As if country music wasn't offensive enough in and of itself, now they're trying to put politics into it!

I mean, OK, I've read the lyric, which can be summed up as one long whinge by somebody who feels the effects without fully understanding the causes. The only overtly political bit is the 'Rich men north of Richmond' which is, from what some US correspondents tell me, a fairly typical Southern response of blaming "Those damn Yankees" for whatever is going wrong with them!

Sometimes a song, a poem, a book or other media product resonates with the zeitgeist of its time and gains recogition beyond its merits (Imagine being a case in point). It is equally true to say that the intent of the creator is often not mirrored in the use others make of the product. Delilah is a song about a weak, obsessive man, an amoral woman and the outcome of their doomed relationship. It neither excuses nor glorifies violence against women.

Mr Anthony seems to have unintentionally touched a nerve with what is, after all, a very pedestrian song, and whatever he was trying to achieve with it has been taken from him by others with their own agendas. This shit happens all the time.