"WHY SHOULD I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE YOU???"

                                                                     (perkins/shore)

   (we start this one off with John Hartfords old banjo,

    courtesy Jamie Hartford and Matt Combs)

  "So what have you got that I ain't got?

   where can you go that I can't go"?

   what do you do, that I can't do?

   why should I want to be just like you?

   What do you see that I can't see?

   what do you feel that I can't feel?

   anything you hear I can hear too

   why should I want to be just like you?

   You're scared to death of what may come

   you hold grudges and regrets for what's been done

   you judge condemning other folks that like to have fun...

   Ronnie McCoury finishes up that line with the  mandocello)

   Look down your nose at the beggars on our streets

   but the Pharisees and Sadducees you sweetly warmly greet

   pertaining to the things of Love you seem to have no clue

   so why should I want to be just like you??

   what do you know, that you're not told

   where are they from, and what do they know?

   greed and jealousy  make you seem like you're so cruel

   WHY SHOULD I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE YOU?

   preach to us on Sunday then you gossip all week long

   tell us how your way's so right and all of us are wrong

   you look good on the surface, but you're rotten through and through

   WHY SHOULD I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE YOU?

   you'll criticize and gossip all about your fellow members

   celebrate Christ Jesus birth, but only in December

   dogma and traditions seem to guide your every move

   WHY SHOULD I WANT TO BE JUST You??

   we know that none have kept the law-

   yet you judge what others do

   that silly robe and gavel

   makes you look like such a fool

   negativity, it fails you and vanity won't pull you through

   WHY SHOULD I WANT TO BE JUST YOU??

  You're BEAUTIFUL, IN A GOD LIKE WAY

  SO PATIENT,KIND AND TRUE

  AND YOU'RE ALWAYS THERE

  WHEN I NEED A     FRIEND

  THAT'S WHY I'D LIKE TO BE JUST LIKE HIM

  I MEAN, YOU KNOW .....

  THAT'S WHY I'D LIKE TO BE  JUST LIKE YOU!!!!

Ronnie McCoury sang and played the mandocello

Bob Moore played bass

and I vented and repented and held John Hartfords banjo in my lap

  "When I was young a lot of people in our church considered it a sin for  women to wear pants, or makeup. It was a sin to drink Coca Cola. It was a sin to go to the movies......Some 25 yrs  later we'd go to church socials where Coca Cola was being served, the preachers wife would be running around in pants and wearing makeup, and the young people would be boarding the church bus to go see a movie.....It appeared  that some of the folks in charge of formulating our doctrines and disciplines were making up the rules as they go. Fervently preaching that the Bible is "Gods Holy Inspired Word" and that every "word in it is true, not to be added to or taken away from," and that "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever more" -  I wandered  'how can this be?' ....If it was wrong to do these things 25 yrs ago, and God doesn't change, then isn't it still wrong ??  These were the same  ones that said said it was a sin to smoke, or drink, or be a fornicator...(in fact, you couldn't be a member of the church, or even activity participate in the services if you were a known tobacco user). If they could change their minds so easily about Coca Cola  and women in slacks and going to movies, how wrong were they going to be 25 yrs from now about smoking pot, or living with a girl you're not married to??

  Further complicating and confusing the matter was there appeared to be two distinctly different versions of Jesus; the most popular by far was the handsome one with the long, perfectly combed hair and neatly trimmed beard, wearing a beautiful white robe, and speaking sweetly, and softly...often seen with children in his lap....this was the Jesus of the ones that took pride in  bedecking themselves in self righteous suits, who  gathered  robes of piety about themselves  - the ones that would  look down their noses at a black person, or a long haired white boy , or a single young pregnant girl that might happen to walk in during the service...

  The  'other' Jesus, the one seldom if ever spoken of- said  of  himself that he was a homeless person ("the birds have nest and the foxes have holes- but I have no place to lay my head") who surrounded himself with social outcast, uneducated men, women of ill repute, tax collectors and the like...and made a special point of  encouraging his friends  NOT be like the people going into the church adorned in splendor, who  make loud speeches and say long prayers to be seen and heard of men  .... 

  This other less popular Jesus was saying that if you really want to know the value of  your religion - see how it makes you treat other people, that how we treat the least of those amongst us is the true measure of how we really feel about God...that we must be meek to inherit the earth, that we should treat others as we'd like to be treated, that the Kingdom Of Heaven is within us,  that it's not what we put in our mouths that defiles us, but what comes out of our mouths that causes our trouble, that sometimes we spend a lot of time praying for people whenwe ought to be  DOING for them-and that we should be willing to  accept other people to the same extent that we want to be accepted...no matter how they look, sound, act, or smell.....

It's easy for an irresponsible person (like me) that's just looking for an excuse

to stray -to blame confusing religious teaching and misguided leadership for their 'prodigal behavior'...But in my case for every 'bad' or confusing example I've had, I've been blest with  hundreds that were beyond reproach..Men like my Dad, my Granddaddy Freeze, my Uncle Harley, Wade Garrett, W.T. Pate, Curt Ballard, Banks Patterson, Boyd Wagoner, Dewey Farmer... Because these good examples have never given up on me, (and shown a lot of patience in dealing with me)-not only am I learning how I want to be through them, I'm learning how to find the purpose and good in the self-righteous ones I used  to hold in such contempt.....

"Why Should I Want To Be Just Like You ?" is at once my least favorite -and one of my very favorite  songs on this record...When it starts out, it sometimes makes me cringe; I'm  ashamed that I could ever have felt so bitter and resentful towards people that are struggling to find their way and doing the best they know how just like me....but by the time the last verse comes along, it starts getting easier to appreciate it".....

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