Gettin' Our Scots-Irish Up

[R.A. Hettinga]

Fight. Sing. Drink. Pray.

Cheers,
RAH
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<http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/owens/owens200411150824.asp>

The National Review
 November 15, 2004, 8:24 a.m.
Gettin' Our Scots-Irish Up
Country music reflects America's spirit.



I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to review Jim Webb's
magnificent new book, Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America,
for NRODT [National Review on dead trees --RAH]. It is a wonderful social
history of an individualistic, stubborn, rebellious people responsible for
creating America's strongest cultural force.

A particularly powerful component of this culture is country music. Webb
calls country music "a uniquely American phenomenon," a "hypnotic and
emotionally powerful musical style" that evolved from its Celtic origins in
the mists of Scotland and Ireland.


Country music is at the heart of the Scots-Irish culture....In the hollows
through those earlier years the dulcimer found its plaintive notes, the
traditionally exquisite violin turned into such a hot fiddle that some
warned it came from the devil (think Charlie Daniels: "The Devil came Down
to Georgia"), and the banjar, a native African instrument made with a
gourd, evolved into the hillbilly banjo.


 Indeed, anyone who wants to understand the Scots-Irish in America would do
well to begin by listening to this genre.

 It is no accident that Webb describes the importance of country music for
the Scots-Irish in his chapter entitled "Fight. Sing. Drink. Pray." Country
music is about real life, about "hard living, cheating hearts, and
good-looking women." It's also about sin and redemption. Country music
teaches that actions have consequences, and no one has ever conveyed this
reality more clearly than the hard-living, hard-drinking George Jones. The
titles of his songs tell it all: "From Hillbilly Heaven to Honky-Tonk
Hell," "Hell Stays Open All Night Long," "The Man that You Once Knew," "He
Stopped Loving Her Today," and "I've Had Choices."

 I've had choices, since the day that I was born.
 There were voices, that told me right from wrong.
 If I had listened, no I wouldn't be here today,
 Living and dying, with the choices I've made.

 Country music teaches these lessons in a way that puts to shame most of
what passes for poetry these days. Consider what I believe to be the
greatest country song of all time: "Amarillo By Morning," by the
incomparable George Strait.

 Amarillo by morning, Up from San Antone
 Everything that I've got, Is just what I've got on...
 They took my saddle in Houston, Broke my leg in Santa Fe
 Lost my wife and a girlfriend, Somewhere along the way....
 Amarillo by morning, Up from San Antone
 Everything that I've got, Is just what I've got on
 I ain't got a dime, But what I've got is mine
 I ain't rich, But Lord I'm free
 Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's where I'll be.

 Or "Whiskey Lullaby," by Brad Paisley and Alison Krause:

 She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette
 She broke his heart, he spent his whole life tryin' to forget
 We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time
 But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind
 Until the night.
 He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
 And finally drank away her memory
 Life is short but this time it was bigger
 Than the strength he had to get up off his knees.

Country music can be overtly religious, which, of course, scares the
dickens out of secular elites in this country. Consider Jimmy Wayne's "I
Love You This Much":

 He can't remember the times that he thought
 Does my daddy love me?
 Probably not
 But that didn't stop him from wishing that he did
 Didn't keep from wanting or worshipping him
 He guesses he saw him about once a year
 He could still feel the way he felt
 Standing in tears
 Stretching his arms out as far as they'd go
 Whispering daddy, I want you to know.

Chorus

  I love you this much and I'm waiting on you
  To make up your mind, do you love me too?
  However long it takes
  I'm never giving up
  No matter what, I love you this much.
  He grew to hate him for what he had done
  'Cause what kind of a father, could do that to his son
  He said 'damn you daddy', the day that he died
  The man didn't blink, but the little boy cried.

Chorus

  Half way through the service
  While the choir sang a hymn
  He looked up above the preacher
  And he sat and stared at him
  He said "Forgive me father"
  When he realized
  That he hadn't been unloved or alone all his life
  His arms were stretched out as far as they'd go
  Nailed to the cross, for the whole world to know.

Chorus

But even a man of faith can lose it - at least for a while - if the burden
is great enough. The next time you get a chance, listen to Alan Jackson
sing "you left my heart as empty as a Monday-morning church" about a man
who has just buried his wife.

 As Webb observes, when the Scots-Irish aren't praying, they are often
fighting, singing, or sinning in other ways. Despite the admonition of
countless fire-and-brimstone preachers from time immemorial, the
Scots-Irish have lived the, ahem, secular life to the fullest. As an old
Marine, the drinkin'-and-fightin' strain of country music has always
appealed to me (not that I have ever engaged in such rowdy behavior, of
course). To my way of thinking, there's nothing like the in-your-face music
of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr., Aaron Tippin, and Toby
Keith.

 And we shouldn't forget the rowdy girls. I love the ladies - Patsy Cline,
Loretta Lynn, June Carter Cash, Reba, Faith Hill, and the rest - but I have
always had a soft spot for the wild ones: Tanya Tucker and my latest
favorite, Gretchen Philips, the redneck woman who's here for the party.
 I may not be a ten but the boys say I clean up good
 And if I gave 'em half a chance for some rowdy romance you know they would.

The Scots-Irish have a 2000-year-old military tradition, so it's not
surprising that country music is also overtly patriotic. Who can forget
Alan Jackson's 9/11 musical memorial, "Where Were You?" or Toby Keith's
moderate response to the terrorists, "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue"
("we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way")?

Country music looks to tradition for continuity. There's nothing like a
"ghost of Hank Williams" song. So Alan Jackson sings about "Midnight in
Montgomery":

 Midnight in Montgomery, silver eagle, lonely road
 I was on my way to Mobile for a big New Years Eve show
 I stopped for just a minute to see a friend outside of town
 Put my collar up, found his name, and felt the wind die down
 Then a drunk man in a cowboy hat took me by surprise
 Wearing shiny boots, a Nudi suit and haunting haunted eyes.
 He said, "Friend it's good to see you, it's nice to know you care"
 Then the wind picked up and he was gone
 Was he ever really there?
 'Cause it's midnight in Montgomery
 Just hear that whippoorwill
 See the stars light up the purple sky
 Feel that lonesome chill
 When the wind it's right, you'll hear his songs
 Smell whiskey in the air
 Midnight in Montgomery
 He's always singing there.

Of course, the elites in this nation hate country music just as they hate
what Webb describes as the Scots-Irish culture. So after the elections,
novelist Jane Smiley wrote in Slate that
The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate
and exploit ignorance in the citizenry. . . . Ignorance and bloodlust have
a long tradition in the United States, especially in the red states. . . .
Listen to what the red state citizens say about themselves, the songs they
write, and the sermons they flock to. They know who they are - they are
full of original sin and they have a taste for violence. . . .

Well, to Ms. Smiley and her fellow "elites," from us country-music fans: As
Aaron Tippin sings in a different context, "Jane - kiss this!"

 - Mackubin Thomas Owens is an associate dean of academics and professor of
national-security affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'