Muswell Hillbilly

The lyrics of the track "Muswell Hillbilly" see the singer being forced from his London home and into Muswell Hill, a sterilized suburban community. He says his farewells to his friends, including Rosie Rooke, who "wore her Sunday hat so she'd impress [the singer]". The singer says that "they're gonna try and make [him] change [his] way of living, but they'll never make [him] something that [he's] not", likely referring to the government. He goes on to say, "I'm a Muswell Hillbilly boy, but my heart lies in old West Virginia. Never seen New Orleans, Oklahoma, Tennessee, [but] still I dream of the Black Hills that I ain't never seen." He explains that "they're putting us in little boxes, No character, just uniformity. They're trying to build a computerised community", but vows that "they'll never make a zombie out of me."

The song, like most of the Muswell Hillbillies album, has a country rock flavour. It also has an antiquated style, mostly attributed to the fact that the entire album was recorded with ten-year-old equipment.^[1] Ray Davies handles the lead vocal.

Dave Davies commented on the song, "There's that love and fondness for Americana and for country music because I had quite a big family, and all the great films like South Pacific and Oklahoma! – all these influences from the States – were embedded in our culture when growing up. It was kind of like a London version of The Beverly Hillbillies in a humorous way."^[2]