Hayes Carll continues the rich tradition of comedy country sons with his heartbreak tale of his girl leaving him for Jesus.

Country music has a long history of blending humour with its traditional tales of lovin’ and leavin’, boozin’ and brawlin’ (and sometimes all four).

Loretta Lynn sang You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly to Conway Twitty and Johnny Cash did it on his own with A Boy Named Sue.

Then there was Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks with my favourite title: How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away? 

Not to mention Bobby Bare’s much mentioned Drop Kick Me Jesus (Through The Goal Posts Of Life).

So, speaking of Jesus, here’s Hayes Carll with his finest comedy country song, She Left Me For Jesus.

I heard it again when it was covered last night by Philip Rambow during his gig at the Hope & Anchor. Like me, Phil’s a big fan of the lyric.

It’s worth spending four minutes listening to Hayes’s story of his high-school sweetheart leaving him, and his rising jealousy as she tells him he’ll never be able to compare with the new man in her life – “that freak in the sandals, with his long purdy hair.”

Enraged by the sight of him, he imagines the worst – “I bet he’s a Commie, Or worse yet a Jew” – before resolving that if he ever does find Jesus, he’s kicking his ass.

All this to a great tune, with the underlying irony that Carll – a Texan country singer – is usually addressing an audience of whom a substantial portion would describe themselves as Christian.