New Year with Martha and the Vandellas Gail Heriot

Loyal Right Coast readers probably think I was a lousy blogger in 2008.  All I can say is that blogging is not the only thing I did poorly in 2008.  My cactus garden is full of dead leaves and weeds.  I haven't gotten any serious exercise since 2007, and my car has been a mess since April. I have tried to make up for some of these deficiencies today, but tomorrow I am certain to revert back.  Not until after the 24th of this month is there any hope for my schedule ...

I've found the best way to get in the mood for exercise is with Martha and the Vandellas singing "Jimmy Mack."  I can lift weights for an hour at a time when it's playing.  (Yes, I can be a bit autistic when it comes to listening to the same song repeatedly.)

The history of the song, which was released in 1967, is quite interesting.  It was first recorded in 1964.  But Motown impresario Berry Gordy decided that, because of the song's theme of incipient infidelity, it would be inappropriate to release it during the Vietnam War. 

The song begins with the inimitable Martha Reeves singing that she misses her guy, but she is tempted by another suitor who is wearing her resistance down.

Jimmy, Jimmy, oh Jimmy Mack, when are you coming back?
Jimmy, Jimmy, oh Jimmy Mack, when are you coming back?
My arms are missing you, my lips feel the same way too
I tried so hard to be true, like I promised I'd do
But this boy keeps coming around, he's trying to wear my resistance down

Hey Jimmy, Jimmy, oh Jimmy Mack, when are you coming back
Jimmy, Jimmy, oh Jimmy Mack, when are you coming back
He calls me on the phone, about three times a day
Now my heart's just listening to what he has to say
But this loneliness that I have within keeps reaching out to be his friend

There's nothing in the song that specifically suggests that Jimmy Mack is away at war.  The singer seems to be a young girl, probably not a fiancee and certainly not a wife.  But Gordy didn't think it would sit well with servicemen and their families and ordered it shelved.   It was released in 1967 after the Vietnam War had become unpopular.

I don't know exactly what was on Gordy's mind.  Was he concerned that the song would cause needless heartache to the troops?  Or was he just concerned with selling records?  The change of heart in 1967 might suggest the latter, but it doesn't rule out the former or some mix of both. 

Could the War on Terror give rise to any similar restraint by the entertainment industry today?  Or is this kind of concern a thing of the past?  The closest case I can think of involved a very different kind of restraint.  The late Peter Jennings is said to have vetoed Toby Keith's Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue for ABC when he heard what he regarded as its bloodthirsty lyrics.  This was in 2002, shortly after the war in Afghanistan had begun (and well before the war in Iraq). 

I'll admit that Keith's song is not exactly Kumbaya.  Written shortly after 9/11, it begins with a salute to veterans in general and Keith's father in particular, who did indeed lose his eye in the military:

American girls and American guys, will always stand up and salute.
We'll always recognize, when we see ol' glory flying,
There's a lot of men dead,
So we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our heads.
My daddy served in the army where he lost his right eye,
But he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died.
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me.
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free.

The rest of the song is about the response to 9/11:

Now this nation that I love is fallin' under attack.
A mighty sucker-punch came flying in from somewhere in the back.
Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye,
Man, we lit up your world like the fourth of July.

Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.

The offending verse went this way:

Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage:
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage.
An' you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
'Cuz we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.

Well,  maybe it's not quite as inspiring as the Battle Hymn of the Republic.  But it seems a bit prissy for Jennings to have gotten upset over a song that advocates using force to defeat evil.  I advocate the use of force to defeat evil too.  And I dearly hope that it remains American policy to "put a boot in [the] ass" of those who launch attacks on our country.  Now and forever.

Comments

[Corkie the Dog]

What happens on the 24th of this month?

[NewsToTom]

Interesting backstory behind "Courtesy": Toby Keith apparently wrote the song as a personal reaction and didn't plan to release it. He did, however, perform it at a concert he did for Marines (and possibly other servicemen). New National Security Adviser appointee James Jones, who I believe at the time was Commandant of the Marine Corps, strongly encouraged Keith to release the song, because the message was important. I wonder how many Obamaniacs know this, and how many opinions it would affect.

[Marek]

It is disingenuous to say that the Keith/Jennings incident took place "shortly after the war in Afghanistan had begun (and well before the war in Iraq)." In fact, Keith was to appear on an ABC 4th of July TV special, and Congress authorized the use of force on Iraq in October, 2002, just a few months later, following a now infamous public saber rattling campaign by the Bush administration.

So, was our invasion of Iraq a good example of "American policy to 'put a boot in [the] ass' of those who launch attacks on our country?" Or was it an example of what happens when nationalist bloodlust, incited by people such as Keith, clouds our collective judgment and leads us to war on a nation that had nothing to do with the attacks on our country?

In retrospect, Peter Jennings' refusal to allow "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue" to be broadcast on his program was a wise show of restraint. Perhaps if others had shown similar restraint, the greatest foreign policy blunder of our generation, brought to us courtesy of President Bush, Toby Keith, and the millions of Americans who supported their militant attitude, might have been avoided.

[Richard Clark]

The third verse of the Star Spangled Banner has gone out of favor, too:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Ass booting has a long and glorious tradition in this country, and I'm in favor of keeping that option open, too.