Now that is the way discussions should be carried out. Thanks Mbo.

Whether you're right about what was in Hank Junior's mind with this song or not, clearly it's what's in your mind when you're listening to it or singing it. Perhaps you might try sticking some lines in that make it clearer. I've done that myself, and I think it's a legitimate part of the folk process.

That crack I made about: <>"I read this in the paper...I heard this on the news." And he then he goes on to write an editorial in verse about it. I don't think that's how good songs work.

I didn't mean there's anything wrong with making a song fromn something you get that way. Woody Guthruie did it all the time, and it's no different from making the song from what someone has told you face to face.

What I meant was that the song wasn't directly about what happened, it was about his feelings about what happened, so it was second-hand. But thinking it over, that's no wholly fair - there've been good songs about how some media event affects a singer. I think this one could have done with a bit more working over.It's a matter of personal taste.