Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mellencamp Unveils Anti-War Song (More Musical Idiots Join the Dixie Chicks & Sheryl Crow)
Billboard Magazine ^

Posted on 03/13/2003 3:16:30 PM PST by Recovering_Democrat

John Mellencamp has made a new anti-war-themed song, "To Washington," available for free download on his official Web site. The cut, inspired by Woody Guthrie and the Carter Family but penned by Mellencamp, questions President George W. Bush's motives at waging war against Iraq: "He wants to fight with many / And he says it's not for oil / He sent out the National Guard / To police the world."

"To Washington" will appear on Mellencamp's next studio album, a collection of covers he is recording in his Bloomington, Ind., homebase with his touring band. The set, tentatively titled "Trouble No More," is due in late May on Columbia. Despite Mellencamp's announcement last summer that he had parted ways with the label, the artist tells Billboard, "Our divorce failed."

Other songs set for inclusion on the new album are "Stones in My Passway" (Robert Johnson), "Death Letter" (Son House), "Johnny Hart" (Woody Guthrie), "Baltimore Oriole" (Hoagy Carmichael), "Teardrops Will Fall" (Dickie Do and the Don'ts), "Diamond Joe" (traditional, recorded by Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Tom Rush), "End of the World" (Skeeter Davis), "Joliet Bound" (Joe McCoy), "Lafayette" (Lucinda Williams), "John the Revelator" (traditional), and "Down at the Bottom" (Willie Dixon).

A spokesperson says Mellencamp, Billboard's 2001 Century Award winner, is not planning to tour in the next few months. But, he will appear April 9 in New York at a 70th birthday tribute to Willie Nelson, with whom he is a partner in the yearly Farm Aid benefit concert.

-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.


TOPICS: Announcements; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dixiechicks; idiocy; mellencamp; sherylcrow
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 next last
To: karatemom; WellsFargo94; CIBvet
Go ahead and FREEP them (this info provided by freeper gg188):

Lipton Tea recently announced its sponsorship of the Dixie Chicks world tour. I think every American should write and demand that Lipton withdraw its support of anti-American rhetoric by Americans. Essentially, Lipton is helping provide the platform for Americans to go to other countries to attack their fellow countrymen back home:

Here's how to write them:

letters.liptontusa@unilever.com

Lipton tea is owned by Unilever: Unilever US
Lever House
390 Park Avenue
New York
N.Y. 10022-4698
Tel :- +1 212 888 1260
Fax :- +1 212 906 4666
Email :- paul.wood@unilever.com
Email :- nancy.goldfarb@unilever.com

---------- ---------- ---------- ---------

Here's a relevant thread, and here's a response I posted

I'm writing to you as the sponsors, through Lipton companies, of the Dixie Chicks' World Tour.

Tonight I read of their comments- made not in this country, but rather, overseas- which I interpeted as anti-American in nature, and which I believe give aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States.

I take offense that these performers see fit to spout their anti-American feelings under the Lipton umbrella, and I hope you share my disgust. I have been a customer of Lipton my entire life, and have several Lipton and Unilever products on my shelf as I write this.

I went so far as to go to Dixie Chicks' website thinking that the news accounts I read were mistaken and instead found the quotes below:

From the Dixie Chicks

"We've been overseas for several weeks and have been reading and following the news accounts of our governments' position. The anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is astounding. While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost."

Maines further stated, "I feel the President is ignoring the opinions of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world. My comments were made in frustration and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view."

Perhaps Ms Maines is unaware that Iraq was defeated by the US in 1991, and has violated the terms of its surrender- and 17 subsequent UN resolutions defining the terms of compliance. I don't expect someone of her obvious intellectual dearth to understand the compexities of current events.

Surely the employees of Unilever and its subsidiaries understand the complexities of current events. And that Ms Maines holds a minority view. She's on your dime, folks.

I'll be the first to stand up to defend anyone's right to free speech, but I don't see this as a free-speech issue. Ms Maines' political sentiments are hers; using her position as a celebrity to further those aims is a questionable pursuit when such statements put soldiers who protect her rights in harm's way. Like my sister, my brother-in-law, and several close friends.

What the Dixie Chicks have done is nothing short of treasonous

Unless Unilever and Lipton clearly, meaningfully and immediately repudiate the sentiments expressed by the Dixie Chicks - and stop funding this treason and I do mean immediately- I will clear my shelves of your products and join or start a grassroots movement to mount a groundswell against this outrage. Your products will join the Dixie Chicks' CDs in the garbage under my kitchen sink

I've blind-copied this letter to my entire address book, and I look forward to your comments.

< name >



41 posted on 03/13/2003 4:27:02 PM PST by IncPen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: IncPen
Tell it like it is IncPen! This is the email I sent to the radio station I listen to driving home from work:

I heard your discussion about the Dixie Chicks comments in London while driving home from work today. I'd like to add my 2 cents. I think what they did was despicable. Would they make those comments on stage to a crowd in Texas? I don't think so. They were simply pandering to the anti-US sentiment in Great Britain. It was an easy thing to do there. Moreover, their comments were not so much a voicing of disagreement over U.S. policy towards Iraq as it was a gratuitous personal attack on the president. Do they have an opinion about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction? I guess George W. Bush being president is worse than Saddam having biological and chemical weapons. Certainly everyone is entitled to voice their opinion on the subject of Iraq. But people should weigh carefully the effects of their words. The Chiracs and Schroeders of this world are giving Saddam Hussein the message that he really doesn't have to disarm. And so are the Dixie Chicks. Their celebrity affords them a wider hearing for their words and their comments, along with the others espousing that view, merely serves to support Saddam Hussein. Imagine what might have happened if the entire world presented a united voice to Saddam Hussein: 'You must disarm immediately.' Of course that hasn't happened. And we'll never know if such a united front would have caused him to disarm, or caused his general to carry out a coup. So the words of the Dixie Chicks and their ilk merely increase the likelihood that military force will be necessary to disarm Saddam Hussein. And that means more Americans will die in the process. I hear that Saddam is still taking on human shields, and I think the Dixie Chicks should demonstrate their convictions, go to Iraq and provide those services. Well, I guess that was more than 2 cents worth, but I close by making this simple request. Please do not play the music of the Dixie Chicks. We should not be enriching those Americans whose conduct abroad undermines our security.

42 posted on 03/13/2003 4:34:19 PM PST by Gee Wally
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: countrydummy; hellinahandcart; KLT
Still gonna b*tch me out because of my Dixie Tw*ts comment?
43 posted on 03/13/2003 4:43:14 PM PST by sauropod (If the women can't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arkinsaw
LOL!
44 posted on 03/13/2003 4:44:22 PM PST by sauropod (If the women can't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: countrydummy; hellinahandcart; KLT
Jane honey,....

Here's your burkha.

45 posted on 03/13/2003 4:45:54 PM PST by sauropod (If the women can't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran
Why didn't Nixon imprison J. Fonda for giving aid and cofort to the enemy?
46 posted on 03/13/2003 4:48:28 PM PST by KickRightRudder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: dubyaismypresident
Little ditty about John Mellencamp
Anti American kid spewing across the land
Johnnies gonna run his mouth too far
He gonna be out on the street washing cars

Servin up chilli dogs outside the tastee freeze
Will be the only work
your gonna see
Mellencamp say, "Hey Bush No war on Iraq"
Mellencamp Grow a spine
And stop smoking crack
And we say...

CHORUS:
Oh yeah your career is gone
The words you spoke cannot be withdrawn
Oh yeah your career is gone
You ran your mouth, we wont listen to your songs
We walk on
47 posted on 03/13/2003 5:03:09 PM PST by eXe («¤»¥«¤»§«¤»§«¤»¥«¤» This space for rent :) «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Recovering_Democrat; BansheeBill
...now Mellencamp was giving him heartburn. The rock star had a wholesome public image - he had helped organise 'Farm Aid', a benefit concert for bankrupt American farmers - but in private, he was a hard case. His former manager, Billy Gaff, once said of him, not altogether unkindly, 'John would murder his mother for a hit record'....

Hit Men : Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business, p. 149

48 posted on 03/13/2003 5:07:49 PM PST by Byron_the_Aussie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rhombus
young conservative= heartless

old liberal= brainless
49 posted on 03/13/2003 5:10:14 PM PST by chasio649
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: eXe
Bravo! Almost giggled my lovely fanny off!
50 posted on 03/13/2003 5:11:44 PM PST by uvular (He was born with a small brain....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Recovering_Democrat
John Mellencamp could use a good shower now and then.
51 posted on 03/13/2003 5:12:05 PM PST by jragan2001
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Recovering_Democrat
Well, I am feeling so lucky. So far, not one of these peacenik musical looosers have been any of my favs. I have always thought John M's stuff was terrible. That "little ditty" can stay in the CD holder for eternity. How about those dance moves in the "walls come tumbling down" video huh? Makes Axle Rose look like a classically trained ballerina.

Most of my favorite singers are dead, so my music's pretty safe for right now.

However, if Mel Gibson attends a peace rally holding hands with Garofalo and Sarandon, I will be devastated and in need of medical attention.
52 posted on 03/13/2003 5:20:56 PM PST by Lanza
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Recovering_Democrat
"Stones in My Passway"

You know an artist is getting old when he starts singing about his urinary tract problems.

53 posted on 03/13/2003 11:40:54 PM PST by TigersEye (Let the liberals whine - it's what they do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PeoplesRep_of_LA
Exactly. JCM wails and whines about the evils of capitalism, yet he's the epitomy of it. Another example of "Do as I say, not as I do."
P.S. We LOVE Brown County!
54 posted on 03/14/2003 3:37:19 AM PST by Indiana Girl (Off you go, Johnny.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Recovering_Democrat
John "Vichy Chick" Mellencamp. ;-)
55 posted on 03/14/2003 5:59:10 AM PST by an amused spectator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: swarthyguy
The Gap Band, How pathetic am I that I remembered that!?!?!?
56 posted on 03/14/2003 6:04:34 AM PST by weave09
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: weave09
Not pathetic at all - the Gap Band was the bomb!
57 posted on 03/14/2003 6:08:11 AM PST by GodBlessRonaldReagan (where is Count Petofi when we need him most?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Recovering_Democrat
I don't think I have even heard a Dixie Chicks song in its entirety but still despise them for the comments they made now and I think they were mouthing off during the election also. But John Mellencamp, Being 38 and from central IL I grew up with his music. This hurts to find out he is joining the hollywood halfwits. Oh well, most of my old Melencamp music is on old worn out cassets anyway. I guess its time to take out the trash.
58 posted on 03/14/2003 6:27:54 AM PST by BobinIL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IncPen
Your post deserves its own thread.
59 posted on 03/14/2003 6:34:00 AM PST by technochick99 (Self defense is a basic human right. http://www.2ASisters.org)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: technochick99
Your post deserves its own thread.

Thank you.

Please, send them an email. Copy mine if you like...

60 posted on 03/14/2003 6:55:31 AM PST by IncPen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson