Posted on 01/10/2017 11:26:18 AM PST by HomerBohn
Rebecca Ferguson has issued another statement about her request to perform the 1937 protest song Strange Fruit at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.
The British The X-Factor alum further explained why she had asked to sing that specific song, writing, “I wasn’t comfortable with the song choice made on my behalf, and although I’m very blessed to have a gift that gives me amazing opportunities, as a mother and an artist, I had to defend my stance. That is why I made the decision to sing ‘Strange Fruit’ when I was invited.”
Ferguson also cited her support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement, explaining, “I wanted to create a moment of pause for people to reflect.”
But, ultimately, she will not perform. “There are many grey areas about the offer for me to perform that I’m unable to share right now, but I will not be singing,” Ferguson wrote. “However, I genuinely wish your nation nothing but love. I would also like to pay homage to a few of your great female artists: Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and the brave and remarkable Eartha Kitt and her beautiful untold story.”
Ferguson follows in a long line of stars who have declined to participate at the inauguration including Welsh singer Charlotte Church, Grammy-winning producer David Foster, Elton John, Andrea Bocelli, and KISS.
Read Ferguson’s full statement below.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
All the communists loved the song.
Dear Rebecca: I’d never heard of you before this and I’m sure I’ll forget who you were within the month.
well i think the singer’s point is probably (I am not sure of this) to try to make a racist statement, rather than a communist one (I could be wrong, I have never heard of her and know nothing about her politics and do not want to, ha! I wish these singers would just shut up and sing. I got paid to work, not make racial or political statements on my boss’s time and payroll)
but anyway,
the lyrics were I think mostly to make a racial statement, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the Inagural ceremony or DJT so it was totally proper to exclude it, imho:
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees1
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Gee, why don’t we sing a song about the Spanish Inquisition while we’re at it.
Used to be we told politically involved singers to “shut up and sing”.
With this one, we want her to
1. Shut up
2. Don’t sing
3. Don’t even show your face
4. Get lost
yes indeed!
here are the lyrics to Mel Brooks’ The Inquisition song,
see what you think? it is just about as “approriate’ to the Inaguration ceremony as the old racial song the British lady wanted to sing, ha!
he Inquistion, let’s begin
The Inquistion, look out sin
We have a mission to convert the Jews (Jew ja Jew ja Jew ja Jews)
We’re gonna teach them wrong from right
We’re gonna help them see the light
And make an offer that they can’t refuse (that the Jews just can’t
refuse)
Confess (confess, confess)
Don’t be boring
Say yes (say yes, say yes)
Don’t be dull
A fact
you’re ignoring:
it’s better to lose your skullcap than your skull
The Inquistion, what a show
The Inquistion, here we go
We know you’re wishing
That we’d go away
But the Inquistion’s here and it’s here to stay
The Inquistion, oh boy
The Inquistion, what a joy
The Inquistion, oy oy
I was sitting in a temple
I was minding my own business
I was listening to a lovely Hebrew mass
Then these papus persons plunge in, and they throw me in a
dungeon, and they shove a red hot poker up my ass
Is that considerate?
Is that polite?
And not a tube of Preparation H in sight
I’m sitting, plicking chickens and I’m looking through the pickings
and suddenly these guys bring down my balls
I didn’t even know them and they grabbed me by the scrotum and
they started playing ping pong with my balls
Oy, the agony
Ooh, the shame
To make my privates public for a game
The Inquistion, what a show
The Inquistion, here we go
We know you’re wishing
That we’d go away
But the Inquistion’s here and it’s here to -
- Hey, Torquemada, whaddaya say?
I just got back from the auto-da-fé
Auto-da-fé, what’s an auto-da-fé?
It’s what you oughtn’t to do but you do anyway
Skit skat voodely vat tootin de day
Will you convert?
No, no, no, no
Will you confess?
No, no, no, no
Will you revert?
No, no, no, no
Will you say yes?
No, no, no, no
Now I ask in a nice way, I said pretty please, I bent their ears,
now I’ll work on their knees!
Hey, Torquemada, walk this way
We got a little game that you might wanna play
So pull that handle, try your luck
Who knows, Torq, you might win a buck!
Alright!
Put it in the car (in the car x2)
How we doing? Any converts today?
Not a one, nay, nay, nay
We’ve flattened their fingers
We branded their buns
Nothing is working
Send in the nuns!
The Inquistion, what a show
The Inquistion, here we go
We know you’re wishing
That we’d go away
So, c’mon you Moslems and you Jews
We got big news for all of yous
You better change your point of views today
‘Cause the Inquistion’s here and it’s here to stay
Who??? Never mind, don’t care.
Why does everything now have to have celebrities? It’s bad enough that’s it just about killed every sporting event. I say bring back Marching Bands for halftime shows at football games.
Nice lyrics. No doubt appropriate for some. As I stated, the communists loved this ballad.
I never watch these events, and usually just watch sound bites of the incoming president's speech; but I do remember that when King Baraq I was coronated that Paul McCartney sang his Beatles hit "Michelle" in honor of you-know-who. Foreign singers are not unprecedented.
Please, ask Hillary Clinton to sing that song at the inauguration.
How about, just take the oath and get to work.
OH NO. Not... Not her? wait? Who is she anyway and why should I care?
Its not about you, sweetie. (Singer, not poster.)
LOL. That would be great. I’m surprised Charlie Daniels hasn’t been asked, as far as I know.
Hey, it looks like Marie lost about 50 pounds!
If she wants to lose something,how about some weight/She’s way too young to already have that potato sack torso.
A nothing and a nobody—toss her overboard, jettison the cr@p.
Why can’t the Trump entertainment committee just line up a bunch of talented armed services and police musicians/singers? That would be most excellent!! I frankly don’t want to see/hear any “celebrities”, with the exception of Gary Sinise and Lee Greenwood.
Dinosaur shit.
No, seriously. Her poem was about dinosaur shit.
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