Posted on 07/23/2002 5:57:36 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A new tune about John Walker Lindh by Nashville singer-songwriter Steve Earle has kicked up a fight between critics who feel he's unpatriotic and defenders who consider him provocative.
The song, "John Walker's Blues," is not due for release until September. It describes Lindh as "an American boy raised on MTV" who sought out another culture because he felt alienated from his native country.
"If my daddy could see me now — chains around my feet/He don't understand that sometimes a man/Has to fight for what he believes," Earle sings.
Lindh, a 21-year-old Californian captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan ( news - web sites), pleaded guilty this month to fighting alongside the Taliban militia. In return, prosecutors dropped the most serious charges against him, saving him from a possible death sentence. He is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison in October.
In a story Sunday, the New York Post charged that the song glorifies Lindh. Nashville radio personality Steve Gill said on CNN Tuesday that Earle was trying "to be outrageous to attract attention."
"We're within a one-year period of the attacks on America, and I think it's too early for a song like this," Gill said. "He is free to put this song out there, and the American people are free to say 'No thank you' when it comes to buying it."
"John Walker's Blues" represents a change in the popular music world in how it responds to the war on terrorism. Until now, most offerings have been stirring calls to arms — "Freedom" by Paul McCartney, "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)" by Toby Keith — with Alan Jackson's "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" a doleful, reflective alternative.
Earle, 47, has had a checkered career since achieving fame in the 1980s with hits like "Guitar Town" and "Copperhead Road." Critically lauded as a tremendous songwriter and performer, his commercial career has been stalled by drug addiction and political outspokenness, in recent years mostly about his opposition to the death penalty.
This is an AP article, so follow the link for the rest of it.
Personally.................liked "Copperhead Road", but otherwise, don't know squat about what this guy did (and I'm a HUGE music fan). In other words, he's a non-factor.
Next.......................................
Should we expect a September 11 release date from the provocative Mr. Earle?
You are missing my point, which was sarcastic. The left is always writing songs about how terrorists, radicals, etc. should be understood from their point of view. They come across with that blather about how they "are fighting for what they believe." However, you will never hear the left apply that moral relativism when speaking of someone connected to anti-abortion, from the radical end of the spectrum to the simply vocal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.