Posted on 01/04/2005 12:59:58 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Band's version of one-time Presley tune hits sour note with some
MADISON, Wis. - As if the incoming Legislature didn't have enough problems, a high school band's rendition of a tune that was an Elvis Presley hit decades ago drew a complaint from a newly elected member of the Senate.
The Richland Center High School band played "An American Trilogy" at the Senate's inaugural ceremony at the Capitol Monday - the first day of a session expected to be dominated by battles over budget-cutting, a tax-freeze amendment and a myriad of other issues.
Sen. Spencer Coggs (D), who is black, said he was SHOCKED, as were his family and other guests, to hear the strains of the Southern anthem "Dixie" played in the Senate chamber as part of the trilogy, along with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "All My Trials."
Coggs, a Democrat from Milwaukee, complained in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center.
"Whether the slight was intentional or not, the selection was not appropriate," he wrote, noting that "Dixie" is often associated with slavery.
"While now it should be unnecessary to suggest, in the future a list of songs should be submitted prior to a performance and the list should be reviewed for its appropriateness," he said. "It is unfortunate that this special day was marred by such an unnecessary event."
Schultz had invited the band and choir to play at the ceremony.
He said the complaint caught him by surprise.
"A simple apology is what's needed," Schultz said, "and I will certainly be happy to do that."
He said he wasn't aware of every musical selection the band prepared for the event, and the piece has some historical significance.
"But I want everyone to feel included. If Sen. Coggs felt offended, I would want to extend my hand in apology."
http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com
Heh...someone should read 'em the words to "The Bonnie Blue Flag"...
THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG
Lyrics by Harry Macarthy (d. 1874)
We are a band of brothers
And native to the soil,
Fighting for the property
We gained by honest toil;
And when our rights were threatened,
The cry rose near and far--
"Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star!"
CHORUS: Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.
oh wait, you were referring to them.... sorry...
Please, not all northers hate the south.
After Lee's surrender at a White House celebration Lincoln asked a band to play Dixie because he thought it was a nice song and didn't want it to be banned.
Which words are why we all continue to find the substitution very droll.
It isn't as if some deep voiced white man came with a boom stick and gathered up the blacks (to work on his corn farm). What a joke.
Coggs is just torked because Elvis 'sounded' more like a black singer!:-)
Hey, don't knock the King!
There ... fixed it. The Honorable (spit) Mr. Coggs' most definitive trait is not the colour of his skin, but the (lack of) content of his character.
Another tale of "be careful what you wish for" for the politically correct:
Having solved all of the problems of crime, economics, education, and traffic accidents (sarcasm off), the government of my state has from time to time seen fit to spend its valuable time (and our tax dollars) to purge itself of "offensive" names of places and species. The latest purge involved the term "squaw", so we got rid of the squawfish, Squaw Mountain, etc. Years ago, the word to be eliminated (rightfully so) was "nigger". The locals had become attached to the name, "Lost Nigger Lake", having used it since the 1800's when the lake was named in honor of an African-American pioneer, his name now lost to antiquity, who had lost his way in the wilderness, and miraculously and heroically survived on the shores of said lake. They resisted the name change as long as they could, but finally relented under unimaginable pressure. You can now find, on any map of our area, "Lost Coon Lake".
"Last I looked a person didn't have the "right" to be offended. "
Unless it's a Christian at Christmas time complaining about nativity scenes and merchants saying "Happy Holidays".
It looks as though the words to Dixie could be interpreted to be ANTI-GAY!
Duane Allman's song (guitar instrumental) 'Little Martha' was allegedly about an old girlfriend. The girlfriend's name was Dixie, but Duane didn't like the connotations (whatever he thought they were) of a song called 'Little Dixie' so he changed it to 'Little Martha'. I don't know where "Martha" came from.
Um, actually it was written in 1859 by a white man who performed in a black-face minstrel show.
Another poster has it right..."professional victims" I'm a southerner transplanted to the West side of Manhattan in New York City and if you think it's bad there just walk a mile in my shoes. I do push the envelope though; I have the "Stars and Bars" on my patio fence.
Pardon my generalization. You get my point, though. This article is just an example of the many I have come accross where it is just perfectly OK to publicly bemoan the South and southerners.
It gets old.
Actually, we do have the right to be offended. We also have the right to ignore/lambast/scorn idiots who are constantly finding offense in ways that make no sense.
Remember a few years ago, when there was a big brouhaha over someone publicly using the word "niggardly" (i.e., stingy) because they thought it had racist roots? That turned out to be utter nonsense.
Several years ago, one of my male colleagues was berated by a feminist colleague for using the term "rule of thumb" because it was supposedly rooted in the thickness of a branch that a man could use to beat his wife. That was another piece of nonsense.
Maybe we should start a thread about all the left-wing psuedo-history and garbage that is taken as truth, but turns out to be utterly bogus. Now that stuff offends my sensibilities.
Well, then, don't associate it with that.
I doubt FR has THAT much bandwidth. ;-)
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