Just a nitpick, but all Happy Bob did was set Albert Camus’ The Stranger to music. A good song, from a great book.
Boy, is that a sig line or what??
Zette
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/7571/gbtu.html
CLick it and weep.
Say what you want about Greenwood, but unlike most of you slobbering hypocrites, he was patriotic when patriotic wasn’t cool.
Hey, now that would be a good title for a country song.
I um, like the Styx song…not that much, but I used to when I was younger-I didn’t know it was about the war…huh…
Thanks for ‘new Greenwood’ warning! The radio stations got together and did a on-air telethon fundraiser today, so of course played suitable music. Suddenly a new song came on, and halfway through the first line I suddenly realized it was Lee Greenwood, so it must be the song you were talking about.
By the fourth line I was gagging, but managed to get to the radio to turn it off. Left it off for 15 minutes to make sure I didn’t accidentally hear any more.
Who’s a slobbering hypocrite, PunditLisa?
I promise my disdian for that Lee Greenwood song is most sincere, and changes not with the times.
Monkeypants… until this point i had never heard that…you ruined me! lol the words have something to them but his voice?? geez
So, shoot me. I like “God Bless the U.S.A.” Always have. The radio stations around here have been playing a medly of sound bites from the attack spliced together with U2’s “Stuck in a moment” which is very, very goddamn apropriate. 9AM, September 11, 2001 is a moment this will define my generation. It’s our “Where were you when Kennedy got shot?”. Part of us will live that moment always.
Us folks here in East Tennessee don’t care if he tours or not, we gots us the Lee Greenwood Theater in Sevierville!
Woo-dawgy!!!
cough … sorry, my accent get stuck sometimes.
So…does Lee Greenwood know any other songs? Or is he sort of the Shelly Fabares of patriotic music?
I’d like to hear a parody song where news clips and presidential sound bites are dubbed into a totally inappropriate song. I’d suggest “Brass Monkeys” or “Rock Me Amadeus.”
I asked my husband last night if he’d had any requests for any patriotic music at his gigs lately. He said no. Not even for “God Bless the U.S.A.”
He also told me that he’d really, really rather not play songs like that right now. He said “When people come out to the bar, it’s to relax and get away for a couple of hours. Right now, they’re just wanting something else besides this. Anything else, even if it’s just some beer and some guy with a guitar playing music by people they’ve never heard of. They just want something that isn’t this mess.”
He also told me that he hopes he never gets asked to play “God Bless the U.S.A.”, because he had to play it over and over and over again during the Gulf War, and he really came to hate it.
So…does Lee Greenwood know any other songs? Or is he sort of the Shelly Fabares of patriotic music?
I’d like to hear a parody song where news clips and presidential sound bites are dubbed into a totally inappropriate song. I’d suggest “Brass Monkeys” or “Rock Me Amadeus.”
Macro Man also admits to slight tearing when I really listen to LG’s GBTUSA. However, for sheer listening delight, may I suggest Twisted Sister’s We’re not Gonna Take It.
WE’VE GOT THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE AND
THERE AIN’T NO WAY WE’LL LOSE IT
THIS IS OUR LIFE; THIS IS OUR SONG
WE’LL FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE JUST
DON’T PICK OUR DESTINY 'CAUSE
YOU DON’T KNOW US, YOU DON’T BELONG…
WE’RE RIGHT/YEAH
WE’RE FREE/YEAH
WE’LL FIGHT/YEAH
YOU’LL SEE/YEAH
Pure war-mongering ear candy.
Sorry for the slight thread detour.
ChiefScott, 5/24/00:
"Lee Greenwood destroyed Proud to be an American for me.
The year was '86 or '87 and the USS Nimitz was deployed. As a crewmember I anxiously awaited Mr. Greenwood’s arrival to the ship as part of a USO tour. NBC-TV was aboard and filmed his performance for posterity.
He was a total and complete asshole. As a member of the public affairs staff, we provided everything for him, but it was never enough.
We put him in the Admiral’s cabin, he wanted the skipper’s in port cabin.
He wouldn’t deign to do an interview with the ship’s TV crew or newspaper.
He wouldn’t sign autographs for the crew.
When we gave him his Ocean Spray Cranapple drink (which we had especially ordered 'cause that was one of the conditions he gave the USO for performing) it wasn’t cold enough.
When touring the ship, he wanted to make sure no crewmembers were around 'cause “He was off duty and they hassle him for autographs.”
His concern was not for the crew. He didn’t come to entertain. He didn’t come to raise morale. He didn’t come to express support.
He came to have his performance of “Proud to be an American” taped in front of an adoring military crowd in the Hangar Bay of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
With the personal contact I’ve had with the man, it sickened me when Lee Greenwood’s song became the “Unofficial Anthem” of the Gulf War.
Lee Greenwood can kiss my shiny-white deployed ass.
I’ve so missed ChiefScott
Being too lazy to look it up…did Lee Greenwood ever spend any time in any branch of the US military?
Okay, I looked it up. His official web page biography does not mention any military service.
It’s OK to be patriotic.
It’s OK to be sappy and trite.
It’s OK to be a short, mediocre country show-boy.
Even OK to be an asshole Prima Donna.
The fact of the matter is that this song is just HORRIBLY WRITTEN! The verses are forced and clumsy, cramming in a word or stretching it out over several notes and of course, stressing it on the wrong syllable to make it fit. Sounds like someone wrote it during a short visit to the crapper. The second verse of rattling off city names is cheap filler.
The sentiment and message are beautiful. The chorus isn’t even too bad for what it is. He’s just a horrible songwriter and this is a REALLY poorly done effort.
Forgive me for the mental rape, but if you think this is bad, you should hear his rendition of “God Bless America”. In the words of Leonard Plinth Garnell–“Horrble! Just Awful, Couldn’t be worse” Sounds like Michael Bolton at a “singing ahead and behind of the melody” workshop.
Everyone should read Rilchiam’s whole post.
OK, thanks, now I can proudly stand up and say, Lee, you faux-patriotic piece of shit, fuck you. Fuck your mama. Fuck your in-laws. Fuck. I was always skeptical of that guy, and I am usually a good judge of character. I quote, “…at least I know I’m free…” Whatever, you stupid, self-serving, hick-on-a-stick. Every man in my Father’s family served in the military (most earned the Purple Heart)-- [sub](probably why I didn’t want to serve)[/sub]–I have the utmost respect for our men (women, homosexuals*, et al) in uniform. Right now my brother-in-law is on the Enterprise–on a very extended tour–he is a great guy and deserves respect, not some Hollywood(ish) egomaniacal, one hit only, prey on humanitarian disaster, feed off war like a fucking vampire, redneck loser disrespecting him. Fuck you again, Lee, from the bottom of my heart.
*[sub]If you don’t, let me tell you a little story about the Spartans…[/sub]