A couple more thoughts that haven't been covered: The bagpipes at the opening of the song are reminiscent of the Irish and Scottish heritage of many people in the American South. Bagpipes also invoke the insurrectionist/survivalist spirit of the Irish and Scottish, who have spent centuries fighting a much larger foe (the English). It has been argued that the fiery fighting spirit of the Scottish and Irish immigrants contributed to the Southern states succeeding in the American Civil War. Malcolm Gladwell has an interesting chapter on the South as an honour-based society in his book "Outliers."
Also, Earle writes in an interesting parallel between John Lee and his father, in that his father used a cop car (a tool of the "establishment") to help him run moonshine, while John Lee III uses the military (another tool of the "establishment") to defend his contraband.
A couple more thoughts that haven't been covered: The bagpipes at the opening of the song are reminiscent of the Irish and Scottish heritage of many people in the American South. Bagpipes also invoke the insurrectionist/survivalist spirit of the Irish and Scottish, who have spent centuries fighting a much larger foe (the English). It has been argued that the fiery fighting spirit of the Scottish and Irish immigrants contributed to the Southern states succeeding in the American Civil War. Malcolm Gladwell has an interesting chapter on the South as an honour-based society in his book "Outliers."
Also, Earle writes in an interesting parallel between John Lee and his father, in that his father used a cop car (a tool of the "establishment") to help him run moonshine, while John Lee III uses the military (another tool of the "establishment") to defend his contraband.