5/17/07: RightWingTrashMan: Marty RobbinsAs usual, we’ve got
an article in the latest issue of Birmingham, Alabama’s
Black & White. As usual, it isn’t the most interesting article. That would be Ed Reynold’s
interview with legendary songwriter Bobby Braddock, who’s written hits such as “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” At one point, Braddock is discussing his occasional outspoken politics, and remembers his days as part of Marty Robbins’ backing band—when Robbins was a staunch supporter of Barry Goldwater.
“Marty Robbins,” says Braddock, “used to get on stage and talk about Barry Goldwater. Back then, a lot of blue-collar, working-class country music fans were staunch Democrats. Marty didn't care.” That’s a valuable quote, if only as a reminder that Southern Democrats were pretty much as useless as any other Democrats back in the ’60s.
It’s also a reminder of Arizona’s own Marty Robbins, who’d bummed around plenty before turning into the finest rockabilly crooner to ever turn out an album of Hawaiian ballads. It’s a tough career to sum up here, but our purposes are best served by concentrating on 1964. That’s when Robbins wrote two classic conservative protest songs—and, unlike the Dixie Chicks, had to truly struggle to even be heard.
“Ain’t I Right” confronts the problem of a local rabble-rouser. You can imagine how the executives at Columbia Records were squirming when they heard this playing in their boardroom:
It matters not to you how people suffer
And should they, you'd consider that a gain
You bring a lot of trouble to the town and then you leave
That's part of your Communistic game
I detect a little Communism
I can see it in the things you do
Communism, Socialism
Call it what you like
There's very little difference in the twoComplete lyrics
here, and they just get better. Then there was “My Own Native Land.” This xenophobic ballad manages to be equally succinct and terribly romantic:
Is it right that we should give
And give until it hurts
To a foreign land that treats us
Just like so much dirt
Those who lead us have forgotten
Love is in the soul
Love cannot be purchased
With the promise of more goldMarty Robbins died in 1982, but
those lyrics have him calling out Saudi Arabia (among others) from beyond the grave. The Columbia executives refused to release either of those songs. Instead, Robbins recruited guitarist Bobby Sykes from his backing band to release them under the name of Johnny Freedom. Sykes sounded so much like Robbins that everyone assumed it was him singing, anyway.
Robbins’ last hit, incidentally, was the theme to a Clint Eastwood film—back when Eastwood was still a Hollywood conservative. The man didn’t merely have hits over the decades. He had good taste.
Make him your own: There’s a whole screen career to be explored, and way too many albums. For a quick primer,
The Essential Marty Robbins is a fine 2-disc collection. We’ve also been enjoying the rockabilly comp of
Rockin’ Robbins, which was released a few months ago.
As for “Ain’t I Right” and “My Own Native Land”—well, that’s going to get pricey. The good news is that Marty Robbins’ original versions made it out of the vault. The bad news is that they can only be found on expensive box sets. “My Own Native Land” is on the Bear Family label’s
Country (1960-1966). You can buy a new copy for about $60 from an Amazon outside vendor, and that’s a bargain.
“Ain’t I Right” can be found on
Atomic Platters: Cold War Music From The Golden Age. That’s a really expensive box set—but, as more good news, it turns out that there's also a swell (if snide)
Atomic Platters website full of fun facts about other right-wing artists. Just try to remember to come back here some time.
