As the author of the post in question, I appreciate the discussion of my little blog post. I can assure you (as I did in the post) that I chose the subject because of what I perceive as its 'murder ballad' mechanism, and I really couldn't care less about the politics.   In other words, as for either celebrating or denigrating the South, frankly, I don't give a damn. (Sorry, I had to do that.) I live in Vermont and I'm in it for the music. And though I don't know for sure, I imagine Eriksen had nothing else on his mind when he recorded this song.

I would think my somewhat 'feminist' read on the ballad would be one likely source of debate, as I really couldn't offer direct evidence. Oh, Ben, you're spot on in figuring about my use of the word "happy". I'm just trying to get in to the writer's head, and so I pull that line from the lyrics (and others as well.) We often get in to the issue of 'reliable narrators' in the blog. As I'm arguing the Pearl Rivers is doing something more than celebrating Southern pride, it was worth a bit of study as to whether we might actually believe what she was saying personally. I think we can. In that of course, I could be quite wrong, and THAT could certainly be another topic of legitimate debate.