of the counterculture.
The song's title, which does not appear in the lyrics, is a play on the title of the 1969 film Easy Rider, which follows two counterculture motorcyclists on a journey in the opposite direction, from Los Angeles to New Orleans, Louisiana, culminating in the sudden, violent deaths of the two bikers at the hands of two shotgun-wielding Southerners.
Daniels' counterculture attitude was consistent with that of others in the outlaw country music movement but is in contrast to his later right-wing attitudes expressed in songs such as 1989's "Simple Man".
Two Southern men decide to travel to New Orleans to party, but on the way get pulled over by a police officer for speeding. They decide to stop at the Cloud 9 Bar and Grill in Houston, Texas. The narrator reacts violently to sexual harassment from a cross-dressing customer, which instigates a fight with the locals.
His friend joins in, and learns during the fight that the good-looking gal he had been dancing with was also a crossdresser, much to his disgust. The narrator and his friend struggle to leave the bar amid the fight, get into their vehicle, and speed away—and get pulled over by the same police officer who stopped them earlier. They end up in a county jail where the narrator swears off drinking and partying, and resolving to go "back where the women are women and the men are men."
↑ Later releases from Charlie Daniels are credited to "the Charlie Daniels Band" including compilations featuring "Uneasy Rider" but the single and the album were originally credited to "Charlie Daniels."
↑ Otfinoski, Steve, The Golden Age of Novelty Songs, Billboard Books, New York, NY, 2000 p.163
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This is a detailed discography for American musician Charlie Daniels. Much of his output, including all of his studio albums from 1974 to 1989, is credited to the Charlie Daniels Band.
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Simple Man is the sixteenth studio album by Charlie Daniels and the thirteenth as the Charlie Daniels Band, released on October 17, 1989. The album's most memorable song is the titular song, "Simple Man", which is not related to the Lynyrd Skynyrd song of the same name. "It's My Life" is a shorter version of a jam song previously released on their 1976 album, Saddle Tramp.
"Mississippi", is a song written by Charlie Daniels and first released on the Charlie Daniels Band's 1979 album Million Mile Reflections. It was also released as a single in September 1979 as the follow-up to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." It reached the top 20 on the country singles charts in both the U.S. and Canada.
Homesick Heroes is the fifteenth studio album by Charlie Daniels and the twelfth as the Charlie Daniels Band, released on August 15, 1988. The album is known for the band's cover of the Jimmy Dean classic, "Big Bad John," which also includes guest harmony vocals by The Oak Ridge Boys, and for the song "Uneasy Rider '88" which is musically and thematically similar to their renowned 1973 song "Uneasy Rider" but with a story set in a Houston, Texas gay bar.
Land That I Love is a compilation album by American musician Charlie Daniels. Released on August 8, 2010, the album consists of Daniels' previously recorded patriotic work, as well as two new songs, "Iraq Blues" and "(What This World Needs is) A Few More Rednecks 2010". Charlie Daniels felt that "it was the perfect time for a compilation of patriotic music". Charlie Daniels said in an interview that the album is called Land That I Love because the United States of America is the land that he loves.
Essential Super Hits is a compilation album by American musician Charlie Daniels. Released on July 27, 2004, the compilation consists of a compact disc of Daniels' hits, and a 5-song DVD video.
Redneck Fiddlin' Man is an album by American musician Charlie Daniels. It was released on July 23, 2002 and peaked at number 40 on the Top Country Albums chart.
Charlie Daniels is the debut album of American musician Charlie Daniels. It was released in 1970 courtesy of Capitol Records.
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