thedrifter
06-11-05, 04:20 AM
Keith's true stripes more than 'Red, White & Blue'
By Ray Waddell
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - The song that propelled Toby Keith into the spotlight of the mainstream media is "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," which was released to radio in the spring after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
But Keith says the song was never intended as a single.
"I wrote it as my gift to build morale for the (U.S. soldiers that were gonna have to fight in Afghanistan," he recalls.
"Now I know I get painted with a real broad brush (as) this Captain America, right-wing lunatic. But the truth is, I knew there were a bunch of poor bastards that were gonna have to go into Afghanistan and give their all up for some people who killed 3,000 Americans on 9-11," he says.
"My dad being a soldier and me being real close to him and losing him, a true veteran, six months before 9-11, it just hit so close to home to me. I thought, 'What would the old angry American himself, the old one-eyed veteran, think about how soft our country got, to allow somebody to attack us on our own soil and kill this many innocent Americans?"'
He wrote the song only to play in front of troops, says Keith, who has regularly toured for the USO.
"I figured I could break this (song) out and play it for them and give them some gung-ho," he says. "When I played it at the Pentagon for a bunch of Marines getting ready to ship off to Afghanistan, Gen. (James) Jones, commandant of the Marine Corps, a four-star general, walked up after my performance, and we exchanged gifts onstage. I gave him a guitar, and he gave me an engraved silver chalice, as thanks from him and the Marine Corps."
OFFICER'S REQUEST
Keith recalls that Jones told him, "'You would do your country and your countrymen a great service to put that song out while we're going into war.'
"I went home and prayed about it, talked to my family about it. I knew it would come with a lot of baggage, but his words kept ringing through my head."
Although his next album, "Unleashed," was already completed, Keith says he called producer James Stroud to go back in the studio and add "Courtesy."
"James got a great cut on it," he recalls. "We flipped it to radio, they jumped all over it, and we put it out in May (2002), and it was No. 1 by July 4. It ended up being one of the most-played songs of the year."
The controversy surrounding the song increased as it became associated with the war in Iraq. Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines famously called the song "ignorant."
"Now I get accused of being whatever, and I'm fine with that," Keith says. "But you don't have to listen but once to the words to understand that the song was strictly for Afghanistan.
"I have no stance on the Iraq war," he continues, "but the second (that I say), 'I have no stance there, I'm not smart enough to tell whether we should be in there or not,' it becomes, 'Oh, he's trying to save his career now.'
"You can't win for losing. If you fight it, you'll be chastised, and if you tell your side, you'll be chastised."
And despite the political division in America these days, Keith says, "We're all after the same thing -- we're all after peace. And when I go vote, if there's a box where you could just check 'peace,' everybody would check that box."
As outspoken as he is, Keith questions why his views should carry much weight.
"All I can tell everybody is, 'Don't listen to me, don't listen to celebrities,"' he says. "Go ask a soldier. Go ask a politician. Get the knowledge you need to vote for yourself. Be careful where you get your news, and make your own decision. That's what this country's about."
Ellie
By Ray Waddell
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - The song that propelled Toby Keith into the spotlight of the mainstream media is "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," which was released to radio in the spring after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
But Keith says the song was never intended as a single.
"I wrote it as my gift to build morale for the (U.S. soldiers that were gonna have to fight in Afghanistan," he recalls.
"Now I know I get painted with a real broad brush (as) this Captain America, right-wing lunatic. But the truth is, I knew there were a bunch of poor bastards that were gonna have to go into Afghanistan and give their all up for some people who killed 3,000 Americans on 9-11," he says.
"My dad being a soldier and me being real close to him and losing him, a true veteran, six months before 9-11, it just hit so close to home to me. I thought, 'What would the old angry American himself, the old one-eyed veteran, think about how soft our country got, to allow somebody to attack us on our own soil and kill this many innocent Americans?"'
He wrote the song only to play in front of troops, says Keith, who has regularly toured for the USO.
"I figured I could break this (song) out and play it for them and give them some gung-ho," he says. "When I played it at the Pentagon for a bunch of Marines getting ready to ship off to Afghanistan, Gen. (James) Jones, commandant of the Marine Corps, a four-star general, walked up after my performance, and we exchanged gifts onstage. I gave him a guitar, and he gave me an engraved silver chalice, as thanks from him and the Marine Corps."
OFFICER'S REQUEST
Keith recalls that Jones told him, "'You would do your country and your countrymen a great service to put that song out while we're going into war.'
"I went home and prayed about it, talked to my family about it. I knew it would come with a lot of baggage, but his words kept ringing through my head."
Although his next album, "Unleashed," was already completed, Keith says he called producer James Stroud to go back in the studio and add "Courtesy."
"James got a great cut on it," he recalls. "We flipped it to radio, they jumped all over it, and we put it out in May (2002), and it was No. 1 by July 4. It ended up being one of the most-played songs of the year."
The controversy surrounding the song increased as it became associated with the war in Iraq. Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines famously called the song "ignorant."
"Now I get accused of being whatever, and I'm fine with that," Keith says. "But you don't have to listen but once to the words to understand that the song was strictly for Afghanistan.
"I have no stance on the Iraq war," he continues, "but the second (that I say), 'I have no stance there, I'm not smart enough to tell whether we should be in there or not,' it becomes, 'Oh, he's trying to save his career now.'
"You can't win for losing. If you fight it, you'll be chastised, and if you tell your side, you'll be chastised."
And despite the political division in America these days, Keith says, "We're all after the same thing -- we're all after peace. And when I go vote, if there's a box where you could just check 'peace,' everybody would check that box."
As outspoken as he is, Keith questions why his views should carry much weight.
"All I can tell everybody is, 'Don't listen to me, don't listen to celebrities,"' he says. "Go ask a soldier. Go ask a politician. Get the knowledge you need to vote for yourself. Be careful where you get your news, and make your own decision. That's what this country's about."
Ellie