STEVENS: That was ‘62. [The Council on American-Islamic Relations] wasn’t around. You know, there wasn’t evil or an intent in that song except for fun.Next: we remember the good old days when we could call Jews “kikes” and hang Negroes.
O’REILLY: Right. I’ll agree with anything you say, you’re a republican.
STEVENS: And, you know, as a kid I read “Arabian Nights.” I was a big fan of the whole culture. And so I wrote this song as a comedy song just for fun.
O’REILLY: So 48 years ago — 48 years ago in this country we could make fun of Arabs. … We could make fun of people in a general way, and certainly, Ahab was the Arab was a general parody. But now, we can’t. What has changed in America?
Good fucking god.
I can't bear to watch O'Reilly, but from your short transcript/quote it seems like this was (as usual) O'Reilly spinning things in his perverse direction as opposed to Ray Stevens doing anything but trying to get some exposure in the twilight of his career.
ReplyDeleteI never especially liked "Ahab the Arab" -- kinda cornball (as many of Stevens' songs were) more than culturally insensitive, but he DID do one of the STRONGEST lyrical indictments of Republican business values in one of his few serious songs "Mr Businessman"* back in 1968. I wasn't aware that he was a Republican -- that's sad -- but he doesn't appear to be a high-profile type. Also, songs like the saccharin "Everything Is Beautiful" go against a lot of the O'Reilly Rebooblican values.
* Mr Businessman lyrics -
"Itemize the things you covet
As you squander through your life
Bigger cars, bigger houses
Term insurance for your wife,
Tuesday evenings with your harlot
And on Wednesdays it's your charlatan,
Analyst, he's high upon your list
You've got air conditioned sinuses
And dark disturbing doubts about religion,
And you keep those cards and letters going out,
While your secretary's tempting you
Your morals are exempting you from guilt and shame,
Heaven knows you're not to blame
refrain:
You better, Take care of business Mr. Businessman
What's your plan?
Get down to business Mr. Businessman if you can
(Before it's too late and you throw your life away) 1st time
Did you see your children growing up today?
And did you hear the music of their laughter
As they set about to play?
Did you catch the fragrance of those roses in your garden?
Did the morning sunlight warm your soul,
Brighten up your day
Do you qualify to be alive
or is the limit of your senses so as only to survive
Hey yeah.....
Spending counterfeit incentive,
Wasting precious time and health,
Placing value on the worthless
Disregarding priceless wealth,
You can wheel and deal the best of them
And steal it from the rest of them,
You know the score, their ethics are a bore
Eighty-six proof anesthetic crutches prop you to the top,
Where the smiles are all synthetic
And the ulcers never stop,
When they take that final inventory,
Yours will be the same sad story, everywhere,
No one will really care, no one more lonely than,
This rich important man, let's have your autograph
Endorse your epitaph"
I liked Ray Stevens in the past because he was usually good for a laugh. Most of the stuff he did was not PC, but still funny. After seeing the video about the Tea Party Anthem and his song on New Orleans after Katrina (The New Battle of New Orleans), I no longer care to listen to him. We could just blame it on old age and dementia, but no, he has gone over to the dark side!!
ReplyDeletei can think of a better rhyme than he came up with for "we're kinda like joe the plumber"...
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