Things I’m Supposed To Hate, But Don’t: “Courtesy Of The Red White And Blue”
By Mitch Berg
It wrenches the needle off the jingo meter.
It still provokes somber tut-tutting from our betters about the knee-jerk ignorance of NASCAR America.
And nowhere in American pop culture after 9/11 did the id of the vast mass of America between the Hudson and the Sierra Madre get expressed better.
Which isn’t to say there wasn’t competition. Springsteen’s The Rising evoked loss, commemorated heroism, and opened the faucet on the best evocations of spirituality during times of tragedy in American pop music history. Neil Young’s “Let’s Roll” and Big and Rich’s “Eighth of November” took very different approaches to illuminating the best in American, and human, character against horrendous odds.
All well and good.
And it’s true; there are times when diplomacy and nuance and meeting your enemy halfway and being aware of ones’ own faults is essential – even in wartime.
But there are some times, some moods, when putting a boot in someone’s ass, the American way, is all that will suffice. There are times when, like Churchill’s “Dunkirk” and Reagan’s “Shining City” and “Brandenburg Gate” speeches, I just need to hear it.
There is no substitute.
So kudos, Toby Keith.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
No, you’re a Republican. You *are* supposed to like know-nothing, flag-waving, “kill-’em-all-let-God-sort-’em-out” treacle about Amurica. And by the way, “putting a boot in someone’s ass, the American way” isn’t the same as “the best in American, and human, character against horrendous odds.”
Cause we kinda have an overwhelming strategic superiority in boots, whiny country anthems to the contrary notwithstanding. We’re supposed to win.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Clownie doesn’t like Toby Keith. That puts him right in there with the 80% of Americans he doesn’t like. Big shock there.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Thank you, Kermit. Angryclown is proud of his high standards.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Mitch said: “And nowhere in American pop culture after 9/11 did the id of the vast mass of America between the Hudson and the Sierra Madre get expressed better.”
Gene Wilder answered: “You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.”
June 15th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Sucking on the 6 foot bong again, eh AssClown.
June 15th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Three things, K:
1. That ain’t a bong.
2. It’s actually not quite 6 feet in length.
3. Angryclown could suck on it, but he chooses not to.
June 15th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Angryclown is proud of his high standards.
I guess “high standards” is a relative phrase there in Passaic.
June 15th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
“High standards” = bigotry.
Check.
June 15th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Angryclown could suck on it, but he chooses not to.
Shades of Dennis Miller’s “Kraftmatic Adjustable Bed” routine. One of my favorites.
June 15th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Aw, whoooo cares!
cuz (EVERYBODY SING ALONG) we’ll PUT A BOOT IN YOUR ASS, It’s the American wayyyyyyy! When Uncle Sam puts your name on the toppa his list, and the statue of liberty starts shaking its fist, and the eagle will fly, and it’s gonna be hell, when you hear mama freedom start ringing her bell, and it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on Yooooooooou! Brought to you courtesy of the Red White and Blue!
Fawk yeah!
I AM ten feet tall and armor plated, MoFo!
Rhetorically speaking, of course.
June 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Mitch mentioned: “Shades of Dennis Miller’s “Kraftmatic Adjustable Bed” routine. One of my favorites.”
I saw him perform three times in the ’80s. Twice he killed. And the adjustable bed joke had me laughing so hard it was painful.
June 15th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Here’s Angryclown’s favorite patriotic song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZdJRDpLHbw
June 15th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
[your repsonse should be bracketed, no?]
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
June 15th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
“…chooses not to”
It’s not because you don’t eat your own, AC Jr. learned sphincter polishing from the old man, first by receiving then by doing. You must be so proud, eh AssClown.
June 15th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
“It wrenches the needle off the jingo meter.”
There are times when your use of language is purely a joy to contemplate, Mitch.
June 15th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Willy Wonka is angryclowns current fountain of wisdom? The shoe fits!
June 15th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
“But Daddy, I want a sphincter to polish, and I want it now, Daddy!!!” – AngryClown Jr., assnozzel in training.
June 15th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Lyrical content aside, “The Rising” is a better music than “Courtesy.”
I’m all for kicking terrorist ass. It’s just a bad song.
June 15th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Disco,
Of course it’s a bad song. But it’s a great bad song!
And of course the Rising is better. One of the best albums and singles of the ’00s.
June 15th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I think that Toby Keith summed up the sentiment of the majority of Americans with the “boot in your ass, it’s the American Way” lyric. Sadly, he washed away any opportunity my band had with our song “Overkill, It’s The American Way” from 1982 when I was 16. I’ll be accused of plagiarism if that song ever saw the light of day again. It’s singularly the one piece of lyrical craftsmanship I could lay claim to. And now it’s gone, all gone…
I believe that in many ways Alan Jackson’s Where Were You (when The World Stopped Turning) was, while a simpler song, much more circumspect. I’m by no means a country music fan, but the simple lyric “Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day” is exactly how I felt.