I think that it is the feeling in the language that must be taken into account. I can't say why off hand, but I have always heard "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" as a kind, loving, compassionate work, with the language of the lyrics simply being a genuine character portrayal. This may be subjective, but I detect not a whisp of malice therein. Crowhugger -- does this seem wrongheaded to you? I want to know.

But conversely you can take many Rufus tunes from 1890-1910 and they are redolent with the kind of mealy mouthed hypocritical condescension I mentioned earlier. And there are lots of shades of gray in between, from those whose "liberalism" is only above thier necks, to those who don't need the language of liberalism because they have always just been that way naturally. They can use identical sentences and feel as different as day and night, so it isn't just the words they use, but what they have put behind them. I can imagine both Martin King Jr and George Wallace saying "We must remember that this is a land of liberty" and sounding as different as Pavarotti and Dylan would sound if they did a duet singing "Old Man River".

A