Tracy Lawrence's new single is called 'Pills,' but it really should be called -- in a grouchy old man's tone -- 'Back in My Day.' The longtime country hitmaker uses the nearly four-minute marriage of country and klezmer music to prescribe a fix for all the world's ailments: hard work and exercise.

While this type of yesteryear message often comes across as nostalgic, Lawrence's sarcastic lyrics are preachy and condescending. "Everybody got a pill these days / To make you feel some different way / Than the way you're feeling now / They can make you go up or down," he sings to begin the song.

At best this is an album cut that his most loyal fans will get a few chuckles out of. Those who truly need the help of modern science to treat serious emotional and physical disabilities may not get Dr. Lawrence's joke, however. They may even be offended.

"They advertise 'em on TV / Things to treat kids with A.D.D./ Back in the day we had Daddy's belt / I remember how that medicine felt." Back in the day, one also drove without wearing a seat belt, smoked cigarettes like they were filled with oxygen and worried about smallpox. There's no doubt a little old- chool work ethic would do the current generation some good, but there's no need for science to retreat.

"Pills to make you lose weight / Pills to make you gain weight / Pills to grow your hair / Muscle and bone and even down there," Lawrence adds during the chorus.

Kudos to the 44-year-old if he's gotten this far without a little help from the doctor, but the singer is approaching an age in which Daddy's belt isn't going to cure him any longer.

1.5 Stars
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Listen to Tracy Lawrence's 'Pills'

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