FOX Praises Anti-Immigrant Song While Trashing the Dixie Chicks
Reported by Marie Therese - May 23, 2006
A new anti-immigrant country song was introduced to America yesterday morning on FOX & Friends First. Composed and performed by singer Michael Anthony, the premise of the song is that if you're not legal, you don't belong here and you better go back home. Entitled "Fly with the Eagle" the song is a shameless bit of pandering by Mr. Anthony. It has been endorsed by the Minutemen, who, according to Steve Doocy, are considering making it their anthem.
As exhibited by the lyrics, the song is a piece of xenophobic trash that blames immigrants for America's ills. And it's not even a good piece of country writing, probably because it was penned to appeal to the lowest common denominator, using words crafted from a vocabulary of fear and hatred. Really great music - country or otherwise - is written, not from a sheet of talking points, but from the heart of the composer. The Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice" is a good example of this kind of song - powerful, passionate and firmly rooted in personal experience. As you may recall, lead singer Natalie Maines outraged country fans in March 2003 when she told a London audience that the Dixie Chicks were ashamed the President of the United States was from Texas.
These remarks caused the group's albums to be pulled off most country radio stations and their careers to go into a tailspin. They received many death threats, some delivered personally while they were out and about. Only recently have they ventured to release a new album. Taking the Long Way. When "Not Ready to Make Nice" came out last week, it was the most downloaded song on iTunes. However, many radio stations - surprise, surprise - will not play the song, claiming that, as soon as they do, they get irate calls from listeners demanding that they yank the song.
During yesterday's FOX & Friends show, Steve Doocy, E.D. Hill and Brian Kilmeade went out of their way to trash the Dixie Chicks. Using dismissive and snide tones, Doocy and Hill repeated the story that the Dixie Chicks' new new song is not getting airtime on many country stations. They did not, however, mention that the statistics about the lead single being the #1 download on iTunes. E. D. Hill made a point of saying that she herself won't buy Dixie Chicks recordings and turns off the radio when she hears their music being played.
As for Michael Anthony's ode to xenophobia, it turns out that he got the message dead wrong. According to the Department of Defense, as I reported last week, if you're not legal, you most certainly CAN fly with eagles. You can join the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines or Coast Guard, get a nice sign-on bonus, take an oath of loyalty to the United States, wear the American flag on your uniform and go to the head of the citizenship line!
As for his contention that immigrants are responsible for the fact that America is going "bust", that is pure propaganda. Simple things like poor fiscal management, ill-conceived military adventures and selling the government to the highest bidder have driven us to the brink of bankruptcy - not the millions of hard-working immigrants who clean our gutters, wipe our babies' bottoms and keep those suburban lawns so very green.
In his eagerness to cash in on the fear and loathing in a certain narrow constituency , Mr. Anthony conveniently forgot to do any fact checking.
Here are the lyrics to both songs. Why don't you decide which one was written to make a quick buck and which was written from the heart?
Fly with the Eagle - Michael AnthonyAmerica's seen the wayward hearts
And opened up her shores
Said if you live by the law of the land
You could not ask for more.But her resources are fadin'
She's on the verge of goin' bust
From those that we've let cross her lines
And abuse her sacred trust.Hey, if you're legal,
You can fly with the eagle
And live the dream
And make yourself a name.But if you ain't legal,
You can't fly with the eagle, no,
You need to leave here
And go back from where you came.Spoken: "That's right."
She don't look at the color of your skin
Or your nationality
All God's children are welcome here
If you get here legally.But there are those
That want to twist the truth,
Yeah, they're tryin' to start a fight,
But, brother, if you're wrong
You know you're wrong
And if I'm right, I'm right.Hey, if you're legal,
You can fly with the eagle
And live the dream
And make yourself a name.But if you ain't legal,
You can't fly with the eagle, no,
You need to leave here
And go back from where you came.Hey, if you're legal,
You can fly with the eagle
And live the dream
And make yourself a name.But if you ain't legal,
You can't fly with the eagle, no,
You need to leave here
And go back from where you came.Not Ready to Make Nice - The Dixie Chicks
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waitingI'm through, with doubt,
There's nothing left for me to figure out,
I've paid a price, and I'll keep payingI'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I shouldI know you said
Why can't you just get over it,
It turned my whole world around
and I kind of like itI made by bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
That she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be overI'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I shouldI'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I shouldForgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting