America does not have hedgehogs. We know the words "herdsman" and "village," but we don't often use them. For us, a village is a small town.

Trains don't cross water unless they have to; they tend to go parallel to a watercourse to take advantage of its flat grade. (Free of upslopes and downslopes.) When a train comes to a bridge, it slows down, it doesn't go roaring. Now if the lyrics had said, "roaring 'long the creek," that would make sense. A little too ignorant-sounding, but it would make sense and it would scan.

I've never been to a church that has deacons, but I don't believe that deacons gives sermons. The minister, who has education in scripture and theology, has that honor. Now if the song said "Pastor, Father, or the Reverend Lee prepares the sermon for next week," then it might sound American. Exception: my dictionary says Episcopal deacons can preach, so maybe that's the answer. I doubt, however, that Epicopal deacons are addressed that way.

People, it's a contemporary pop song. Very little effort was expended to slap it together. Somebody probably noticed that John Denver had made a lot of money pretending to be a country boy, so they decided to cash in on the trend with the least amount of effort. They know that few people even try to understand the words, and of that few, most won't succeed. Why worry about the finer points?