OUR RED, WHITE & BLUE COUNTRY BOY

FEATURE

by Tom Lounges

Given the we live in a world filled with the likes of Eminim and  Marilyn Manson, it would seem unlikely that a song written and recorded by a flag-waving, gospel-singing, mild-mannered good ol’ boy would be the hot topic of controversy as we head into our nation’s birthday month.  

            Yet, that is the case of late.  Making bigger headlines than either the toe-headed rapper or the shock rocker, who are both on currently on tour, is the 65-year-old North Carolina-born Southern rock icon, Charlie Daniels.   What’s thrust Daniels, a one-time session player (Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash) who became a band leader and platinum-selling recording artist in his own right 31 years ago, is his song, “The Last Fallen Hero.”   

Oddly enough, in a time when patriotism is supposedly at an all time high, this is the second time in less than a year that Daniels has come under fire for penning a pro-America song addressing the 9/11 terrorist attacks.           

Daniels, who has never been shy about speaking and/or singing his mind, caught hell shortly after the terrorist attacks from purveyors of political-correctness for his song, “This Ain’t No Rag (It’s A Flag).”  The song is a very spirited, “spit-in-yer-eye” kind of number not unlike his 1980 anthem, “In America,” which he wrote during the Iran hostage crisis.   

Deemed by some as being racist against Arabs for the way referred to the cloths worn atop their heads, Daniels was chastised in the media, but average Americans everywhere seemed to share his point of view, as the song became the fastest charting single of Daniels’ career. 

 “I was at the Tennessee (license) bureau renewing my gun permit when my son called and told me about the planes hitting the towers,” he said, recalling how he came to write the politically charged number.  “Once the second plane hit and we realized that it wasn’t just some freak accident, I got what I call ‘cold angry’.”   

Moved by the massive loss of life in the terrorist attacks, and urged via countless emails from his fans,  Daniels’ sat down and poured what he was feeling onto paper.  What emerged was “This Ain’t No Rag...It’s A Flag!,” which he quickly added as a free bonus track to later pressings of both his then recently released “Charlie Daniels Band Live!” album and the new two-disc studio release of gospel favorites, “How Sweet The Sound.” 

Just when the brouhaha over that began to settle, Daniels is back in the thick of things with his new song – “The Last Fallen Hero” – a beautiful number that hardly seems the controversial by any stretch of the imagination.  The tasteful tribute to the 9/11 victims became such, when the producers of the annual PBS Independence Day program, “A Capitol Fourth,”  refused to let Daniels perform the number on their show.   

       Daniels, praised for raising his patriotic voice in song by no less than two former U.S. Presidents –– Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford –– during the 1998 ceremony when the Academy of Country Music named Daniels the recipient of its “Pioneer Award,” wrote the song after returning from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where he performed for U.S. troops. 

 “I was too young for World War II and the Korean War, and too old for those wars that came afterward,” said Daniels.  “But I love my country and it’s troops. That’s why I went and played in Guantanamo Bay  and why I’m soon going to Korea with the USO.”

        Daniels has a long history of donating his time and talent to the USO.  He said that on his recent visit to Cuba, he noticed how the U.S. troops there “really seem to have a real sense of mission,” having watched the WTC towers collapse and innocent Americans die.

        Those dead Americans and the recharging his patriotic batteries got while in Cuba, inspired Daniels to compose, “The Last Fallen Hero,” which because of the impending Fourth of July holiday was been released in late June as the advance single from his new studio CD, Redneck Fiddle Player, due later this month. 

     “I planned to [debut] it on the PBS special, 'A Capitol Fourth',” explained Daniels of the show that annually broadcasts live from the West Lawn of The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on Independence Day.  “I was going to do ‘Devil Went Down To Georgia’ and that song, but the show’s producer said I couldn’t do it.”  So Daniels stood his ground and pulled out of doing the show, airing locally at 7 p.m. on July 4 on WYIN (Channel 56) and WTTW (Channel 11).

                 “It’s not an angry song at all,” he said, comparing it to “This Ain’t No Rag...”   “It’s a somber tribute to the people who died on 9/11.  I thought it would be an absolutely perfect Fourth of July song.”  Daniels said the show’s producer seems to want to project "this touchy, feely... I'm okay, you're okay...we have nothing to worry about attitude."

        In a statement, the show’s producers said – “The new song that Charlie Daniels wanted to perform is inconsistent with the celebratory mood of July 4th and would have been out of sync with the other musical numbers of the concert.”

             “Of course, we should still eat our watermelon, have our picnics and light our fireworks,” stressed Daniels. “But the essence of Independence Day to me, is to remember what has gotten us here. I feel that we need to honor those who died on 9/11 remember those who are fighting right now for this country because of 9/11!”

             Whether addressing the prejudice of conservative ‘60s America against long-haired youth in 1973’s “Uneasy Rider,” renewing patriotism with 1980’s “In America,” or showing support for the plight of Vietnam veterans with 1982’s “Still In Saigon” –– Daniels has often exercised his First Amendment right of free speech and vows he will continue to do so.

       As Chicago’s country music fans gather in Grant Park for the Fourth Of July music show, they will hear the CDB play “The Last Fallen Hero.”   Likewise for Hoosiers who can catch Daniels and his band when they plug in to jam at the the Porter County Fair on Sunday, July 21.  

                                                    More info: www.charliedaniels.com

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