Country star Brad Paisley explains why he wears the Confederate flag in controversial new song

[fried eggs]

Styled as a conversation between a white Southerner and a black New Yorker, the song features the two singers having a charged debate about race – and features Paisley's character walking into a coffee shop wearing a shirt with a Confederate flag on it.

"I don't know if any of you noticed, but there is some racial tension here and there," Paisley, 40, says in an interview airing Tuesday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. "I felt like when we were writing this song it wasn't necessarily up to the media … or talk radio or anything like that to deal with that anymore. I think it's music's turn to have the conversation."

In the song, Paisley sings, "[I'm] just a proud rebel son with an ol' can of worms/Lookin' like I got a lot to learn." LL Cool J, 45, replies. "If you don't judge my do-rag … I won't judge your red flag/If you don't judge my gold chains … I'll forget the iron chains."

The song caused a firestorm in social media on Tuesday, with many criticizing Paisley for glossing over the history of racism in the South. The actor and comedian Patton Oswalt wrote on Twitter: "I can't wait for Brad Paisley & LL Cool J's next single: 'Whoopsy Daisy, Holocaust, My Bad.' "

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20689483,00.html

I know they meant well but this is one of the worst collaborations I've ever heard!

[trumad]

1. 'Whoopsy Daisy, Holocaust, My Bad.' "

snarf.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Brad Paisley is a good guy. And a fine guitarist.

[Paladin]

8. He ought to stick to guitar-playing.

Because he sure as hell isn't much of a social commentator. LL Cool J didn't exactly cover himself in glory here, either.....

[Paladin]

59. You Paisley apologists need to read The Rude Pundit's take on this song.

Pull it up on Google if you don't have his site bookmarked already. I think it may be the best column that The Rudes-ter has done, to date. Racism is racism, and there's no excusing it. If you display a confederate flag, you're commemorating a horrific war, fought because part of this country wanted to retain black people as personal property. End of debate.

[Stallion]

23. Paisley's Heart is in Right Place

Long time lurker on here but I decided to join DU to respond any criticism directed at Brad Paisley from people who don't care or know too much about country music. He is trying to make positive social commentary about racism in the South in several of his songs. The exact name of the song eludes me right now but he recently had a song about the "Southland" and the many themes that in his mind made it great. Prominently included among the things that made it great was Rosa Parks sitting in the front of that Bus and the Dream of Martin Luther King. In Country music-that's a positive statement. He's not my favorite artist but I think his heart is clearly in the right place.

[yesphan]

29. The song is called.....

Accidental Racist

[Stallion]

34. The Song I was Thinking about was "Welcome to the Future"

Here are the pertinent lyrics which he wrote in response to the election of President Obama-(significant in itself for a Country artist):


I had a friend in school

Running back on a football team

They burned a cross in his front yard

For asking out the home coming queen


I thought about him today

And everybody who's seen what he's seen

From a woman on a bus

To a man with a dream


Hey, wake up Martin Luther

Welcome to the future

Hey, glory, glory, hallelujah

Welcome to the future

[Skittles]

53. and this excuses the confederate flag...

exactly how?

[TwilightGardener]

47. I agree--welcome to DU, by the way.

[In_The_Wind]

50. Hello ~ Stallion

[img][/img]

[Comrade_McKenzie]

3. It sure as hell is no Ebony and Ivory.

Only talented musicians should attempt something like this.

[Erose999]

7. He's a talented guitar player. Lyricist? Not so much.

[arcane1]

28. To be fair, "Ebony and Ivory" sucked too

[demwing]

30. Talented?

Last edited Tue Apr 9, 2013, 07:00 PM - Edit history (2)

hmmm...opinions will vary...

NOTE - this post would have been very different had I originally added the link above, as was always intended...

[Lint Head]

4. What's for supper Grandpa!

[Fantastic Anarchist]

5. I won't judge your swastika if you don't judge my kippa.

...

[graham4anything]

6. I like this ironic song. What sucked was Hank Jr's racist "A country boy can survive" in the70s

Thank God that Hank Jr.s career as a hitmaker is long over.
Now if we can only get rid of Quentin Tarentino making billions on pretending to be satire on some of the vilest most racist stuff Hollywood ever produced. (Yeah, sure, Hitler died in a fire in a theatre QT).

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. I heard Tarantino was endorsing Hillary.

[graham4anything]

12. QT will probably back both nominees to then say he backed the winner

QT loves to make money over both sides and as much as possible, then stretch out another dollar or two.
He out Lucas's Lucas in his shameless self-promotion.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

18. LOL

(Yeah, sure, Hitler died in a fire in a theatre QT)

Seriously, you are the most entertaining poster here....I just don't know if it's intentional or not.

[datasuspect]

35. what specifically was racist about that song?

[graham4anything]

41. Hank Williams Jr. disrespecting NYC bias and how he wants to lynch people

then of course, Hankybaby took big money from NYC tv, the freakin' hypocrite he is.

[datasuspect]

42. that isn't racism

he wanted to spit beechnut in the city slicker's eye (the one who killed his NYC buddy).

how is that racist?

[graham4anything]

44. Racist are the words he describes our President with. Another birther republican

and as everyone knows, the only reason anyone don't like President Obama is exactly what Frank Rich said it was in the early days of the first term.
And Frank Rich was 100% correct.

[datasuspect]

45. we're talking about the content of his song

not his comments regarding the president. please stay on topic and convince me that "A Country Boy Can Survive" is a racist song.

you said, now back it up.

[graham4anything]

46. Hankie is Zimmerman. Looking to string someone up like Zimmy did.

Except that Zimmy did it to a 100% innocent person just to watch him die like in the Johnny Cash gangsta rap song Johnny sung in character called "Folsom Prison Blues"

[HappyMe]

9. You're right. They meant well.

I would imagine it's not easy trying to combine LL and Paisley into one song.

[EC]

10. Do rags and gold chains?

People still wear those? Seems outdated to me.

[Z_I_Peevey]

13. Bad music, bad lyrics, bad idea, bad everything

I have heard certain right wingers tell Native Americans "You lost, get over it."

I think it is time white southerners started hearing the same message.

This song is White-Privilege-in-a-Can.

[callous taoboy]

14. Needs more theology and geometry...

[frazzled]

15. I wish I'd never read this

Otherwise, I would never know of this failed, pathetic song. I blame LL CoolJ as much as Brad Paisley. Accepting one's jewelry style is tit for tat for accepting the enslavement of a people? A truly misbegotten effort, even if the intentions weren't bad.

[Ikonoklast]

16. OK, I just threw up in my mouth a little.

I think I have just discovered a whole new level of "Suck".

[dawg]

17. Poorly worded attempt at "Let's all just get along and accept each other."

From what I know about Paisley, I think he had the best of intentions with this song.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

19. Isn't LL Cool J a Republican?

I thought someone said that.

[alp227]

49. He's nonpartisan. And Paisley supported Obama and even performed this year at the pre inauguration!

In 2002, LL Cool J supported Republican Governor of New York George Pataki's bid for a third term.[19] In 2003, LL Cool J appeared before a senate committee hearing on P2P file-sharing, voicing his support alongside the RIAA, expressing that he just wished "music could be downloaded legitimately."[20] He has also voiced his support for New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, during an appearance on the senator's local television show[21] and has worked with Smith in putting on the annual Jump and Ball Tournament (since 2003) in the rapper's childhood neighborhood of St. Alban's, Queens.[22] In a February 10, 2012 televised interview with CNN host Piers Morgan, LL Cool J expressed sympathy for President Barack Obama and ascribed negative impressions of his leadership to Republican obstruction designed to "make it look like you have a coordination problem." He was quick to add that no one "should assume that I'm a Democrat either. I'm an Independent, you know?"[23]

(Wikipedia)

And Paisley performed at the pre-inauguration festivities this year and supported Obama in 2008 too. See this profile in The Guardian (UK).

[msongs]

20. Dear Mr. Cool - slavery and personal decoration choices are NOT EQUIVALENT. nt

[Iggo]

21. Idiot.

[a kennedy]

22. Talking about it right now on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

http://www.npr.org/templates/stations/stations/ find your station here.

[Lex]

24. Another dumbass yay-hoo

trying to express himself, and it went as well as could be expected. Which is to say, badly.

[MissMarple]

25. Not getting your knickers in a twist over the wardrobe choices of others is not a bad message.

Life is complicated enough as it it. The song just might reach some people who could benefit from hearing it. Having tolerance and acceptance of people who are culturally very different is hard enough for so many people to embrace, without a demand for ideological purity.

To be able to talk to each other without it becoming a fight, or worse, is sometimes called a good start for building something better.

This is better than this

[NCTraveler]

38. Good post. +1. nt.

[MissMarple]

40. Thank you, so very much.

[Hissyspit]

26. How are do-rags and the Confederate flag equivalent?

[Buffalo Bull]

33. not

One represents a threat thaat is largely parionod
The other represents a slavery and a divided nation
no

[Dawson Leery]

27. Could explain why he brought Hank Jr. on stage for a standing ovation.

Last edited Tue Apr 9, 2013, 04:42 PM - Edit history (1)

[Buffalo Bull]

58. good question

Having Hank Jr. on your stage is an indictment.
He is just too notorious, you can't claim not to know what kind of scum that guy is. Nor claim that bringing him on stage is not a mark of tolerating or agreeing.

[Zoeisright]

31. I knew I didn't like Paisley.

Now I know why. What a fucking ignoramus.

[Aristus]

32. I've always hated that lame excuse for flying the slavery flag: "Ah'm kinda a rebel!"

Something wrong with the American flag, loser?

At least that was a successful rebellion.

Fuck.

[exboyfil]

37. I kept hearing the state's rights argument

when I lived in Tennesse, and I always came back with "Yes, the right to own another person." That did not go over well.

[Aristus]

39. It shouldn't go over well with them.

The Confederate Constitution was identical to the Federal Constitution with only two exceptions:

1. The President of the Confederacy was to serve a single, 5-year term.

2. The specific provision for slavery.

Everything else was the same, down to the wording of the Articles. Including the ones that begin, "No state shall, without permission of Congress..."

So much for "states rights". I'm pretty sure the confederates were not fighting on the battlefield for the right of the Confederate President to serve one 5-year term.

"Rebels" are idiots...

[exboyfil]

43. 5 years of Jeff Davis

vs. 8+ years with Abe Lincoln. It is funny how Davis had the resume to be President (would have been one of the more qualified Presidents if he had run in 1860 and been elected vs. the one term Rep. from Illinois). It shows that resumes are not everything. In spite of the many mistakes he made, Lincoln was a better administrator and leader than Davis. He also had a more humane moral compass (recognizing that slavery was evil).

Slavery turned many good men into evil men. You just can't look at Washington, Jefferson, Madison, or Lee without making that judgement.

[exboyfil]

36. How about someone wearing a t-shirt

with a hand holding a bloody box cutter as a jet hits the second tower with the message, "A strike for freedom" - seems equivalent to a Confederate flag to me.

[coldmountain]

48. Brad Paisley has been on Prairie Home Companion a few times as well as the White House

He's clearly trying to reach out by setting an example to other white Southerners to try life outside their "Southern Comfort Zone". The song is aimed at whites to try to grow.

Brad's doing better than Emory's president

[Hoyt]

51. I pretty much writeoff anyone who promotes that flag or a swastika.

[Demo_Chris]

54. Me as well. nt

[Socal31]

55. I usually expect this sort of ignorance from the Tea Party.

Context is absolutely everything.

If you think Hitler designed the Swastika or every Southern teenager with a dumb confederate flag on their truck wants to enslave blacks, you are as ignorant as someone who assumes a young black male with saggy pants wants to rob them.

[Hoyt]

56. I think it shows immaturity, disregard for people, ignorance, and often outright hatred/bigotry.

I won't make excuses for anyone who flies that flag, or sports a swastika.

[olddots]

52. Eh it's a living

why do we have this idea that our most important right in America is the right to be ignorant ?

[struggle4progress]

57. Here's a song explaining why you really wear it, Brad: