This song is on the thematic album Good Old Boys, about southern rednecks. The "I" is Marie's husband, a drunk who works in the steel mills of Birmingham, Alabama, and sings about his home town in another one of the songs on the album.
The sad melody is matched by the poignant and ironic lyrics: this guy is a terrible husband -- crazy, weak, laxy, doesn't listen, doesn't even help his wife when she's in trouble -- and yet he professes his undying love for her! One of the many hypocrisies expressed on this album's indictment of the south.
This song is on the thematic album Good Old Boys, about southern rednecks. The "I" is Marie's husband, a drunk who works in the steel mills of Birmingham, Alabama, and sings about his home town in another one of the songs on the album. The sad melody is matched by the poignant and ironic lyrics: this guy is a terrible husband -- crazy, weak, laxy, doesn't listen, doesn't even help his wife when she's in trouble -- and yet he professes his undying love for her! One of the many hypocrisies expressed on this album's indictment of the south.