Saturday, May 19, 2007
Audio Post of the Day: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
Written in 1967 by Pete Seeger, the story has it that he intended to sing it on the Smothers Brothers show that year but was blocked by CBS from doing so; he did sing it there the following year. Outwardly the tale of a platoon trying to ford a river in a training camp in Louisiana in 1942, it was an obvious allegory for Vietnam. Today it's an obvious allegory for Iraq and the Administration and Congress who insist we must "push on." Even if some in Congress insist that we only need to "push on" a little bit more ("just another six/nine/twelve/eighteen months and then we'll be out, honest!"), that will be plenty of time for hundreds or thousands more Americans, and tens or hundreds of thousands more Iraqis, to die in the "Big Muddy." Unfortunately, the allegory isn't perfect, because the ones urging that we "push on" won't be the ones losing their lives, like the Captain in the song. Instead, they're laughing (or smirking) all the way to the bank.
Labels: Music
