Fw: [sixties-l] The anti-war 60s all over again? (fwd)

From: Michael Simmons (munz@mindspring.com)
Date: Mon Dec 16 2002 - 23:17:45 EST

  • Next message: sixties@lists.village.virginia.edu: "[sixties-l] It's not yesterday's peace movement (fwd)"

    If I may interject some facts into this academic Merle Haggard
    deconstruction, Merle wrote "Okie..." while clowning around in the back of
    his tour bus with his band. Like most musicians, Hag is a fairly
    open-minded cat. When "Okie..." became a right-wing anthem, Merle played
    along as if he were serious, I would imagine partly for financial reward.
    Let's call it niche marketing. The biggest irony is that, for many years,
    Hag was a stone-cold stoner.

    Country music history aside, I've covered the medical marijuana movement for
    years in my role as journalist. A part of the movement got haircuts and
    lost the tie-dyes. The DEA busted 'em anyway and the same majority of
    mainstream Americans supported medical marijuana before the movement cleaned
    up as after. Remember "Clean For Gene" during the Eugene McCarthy anti-war
    presidential run? Did that have any effect on America's view of the war in
    Vietnam? No, it was the film footage of dead American soldiers and Walter
    Cronkite coming out against the war.

    If you're a freak, wave that freak flag. If you're not, don't. There's
    something dishonest about dressing up to win friends and influence people.

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: <Sorrento95@aol.com>
    To: <sixties-l@lists.village.virginia.edu>
    Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 7:29 PM
    Subject: Re: [sixties-l] The anti-war 60s all over again? (fwd)

    > In a message dated 11/24/2002 5:54:35 PM Eastern Standard Time,
    sixties@lists.village.virginia.edu writes:
    >
    > [Quoting the article by Alexander Cockburn]
    >
    > > When it comes to the big themes of love and war
    > > and history, nothing concentrates the mind like a
    > > few songs by Merle, whose 1969 pro-war country
    > > anthem "Okie from Muskogee" lambasted the
    > > dope-smoking hippie peaceniks
    >
    > Now, let's take a good look at what the author calls Merle Haggard's
    "pro-war" ballad really says:
    >
    > OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE
    >
    > We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
    > We don't take our trips on LSD
    > We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street;
    > We like livin' right, and bein' free.
    >
    > I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
    > A place where even squares can have a ball
    > We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
    > And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all
    >
    > We don't make a party out of lovin';
    > We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo;
    > We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy,
    > Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.
    >
    > And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
    > A place where even squares can have a ball.
    > We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
    > And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all.
    >
    > Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear;
    > Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen.
    > Football's still the roughest thing on campus,
    > And the kids here still respect the college dean.
    >
    > We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
    > In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.
    >
    > -- end of song --
    >
    > There's only one line which could possibly be called
    > "pro-war." That's the one about burning draft cards
    > down on Main Street.
    >
    > The rest of the song is a denunciation of what I would
    > call CULTURAL radicalism. Merle doesn't like pot-smokin,
    > long-haired, acid-brained, unpatriotic, beads'n'sandle-
    > wearin HIPPIES.
    >
    > Get out your history books some time and take a look at
    > what the wobblies wore to their public demonstrations.
    > They were in SUITS with TIES. They wanted to look like
    > NORMAL people. The cultural radicals of the 60s and
    > their freaky ring-nosed purple-haired progeny of the
    > present ought to take a lesson from this.
    >
    > Check out this photo of Joe Hill supporters. Do they look
    > like a bunch of freaks?
    >
    > http://www.pbs.org/joehill/faces/index.html
    >
    > -- Michael Wright
    > Norman, Oklahoma
    >
    >



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