21 January 2009

Sherman tractors

As a pacifist and longtime collector of Shermaniana, it has always been a bit troublesome when folks mention General Sherman or Sherman Tanks when I say anything about Shermaniana. You can imagine how thrilled I was when Reverend Lowery said in his benediction at the inauguration that we should beat our tanks into tractors.

2 comments:

  1. Agreed, and I furthermore noted that both both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert later mocked the Rev. Lowery for his concluding remarks, (referring to him as the old man), which I suppose is one of the pitfalls of having to be a satirist every day. Presumably they missed the fact that he was referencing a well-known blues song (at least well-known to Lowery's generation of blacks), the refrain of which goes:
    If you're white you're alright
    If you're brown stick aroun'
    If you're black, brother, get back get back.

    I'm grateful for my musicological and historical education.

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  2. Many years ago, one of my Cornell coworkers introduced me to the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" refrain in reference to saving water in the bathroom. I was amused. More recently, I saw a work by Betye Saar at Michael Friedman Gallery that used the whole refrain from the blues song. I had no idea of the racial origins. You can get some context by googling "betye saar yellow." That really changed my thinking about the refrain. I thought Rev Lowery's benediction was one of the best parts of the whole inauguration ceremony. Perhaps I like "old" stuff.

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