One of the best songs I’ve heard recently on the radio is the Dixie Chicks Not Ready to Make Nice (which just received Grammy nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal) from their last album Taking the Long Way. In the second verse, they sing: It’s a sad sad story / that a mother will teach her daughter / that she ought to hate a perfect stranger. / And how in the world / can the words that I said / send somebody so over the edge / That they’d write me a letter / saying that I better shut up and sing / or my life will be over.
Ken Morefield just posted a review at lookingcloser.org of Shut Up and Sing, the new documentary about the Dixie Chicks and what has happened since lead singer Natalie Maines said she was “embarrassed” that the President of the United States was from Texas. Ken calls it the the best film he’s seen this year.
Here’s the closing paragraph from his review:
… my moment of clarity while watching the film came not from something said by Natalie, Emily, or Martie, but by Bill O’ Reilly who opines that the Dixie Chicks just need to be “slapped around.” Strange, isn’t it, how that statement didn’t seem to offend anyone, how it’s not a big controversy to this day, and how nobody is threatening to boycott Fox News if they continue to play his work? Perhaps it’s just understood that his words were not meant literally. Perhaps his words were borne of frustration and strenuous disagreement. Perhaps he simply made a poor choice of words and ought to be allowed some slack for the occasional blunder given how much time he spends in front of a microphone. Perhaps advocating violence against women really isn’t thought to be as serious an offense in this day and age as expressing disdain for the President of the United States. Perhaps Toby Keith’s “boot in your ass” is not just America’s answer to other nations that don’t bow before it but also to its own citizens who don’t toe the ruling party line. Perhaps he really just meant what he said.
All of a sudden, Natalie’s lyrics don’t seem quite so melodramatically exaggerated, do they?
HT: Looking Closer
I love that song. I just really like the raw honesty of it and frankly I think the Dixie Chicks make some great music.
That’s a very interesting excerpt. It’s interesting what “makes the news” and what doesn’t. My church has actually been the focus of media attention several times and I’ve come to realize just how skewed media is in general.
Have you seen the documentary? I hadn’t really heard of it. Sounds interesting, though.
Kat, I haven’t been able to see the documentary yet. It was in theatres here in Nashville for a little while recently, but I wasn’t able to catch it. I’ll probably try to watch it as soon as it comes out on DVD.