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Toby Keith's Pro-Lynching Publicity Tour Hits Colbert, CBS and More
Despite his background as a comedian, Stephen Colbert is known by many of the authors who have appeared on his show as one of the toughest interviewers in the business. But on July 28, when country music superstar Toby Keith stepped on the set of the Colbert Report to promote his movie, Beer For My Horses, he was greeted by his host with nothing less than reverential admiration. After a jovial, back-slapping sit-down with Keith, Colbert turned the stage over to his guest for a performance of the song that inspired the title and theme of his forthcoming "Southern comedy."
While Keith belted out "Beer For My Horses," Colbert's studio audience clapped to the beat, blithely unaware that they were swaying to a racially tinged, explicitly pro-lynching anthem that calls for the vigilante-style hanging of car thieves, "gangsters doing dirty deeds...crime in the streets," and other assorted evildoers.
The lyrics to Keith's ode to lynching are as follows:
Well a man come on the 6 o'clock news
said somebody's been shot
somebody's been abused
somebody blew up a building
somebody stole a car
somebody got away
somebody didn't get to far yeah
they didn't get too far
Grandpappy told my pappy back in my day, son
A man had to answer for the wicked that he'd done
Take all the rope in Texas
Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys
Hang them high in the street
For all the people to seeThat Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we'll sing a victory tune
And we'll all meet back at the local saloon
And we'll raise up our glasses against evil forces singing
whiskey for my men, beer for my horsesWe got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
too much corruption and crime in the streets
It's time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send 'em all to their maker and he'll settle 'em down
You can bet he'll set 'em down...
During the days when Toby Keith's "Grandpappy" stalked the Jim Crow South, lynching was an institutional method of terror employed against blacks to maintain white supremacy. According to the Tuskegee Institute, between the years 1882 and 1951, 3,437 African-Americans were lynched in the United States, mostly in the heart of Dixie. Felonious assault and rape (read: corrupting "the flower of white womanhood") were the two most frequent justifications for lynch mob actions.
Toby Keith: "Hang 'em high in the street, for all the people to see"
Georgia was ground zero for lynch mob activity. Though most of the Peach State's victims were black, one of its most high-profile hangings claimed the life of a Jew, Leo Frank. Frank, a college-educated Northerner, was wrongly convicted in 1913 of murdering a 13-year-old girl after a show trial in which his prosecutor portrayed him to a grand jury as a bisexual pervert. Before the trial, one juror remarked, "If I get on that jury, I'll hang that Jew for sure."
A crowd gathered outside the courtroom as soon as the verdict came down. "Hang the Jew!" they chanted. Above the mob's cries rose the voice of a country fiddler named John Carson who had come to debut his ode to Frank's supposed victim, Mary Phagan. He sang:
Leo Frank he met herWith a brutish heart, we know;
He smiled, and said, "Little Mary,
You won't go home no more."
The terrifying spectacle outside the courtroom prompted Jewish families to flee Atlanta in droves. Two years later, after the governor commuted Frank's sentence, a lynch mob spirited Frank from his prison cell, dragged him into the woods and lynched him -- from "a tall oak tree," as Toby Keith sang.
Leo Frank, a Northern Jew, was lynched in 1915 -- from "a tall oak tree," as Toby Keith sang
Those who doubt the presence of racist undertones in Keith's "Beer For My Horses" should see the song's video. (The embed link to the video's Youtube version was disabled by Keith's record label so you have to click here to watch it). Cue ahead to 3:00 and watch as Keith intones, "We got too many gangsters doin' dirty deeds." The singer's words are not-so-subtly accompanied by the image of a swaggering black man sporting short dreads and baggy clothes. Thus the profile of Keith's ideal lynching candidate is revealed.
Keith's whirlwind publicity tour continues on July 30 with his appearance on CBS's Early Show, then sit-down interviews with Esquire Magazine and Us Weekly. The following week, Jay Leno will play host to another raucous rendition of "Beer For My Horses." Thanks to Keith and his unsuspecting hosts, lynching is becoming cool again.
Update: The trailer to Keith's "Beer For My Horses" identifies the film's lead villian: a dark-skinned "Mexican guy" who traffics drugs and kidnaps the girlfriend of Keith's character.
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Leave it alone.
1-It is not pro-lynching, it is intended as comedy and entertainment, it is part of American history if you think we cannot or should not laugh at ourselves you need to take a pill and chill out.
2- Lynching was not associated with race in the south till after the American Civil War, and had a very long history before and after that of being applied to white, Hispanic and native American persons the local community had decided "needed killing" over the public perception that the individuals in question were guilty of heinous crimes.
3- While less formal, and *perhaps* more prone to error than a strictly legal trial of the same era, the end results were pretty much the same, and do please disabuse yourself of any notion that a "proper" legal trial is necessarily error free, that just ain't so. See this reference that in modern times the error rate of conviction (as in convicting totally innocent people) is a bit over 3%.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=931454
Oh, I see COMEDY, well now I know Lynching is comedic fodder--Thanks for the FYI.
As an anthropologist that studies the African Diaspora I find your article full of conjecture. You article is based on your own stereotypes about people from the south or that listen to country music. A better artricle on racism would have been on the Azucar Baroness Emilia Fanjul and the school she is building for poverty stricken African American, immigrant children. Her asst.for the school is none other than the Queen of White Power-Chloe Black. Why don't you write an article about Sra. Fanjul and what is going on at that school, and the Fanjul's treatment of their workers here in the US and in the D. R.?
Better yet - write an apology to Toby Kieth for your inaccurate depiction of his song!!!
By the way I LOVE TOBY KIETH- his song never smoke weed with Willie again is the best!
The fact that you study Africans makes you implicitly non-racist? The whole discipline of anthroplogy was invented to serve white racism so its victims could be more efficiently oppressed and exploited.
So you think Max doesn't stereotype?
Tonight, I accidentally switched to Glen Beck show which I never watch and saw Toby Keith being interviewed. I was interested in the questions being asked like what do you think of the elections? Toby basically said that he thinks the democratic party offers the best choice because of the change promised but later on said (after the creep glenn beck egged him on) that an independent party is better and how he wishes that we have a candidate who is "American". American? what the heck?
no, he didn't say an independent party is better-he said he could consider voting independent-it's pretty clear to anyone except the zealots from both parties that neither party is interested in anything but pandering to their extreme wings-a centrist party representing the majority of Americans is badly needed-and as for an "American" candidate, what he was getting at is that it would be refreshing to see a credible candidate running as an American first instead of the prepackaged creatures of party orthodoxy we keep having to choose from
Well, you know, that's the easiest thing to do when someone doesn't support your values: call them unAmerican.
Despicable, but not surprised by Keith.
Is he just naiive? Sheltered? Aloof? Disconnected? In his own little world?
Nah, I take that back. Way too many people there for it to be considered alone.
shame
but, forgive them for he and his kind know not
but, come post 2009, some of them might be in for a rude awakening
well, hopefully not so rude, but wakefull nonetheless. If they are eased into the notion that being an american in the 21st century is a richer and more complex existence than their frozen perceptions.
Ignorant is the word. if you look at accounts of lynchings of African Americans during this time you soon see that these attacks were vicious and heinous mob violence that bordered on ritualistic sacrifice. I mean that literally, there was seriously psychopathic behavior going on here. Torture, burning at the stake, trophy taking and communities turned out in numbers to watch if not to participate.
Does anyone else find it odd that this song just happens to come out when we have our first serious black candidate for president?
I don't recall any lynching songs in recent history, what made him write this song now?
How can anyone defend this song? Not only is it a terrible song, but here in America lynching is associated with the racism of the mid 1900s. While it was practiced in the wild west, it's associated with racism as well.
two things come to mind when you mention lynching, RACISM and THE WILD WEST, so why would you even go there?
Whether he's being racist or not is beside the point, HE'S PROMOTING LYNCHING!!!
No surprise at all. What's his record label?
the song's been out for 7 years, einstein...it's not 'all about obama' except in your imagination
Check the name listed at the end of the video: SKG Records, d/b/a Dreamworks Records.
That's right - Hollywood uber-liberals Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenburg and David Geffen are behind this pro-lynching video.
Wow.
Still, I find it more than a stretch to claim that the villain in this video was the black man with shortcut locks - and that is from someone who used to have 36-inches of locks! This is just another one of those, "I'm tough!" songs that percolate throughout out society. And the video could be analyzed by cultural anthropologists for years; I swear people could get doctorates on the images contained herein:
1. Pairing the macho male identity Toby Keith with a shorter male partner who ends up as a poorly disguised female bait for the villain.
2. "Pappy" Willie Nelson playing the retired lawman - placing him firmly in the "real" man camp - but then he has his long hair pulled into twin pigtails and then ends the video by planting a kiss on the cheek of the man in drag.
3. Where were the women? They only were noticeable in the video as either dead bodies or live hookers?
the song was not just released. it's been out for quite a while now.
Notice the image of a George Armstrong Custer reverently hung beneath the pistols above the mantel? Yikes. Hard to imagine anyone still holds that man in high regard...
i don't, but he WAS a Civil War hero...in the end a victim of his own arrogance, lack of respct for the fighting abilities and intelligence of his opponents and inflated ego...
Shame on you Max Blumenthal for putting a negative spin on a song about a brand of justice that has NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE. You ignored the first lines of this song whereby Toby Keith and Willie Nelson clearly indicate that they are fed up with crime i.e. "somebodys been shot" and "somebodys been abused" and as such are going to take matters into their hands in a manner practiced in the old west. The lyrics are RACE NEUTRAL.
Your interlacing of pictures of black men and a Jewish men in your article is misplaced and was done as an incendiary device. It had nothing to do with the song. It was cheap, O'Reillish and beneath you.
Al Sharpton, if you're reading or have read this article, IGNORE IT.
Signed, a black female
Race neutral these lyrics are not!
They might be race neutral if the ratio of white crime versus minority crime we see in the media were equal. They might be race neutral if our law enforcement system was not perpetually supporting racial (+ socioeconomic) profiling as their No. 1 means to catch a "criminal". They might be race neutral if our justice system judged and sentenced minorities in the same light as they do whites.
But none of those things are the reality! Furthermore, Keith himself provides the images in his video(as though the imagery in the song is not enough), so if there's malicious intent to encite anger about racism, it is his own.
on my previous post I meant to say you might...be right about the inequalities you see...
Toby Keith is a registered Democrat who is hawkish on the war and terrorism. He didn't believe in the Iraq war, but supports the troops 100%.
Country western music, with western being the key here is strife with handling things the old way (as in old west) regardless of the race of the criminal. Horse and cattle thieves were lynched. Good guys hunted down and killed the bad guys in posses.
The article writer added in the lynching photos for effect and he got it, whether it had anything to do with the song or not. Its his right to post his opinion article, but he wont get anywhere with it...
Mr. Keith's "registered" status is not relevant. Wrong is wrong, whether Democrat or Republican! If you feel the 'old west' was not racist or that lynching is not inherently a racist symbol after our history then you need to look at those photos again. They were not scenes arranged on a sound stage. That is America's past and if you think making a buck off of a song is more important than not bringing in the old hurtful words, then I respectfully disagree with you. After the honorable service of the soldiers from the doomed south, a few monsters appropriated the battle flag as a racist symbol for their raids and the birth of the KKK. It remains a symbol of hatred to this day. Lynching may have seemed like justice delivered but it was far more sinister and dangerous (even in the old west) and should never be glorified. Those pictures should hang beside every site that displays the 10 Commandments.
Sandi Saunders, Hardy Va
Look, its not my fault that the author chose hateful photos to go along with the article because it would have been disregarded without them. The old west had frontier justice becuase there was a serious lack of courts and local law enforcement, so it was the good guys doing what they had to do or become a victims themselves. Sitting around and letting bad guys have their way was and is not acceptable. And until you've been the victim of a heinous crime, dont give me your criminals have rights schpiel. If you want to turn this into a racial thing, go for it, but dont confuse the 1800's wild west with the 1900's racial injustices.
I gave his background because it is useful in any debate and clears any pre-conceived notions (mine included because I thought he was a repub).
Since when was it honorable to serve in an army fighting against your elected government?
This song is over 5 years old... Toby Keith recorded it with Willie Nelson (who sings about HIS grandpappy). It was recorded in the wake of September 11 and during the run-up to "GWOT" in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is a song about a country man that wants to see some unAmerican terrrists hung from the highest tree. It's about nationalism and revenge. Do I agree with that? I'm not going there--it's not the point of my comment.
Also, in the original music video for this song, no black villains are shown, no 'brown' villains are shown. It's a white guy, being chased by white vigilantes. Furthermore, the theme of the music video is one of Wild West justice. Like "the Sheriff is in town" style.
I just don't see at all how this article is justified. I think you needed to do a little more background checking on this issue before you write an article like this (and publish the photos you published).
Yes Toby Keith is a die hard conservative from the country. Does that make all his songs about hanging someone racist? Nope. Do I like his music? Can't stand it. Do I think the fact that he called an album (containing a racist song about the Taliban) "Shock'n Y'all" is sick and ubernationalist, and embodies all that was and is wrong with post-9/11 patriotism? Hell yeah. But c'mon this article is way out there.
No fan of Toby's, but the spin you're putting on this would make O'Reilly blush. Also, isn't Colbert's whole schtick about gushing over the right?
You've entirely made something from nothing here Max.
O'Reilly is not capable of blushing nor of refraining from exploiting anything or anyone that gives him the satisfaction of hearing his own voice. Keep listening to him and TK and you will be just where they want you, and America will continue to suffer.
What part of "no fan of Toby's" didn't you understand? Read my profile...
Max, who has provided me with no small portion of food for thought in the past has produced nothing here. He has spun the words of a lousy song to mean what he wants them to. That, and he used disturbing photos that have absolutely nothing to do with the before mentioned lousy song to prop up a very flimsy premise.
Oreilly blush? Only if youre talking about falafels and loofahs.
The only reason that race is an issue with this song, is because max plastered it with photos of ACTUAL race based lynchings.
On a plain reading of the lyrics there simply is NO race involved. Period.
The point is that TK and his music are open to interpretation. That is the essence of humanity. You see, you decide, you react. Extreme people, provoke extreme reactions, no mater who they are and the images used were historical facts available to anyone with a brain so using inflammatory lyrics about a subject as sensitive as lynching was stupid to begin with. Just as rappers and hip hop artists get blamed for incendiary lyrics, TK has to take his lumps too. Only some people like him and his music, much less what he stands for. If the first step to recovery is admitting the problem, will America ever recover?
his music is open to your imagination. there were no 'inflammatory lyrics' about lynching...in fact, lynching is not a part of the song...it's blumenthal who tries to provoke extreme reactions with his ridiculous slander and hyperbole. hysteria and the over-politicizing of EVERY flipping momentr of our lives is the greater problem than some misinterpreted song lyrics...and sandi, you're part of the porblem, not the solution...what IS the solution? find the music you like and... "screw politics-let's dance"
Beware: ridiculous comment above (sandi7552)
Typo sorry should be, as a Black person
Video it to early for me
As i Balck I didn't find the veto racist but the lyrics border the line. But that being said I don't believe in vigilante style justice, that what the police and courts are for.
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