Randy Houser's voice is as strong as ever as he shares what's on his heart for the very first time. The "Cowboy" hitmaker's new release "Cancel" is a conservative questioning of where the world is headed.

Spoiler alert: he's not a fan. Or, more accurately, he doesn't get it ("I don't get it, don't get it").

Related: Top 40 Country Songs of 2023, So Far (Ranked)

If you love Oliver Anthony's "Rich Men North of Richmond," you'll crush on "Cancel" as well. Both self-written sentiments work to nudge the country back to God to correct what the singer sees as crumbling morals.

Both singers lob pointed skepticism (hopelessness?) into the air and walk away to let their audience figure out what to do with the tension.

While Anthony looks outward at government missteps and poor decisions made by others in his community, Houser turns inward, to his own story. After a table-setter of a first verse, he lets listeners know that he's doing right by his sons before reaching further back to deliver the most effective lyric.

"I was that kid / Corner of the playground / Always looking down, nowhere bound / But just look at me now," he sings at the bridge.

With "Cancel," Houser tries to say a lot, and thus five minutes pass before he repeats the confusion he felt at the beginning. It's not the tightest example of songwriting in his catalog, but like so many new to infusing socio-political opinion with music, it's big on passion.

attachment-Houser Cancel
Magnolia Music Group
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Here Are the Lyrics to Randy Houser, "Cancel":

I gotta say I don't like where this world's headed / I just don't get it / I don't get it, don't get it / But it's looking a lot like a story I heard from a back pew / In a backroad Baptist church / Shoulda paid more attention / When the preacher man read it / But if I listen to the news and talk radio / Turn on the tube, no matter where I go / The devil's on the move / Working out a plan / To rid the whole wide world / Of the God-fearing man / I'm a God-fearing man.

Chorus:
Breaking my bread at the breakfast table / Bowing my head causе I'm willing and able / Taking the hand of the woman I lovе / Holding it tighter when the times get tough / Teaching our kids how the good Lord blessed us / Calling out the stuff that the world done messed up / Right is right and God is the answer / Living this life the devil wants to cancel.

I gotta look in the eyes of my boys and tell 'em / They ain't no better / No better, no better / Than the kid in the corner looking like a stranger biting on his nails / And counting on his fingers all the change in his pocket / Hell, they ain't no better / Boys, you better know better.

Cause they were born who they are with the things that they got / Got people around 'em who love 'em a lot / They'll never look down / On anyone else / Teaching 'em right
Raising 'em well.

Repeat Chorus

I was that kid / Corner of the playground / Always looking down, nowhere bound / But just look at me now.

Repeat Chorus

I gotta say I don't like where this world's headed / I just don't get it / I don't get it, don't get it.

The Top 40 Country Songs of 2023, Ranked

The best country songs of 2023 fit snugly over your life and experiences. Each is written from personal experiences, but somehow, translate as if they were custom to each of us.

We've loved, we've longed, we've lost and we've cut loose in the country.

Airplay charts, sales data and streaming numbers helped make this list of country music's Top 40 songs of 2023, but staff and Taste of Country reader opinion were most influential. Songs included on previous Top Country Songs lists were not eligible. A song may have been released in 2022, but it had to have the majority of recorded airplay or impact this year to count.

Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes

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