"Country" music goes protest...

[Fumesucker]

I'm anything but a country music fan but my son in law is..

So it came as a bit of a surprise to me when I was riding in the car with him last night and he turned up this song on the radio and told me to listen to the lyrics. SIL knows where I stand politically even though up until fairly recently he hasn't much shared my outlook, but he has heard me make correct prediction after correct prediction regarding current events over the last ten years and my outlook is starting to sink in a bit I think..

SIL tells me that a lot of country stars are starting to speak out in their music, if the genre that trashed the Dixie Chicks is starting to come around that is a big deal in my estimation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXRibzKERpU&feature=related

John Rich
Shuttin' Detroit Down
Written By: John Rich, John D. Anderson

My daddy taught me that in this country everyone’s the same
You work hard for your dollar and you never pass the blame
When it don’t go your way
Now I see all these big shots whinin’ on my evening news
About how they’re losin’ billions and how it’s up to me and you
To come running to the rescue
Well pardon me if I don’t shed a tear ‘cause they’re selling make believe
And we don’t buy that here

Cause in the real world there shutting Detroit down
While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets out of town/
And DC’s bailing out the bankers as the farmers auction ground,
Yeah while they’re living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down.
They’re shuttin’ Detroit down.”


Well that old man’s been workin’ in that plant most all of his life
Now his pension plan’s been cut in half and he can’t afford to die
And it’s a crying shame, ‘cause he ain’t the one to blame
When I look down and see his caloused hands,
Let me tell you friend it gets me fightin’ mad


Cause in the real world there shutting Detroit down
While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets out of town/
And DC’s bailing out the bankers as the farmers auction ground,
Yeah while they’re living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down.
They’re shuttin’ Detroit down.”

Instrumental solo

Yeah while there’ living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down

In the real world they’re shuttin Detroit down, they’re shuttin’ Detroit down.

[Ken Burch]

1. Maybe country music is finally getting in touch with its inner William Jennings Bryan

There's always been the potential for that, and that's likely the reason the country music establishment has always tried to tie the music to superpatriotism. homophobis and(in its earlier days) support for segregation.

This fixation with keeping country distracted is part of the effort, going back to the Bourbon era in Southern politics, to make sure that poor whites and blacks never made common cause.

[Fumesucker]

2. My mother was an upper class Brit, transplanted to the USA shortly after WWII

"BBC accent" and all..

And yet she listened to country music here (go figure) so I was exposed to it as a kid back in the fifties and sixties when it was epitomized to some extent by "We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee"..

I haven't really paid much attention to it in the intervening years so this came as a bit of a surprise to me..

Yes, I think you may be right, the cognitive dissonance is getting to the level that even country music fans can't ignore it any more.

Did you watch the video? "We know Jesus didn't turn the wine into Dr Pepper".. :rofl:

[Ken Burch]

4. Teddy Kennedy has always been a big country fan. A lot of people don't know that.

I'd like to think he'd have had Johnny Cash play at his inaugural concert.

And one of my favorite recordings was a duet between Conway Twitty and B.B. King on the song "Patches"(it was on an album of duets between country and r&b/soul singers). It could have been the anthem for a new populist movement.

[Fumesucker]

7. Wouldn' t that actually be a trio?

Conway, BB and Lucille? :)

[Ken Burch]

8. Well, ok smart guy, I'll give you that one.

:thumbsup:

[slewfoot]

21. Patches Duet Was George Jones and BB

Conway and Sam Cook recorded Rainy Night in Georgia. Both great songs, and a great album.

[Ken Burch]

26. Damn, you're right. Do you remember the name of that cd?

I'd like to buy a copy(I heard it at the public radio station where I used to volunteer).

[slewfoot]

30. I think it was "Country Rythm and Blues" but don't hold me to that answer. NT

[Ken Burch]

27. I stand corrected, y'all. It was George Jones, not Conway Twitty.

n/t.

[RandiFan1290]

3. 8+ years without a peep

and I am supposed to be impressed that they are whining about Obama having to clean up Bush's mess? Sorry, I ain't buying it.


Raising McCain Lyrics & Song by John Rich

Well we’re all just raisin’ McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We’re all just raisin’ McCain

And we’re all just raisin’ McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We’re all just raisin’ McCain

Well he got shot down in a Vietnam town
Fighting for the red, white and blue
And they locked him up in the Hanoi Hilton
Thinking they could break him in two

He stayed strong, stayed extra long
‘Til they let all the other boys out
Now we’ve got a real man with an American plan
We’re going to put him in the big White House

Well we’re all just raisin’ McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We’re all just raisin’ McCain

Play that American guitar, son
And we’re all just raisin’ McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way

We’re all just raisin’ McCain
I said we’re all just raisin’ McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We’re all just raisin’ McCain
:puke:
Well you can get on the train or get out of the way
We’re all just raisin’ McCain

[Ken Burch]

5. True, some have just recently turned. Still, it's a start.

It'll really get interesting if Toby Keith and Hank Jr. come around.

Maybe we need to remember something Phil Ochs said (during his short-lived "Gold lame suit" phase). Phil argued that
if there was ever to be a revolution in this country, the key would lie in getting Elvis to become Che. Perhaps something like that
will need to happen now.

Interesting thing about the song in the OP: A lot of Appalachian people and other Southerners ended up in Detroit after World War II, working the lines at the auto plants and making up a significant chunk of the UAW membership. This probably also changed the racial views of some of them, since they were on the same lines with black workers and were largely expected to treat them as equals by both the union and management.

[Fumesucker]

9. Elvis to become Che..

Now that really is an interesting concept and I think there's something to it..

[Fumesucker]

6. Like I said..

I don't pay attention to country..

And my SIL is starting to sway my way, he used to argue politics with me, now he listens.

SIL is an inactive Marine, as am I, we went to the range together not too long ago for the first time and I shocked the crap out of him (and me too actually) by shooting groups about twice as tight as his.

He actually told me last night that he's glad McCain didn't win, and I know he voted for McCain.

I would say let's wait and see, change may be blowin' in the wind.

[skepticscott]

12. Since it's country music

You'd thnk he would also have included something about how McCain divorced the wife who stood by her man...funny, that.

[Fumesucker]

13. Good point..

And funny too.. :rofl:

[Libby2]

35. Thank you!!

I wouldn't spend one cent on this jerks music, he's just in it for the money!!
He can kiss my American ASS.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. John Rich was a Bush apologist for 4 years

He's an ass. He wrote that stupid song for McCain. It's going to take a lot more than one song with a populist theme to win me over to John Rich :puke:

[Fumesucker]

11. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.. n/t

[skepticscott]

14. Perhaps

But if McCsin/Palin had won, the musically inclined inhabitants of Redneckistan would be singing their praises to high heaven. So call me when that single step has become about 500 miles.

[Fumesucker]

15. I dunno..

The bottom of the economy falling out has a lot of people's attention that usually pay no attention at all to politics.

It's like the old saw about working with a mule, first you have to whack him up side the head with a two by four to get his attention..

Up until recently only those of us who follow the "inside baseball" of politics have been paying attention, now it's getting personal.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. And they all went to those stupid tea parties and cried a river

while they complained about the black president.

They haven't crossed over to anything here.

John Rich is selling a product. That's all there is to this.

He was here a couple years ago playing a free concert for the CBS morning show. He kissed Bush's ass and the crowd cheered. He is still singing about what he thinks his peeps want to hear. Don't fool yourself.

[Fumesucker]

20. Not all by a long shot..

And if Rich is selling what he thinks people want to hear, what does that tell you?

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. It tells me that he likes to make money

I live in red state hell and am surrounded by country music and its fans. Hubby is a musician and has played in many country bands, when he needs the money.

I hate to stereotype but the majority of country lovers I know voted for McCain, hate Muslims and cheer on war and death, while singing about living the good ole USA.

As soon as I see them standing up for a cause that is truly about social justice and not about their own selfish interests I will change my mind about the majority of country fans and musicians. Hasn't happened yet.

There are a few rare exceptions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1qE2vJdDw4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj2sp-OmuA4

[Fumesucker]

23. My son in law is one such..

As I pointed out upthread, he voted for McCain and now tells me he's glad Obama won..

I'm in semi rural GA, you don't get much redder than here.

[Arugula Latte]

34. I grew up listening to country music ... and that's why I can't stand it.

My mom always played a country station. I give credit to a talented few like Johnny Cash, Waylon and Willie, but I'd rather listen to nails on the chalkboard than listen to most country music. It seems the more I heard of it, the more I hated it.

And let's not forget Hank Williams Jr.'s lovely song "McCain-Palin Tradition." :eyes:

[newinnm]

33. He also backed John Mccain

and performed on state at the Republican convention.


nnnm

[misanthrope]

38. He's fomenting discord now that the Dems are in power...

...Any kind of civil unease can lead to a general zeitgeist that works against the presently empowered party. Same thing happened when Carter was in office.

[doc03]

16. John Rich was a big McCain supporter

and I believe he performed for the Teabaggers. That is nothing new Johnny Cash especially, Willie Nelson, Whalen Jennings, Merle Haggard and others have made protest songs. John Rich is just an opportunist like Trace Atkins,(Comedian?) Dennis Miller or Faux Noise. They tell the morons what they want to hear and take their money while at the same time supporting anti-Union anti-worker Republicans. How can a guy G--damn right I do and a couple sentences latter talk about God?

[Deja Q]

17. So it's now passe for country music singers to sing over divorce, cheating, and doin' the hound dog?

:hide:

[Fumesucker]

24. For personal reasons I've recently become sensitized to the subject of cheating..

And am hearing a great deal of rock music with new ears, the subject of cheating is pretty prevalent there too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2zvdOgpMzk

[Ken Burch]

28. And they really don't want you singing about cheating ON your hound dog!

:eyes:

[doc03]

18. Here he is on Glenn Beck

he suddenly after being a supporter of Bush, McCain and a Teabagger starts protesting government spending. Wasn't it Bush that gave all that money to Paulson to hand out to Wall Street with no oversight?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDak5fAMHLw&feature=related

[tomreedtoon]

25. I hear songs bitching about HUSSEIN Obama.

And about HUSSEIN Obama giving money to rich bankers. And about HUSSEIN Obama taking away guns and taking the One True God out of school.

Funny, there weren't any country songs about New Orleans or losing a boy in Iraq or old folks dying from lack of medical support. That I heard of, anyway.

And before someone starts complaining, I should point out that these anti-Obama songs are what used to be called "turntable hits." They are songs that DJ's play a lot, but don't sell well enough to make the charts. They are almost always local performers, not Nashville name stars supported by big record labels.

These "turntable hits" are probably unavailable in music stores. Which sounds undemocratic and elitist, but I suppose they have their niche among music buyers. Most of their influence comes from the fact that Limbaugh, Hannity and their crummy local imitators play these songs unceasingly.

[SmileyRose]

29. Country music has ALWAYS been about the little guy - this is nothing new.

You never heard a Johnny Cash song?

[ColbertWatcher]

31. A Country song about Detroit? Wow. n/t

[last_texas_dem]

32. John Rich

If Rich is so concerned about the well-being of the "little guy" why the hell did he spend last year writing love songs for and out on the campaign trail for McSame?

I do think that many don't realize the number of interesting country songs, old and new, with liberal, or at least non-reactionary political messages. But guys like Rich disgust me. Like the teabaggers, he seems to have forcibly kept his own eyelids pulled shut for eight years, only to try to pass himself off as a firebreathing populist if it gives him a chance to rag on a government with a Democratic majority.

[pnutbutr]

36. Wait what?

I thought they were bailing out the auto companies because management couldn't figure out how to make a decent car and the UAW sucked them dry.

[demodonkey]

37. The area right around Nashville is quite "Blue".

But hey, they know what sells.

[madamesilverspurs]

39. All the more reason to treasure

my vinyl collection. Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, PP&M, Kingston Trio, etc. Had Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons" but it got swiped years ago.