So Noel96,

Am I correct then in assuming that your candid advice to moohead is, "Wow, great song!"? The way songwriting works, practically the only songs that can find an audience in significant numbers are those which are expertly crafted and fairly well executed.
Both songs you cited, for example, are intricate, involved and move a story line forward through lyrical expression. Don't confuse "story" with "simplistic." I don't want your lyrics to necessarily be "overt," as you put it, but they DO need to go somewhere. Each verse must advance the amount of information, even if cryptically, given to your listener, and even each phrase of the verse.
Even the seemingly simplest of the really great songs that have stood the test of time do that. Think of the early Beatles catalog - I Want to Hold Your hand, etc.
You are correct that the country writers (in large) are more overt, but incorrect that many time-tested songs merely express a feeling. Each new verse phrase unfolds more of what the writer is feeling, not by simple restatement, but layer by layer, like peeling an onion.
With "I Want to Hold Your Hand," for example, we learn that this couple who seem so innocent and at the start of their relationship (the hand holding stage, if you will) are probably really past that stage (he's already asking to be her man) but he's still so enthralled with her that merely holding her hand still excites him. McCartney/Lennon wait until half way through the song to even reveal that in fact he is in love with her. That's even a greater revelation than that he wants to hold her hand, i.e. lyrically the song moves forward, advancing verse by verse, so much so that even the choruses (which, by nature are repetitive) take on new meaning with each re-hearing.
In short, there are plenty of people on the forum who write, "Wow, great song" and we all need a little pat on the back from time to time, but please don't react against me when I'm trying to be truly helpful. Honest critique is one of the few things that helps a writer truly improve and one of the hardest things to find.
And by the way, to compare moohead's song to Kristofferson is a compliment where I come from.