See if you can tell, from these excerpts, which country music song is satire and which is real.

Exibit A:

I hear people saying we don't need this war
I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

Exhibit B:

What would you do
If you were asked to give up your dreams for freedom?
What would you do
If asked to make the ultimate sacrifice?

Would you think about all them people
Who gave up everything they had?
Would you think about all them War Vets
And would you start to feel bad?

The answer, of course, is that they're both satire. No one could possibly sing that first song with a straight face. At least that's what you would think. But Exhibit A is "Have You Forgotten?" by Darryl Worley. You might recognize the second song, "Freedom Isn't Free," from the funny and irreverent Team America: World Police. When I first heard the Worley song on the radio in my dad's pickup I thought it must be a joke. But this guy's for real. Not so real that I would dignify the song with a refutation of its shaky logic, but real enough that he didn't write the song just to make people laugh.