Music in the Post-9/11 World Edited by Jonathan Ritter University of California, Riverside J. Martin Daughtry New York University Resee,6 “HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?”: DARRYL WORLEY AND THE MUSICAL POLITICS OF OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, Peter J. Schmelz The unfolding of the unforeseen was everything, Turned wrong ‘way round, the relentless unforeseen was what we schoolehildren studied as “History.” harmless history, where everything nex- pected in its own time is chronicled on the page as inevitable. The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turn- ing a disaster into an epic. Philip Roth, The Plot Against America’ In the grip of an inexorable forward lurch into the next war—the blame for which couldbe endlessly debated endlessly fine-tuned —we stumbled into a future there had not ben time even to anticipate. Geoffrey O’Brien, “Is It AIlJust a Dream?”? ‘Music that makes you think they're singing about you. —Radio motto of WQNY 103.7 FM, “Q-Country,” Ithaca, NY? After 9/11, country music more than any cther genre captured and chan- | neled the mood of the American public. From the outset, songs ike Alan Jackson's “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)”, pre- miered in November 2001, indicated the degree to which country music 2sBDA « Peter J. Schmelz ‘would become integral to the public remembrance of September 11, ind to the responses at each stage in the subsequent “war on terror."AS the US. government “inexorably lurched forward” in response to the S/11 attacks, to borrow Geoffrey O'Brien's apt phrase for the march to ‘was, country musicians kept pace. Following the Bush administration’ invasion of Afghanistan, country music applauded the move, perhaps most prominently in Toby Keith’s song of rage, “Courtesy of the Red, ‘White, and Blue (The Angry American), released in late May 2002 and directed at the Taliban. During the protracted buildup to the invasion of Iraq, from late 2002 until Merch 19, 2003, the role of country musicians and country music in American political discourse became still more pronounced. Even as other prominent popular mausicians, especially in rock and hip-hop, began orgenizing against the impending war, country ‘music took the lead in premoting the invasion, particularly Darryl “Worley’s song of enraged remembrance, “Have You Forgottenz”> "Worley’s song, in fact, became the “hit” ofthe early Iraq War, broad- cast widely on radio and tdevision. In this essay, I argue that “Have You Forgotten?” offers a crucial perspective on this recent period of “American history, documeatiag how the meanings of the song—and even the song itsel{—changed as the United States prepared for war fand eventually invaded Iraq. Indeed, when future historians attempt to comprehend the popular support of (and the many justifications for) the launch of the Iraq War, they would do no better than to look at the changing reception of Worle’s song, as there is arguably no richer cultural artifact of that moment. Cecilia Tichi writes that “country music . .. enables us to see vital parts of the national identity that otherwise are hidden, obscured, overshadowed, blacked out in pain fal self-censorship” (1994: 18). While I would argue that all music does this, from “popular” to “classical” from country to hip-hop, in this par- ticular instance Worley’s song does amplify a “vital part ofthe national Sdentity” at a vital moment in that nation’s history, even as its details today are slowly being effazed by memory’ failings and obscured by the self justifications of actors along the entire political spectrum. "As an active participant:n public debates over the war in Iraq, Wor- ley’s hit invites a number of questions regarding music’ role asa polit- calagent, and its bility not anly to subvert but also to support dominant political actions and ideologies. As we shall see, Worley’s song illustrates hhow music can both refiect and affect events, embodying sentiment and, instigating action. Many writers have surveyed the country music pr duced during the major American conflicts of the twentieth century, and particularly the count-y hits of the Vietnam era, but no one has investigated both the word: and music of specific song and traced its “Have you forgotten?” + 125 reception and participation in an ongoing cultural dialogue? As John Street has aigued in a recent discussion of popular music and politic, 'a more productive route [to understanding the relationship of politics and music les in seeing how particular songs or performances engage ‘with particular political moments ard issues. This isnot to return to the ‘music as the expression of a time or era, but rather to its role in shap- ing and focusing experience.”* Wha: Street neglects to point out is that few scholars have examined the specific ways in which popular music often supports dominant ideological trends rather than offering an ide alized locus for resistance, the preferred object of interest for pop music scholars? Beyond its immediate topical value, then, Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?” acts as an ideal case study for exploring country music's audience and country music’s possible meanings, as well as broader {questions of signification and representation in popular music. ‘THE GENESIS OF A COUNTRY MUSIC ANTHEM “Fiave You Forgotten” fits within a ong trajectory of wartime odes in American country music. Most country songs written or performed during World War Il, the Korean War, and Vietnam were ofthe “mother and home” or “girl I left behind” variety, as Jens Lund dubs them..° During World War I, there were, of course, some that attempted to motivate direct action against the enemy, such as “Remember Pearl Harbor,” “There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere,” “We're Gonna Have to Slap the Dirty Little ‘ap (And Uncle Sams the Guy Who Can Do It),” and the Gene Autry-inspired recruiting soig, “ll Trade ‘My Horse and Saddle for a Pair of Wings.” These, however prominent, were the exceptions. “The Vietnam War also had its share of “gin left behind” songs. but those aimed at convincing listeners of the necessity ofthe cause took on a higher profile. While the most famous of these, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler's “Ballad of the Green Berets.” recalls the general patriotisin heard in pro-war songs of previous conflicts, a significant number of, the country songs that supported the Vietnam War responded, either directly or implicitly, to the burgeoning antiwar movement at home. Examples are abundant; a typical example is Tom T. Hall’s “Hello Vietnam,” which reached no. 1 in 1$65 in Johnny Wrights rendition: ‘hat fires we don't put out will bigger burn, ‘We must save freedom now at any cost. Or some day our own freedom may be lost126 « Peter}. Schmelz Another is Dave Dudley's recording of Tom T. Hall’s “What Were Fighting For.” also from 1965: You tell me there are people merching in our streets, ‘The signs they carry say we don't fight for peace. ‘There's nota soldier in this foreign land who likes this war. (Ob, Mame, tell them what we'r fighting for.” Otherexamplesinclude Stonewall ackson’s“The Minute Men Are Turning in Their Graves” (1966, written by Harlan Howard) and Auiry Inman's “The Ballad of Two Brothers” (one patriotic soldier, the othera protestors 1968, written by Bobby Braddock, Buddy Killen, and Curly Putman). “Twenty years later, country music again took the lead during Opera- tion Desert Storm (the “First” Irac War) in 1991, with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” (“Tm proud to be an American / Where at last Tknow Tim free”) as the leading candidate for that brief war's most ubiquitous anthera. Its only competition, Aaron Tippin's “You've Got to Stand for Something” and Waylon Jennings’s “The Eagle,” also cane from the country music world, Incontrast to the context-specific songs of the Vietnam era, all three of these songs were patriotic-only in a general senses none referred directly tothe current conflict The generic message of Greenwood’s song in articular allowed it to be resuscitated in the wake of 9/11 and again for the 2003 war in Iraq, As Charles Passy observed in late 2001, “Perhaps the key clement ... behind the song's ["God Bless the U.S.A.”] repeated resurrection... is Greenwwood’srefer- ence toan unnamed enemy. To quote the lyrics: I thank my lucky stars tbe living here today ‘cause the lag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away.’ On Sept. IL, America found a new ‘they—and Greenwood’s song seemed more relevant than ever." Despite the popularity of Greenwood's “God Bless the U.S.A.” Worley’s “Have You Forgotten®” serves as a better representative of its cultural/historical moment precisely because of its specificity and singularity. Thanks to the brevity of the 2003 war in Irag—or at least its “major combat operations’—“Have You Forgotten?” had little competition on the airwaves during the conflic’s peak. Furthermore, the song enjoyed greater success than any of its Vietnam-era precur- sors ata time when country music had gained a much wider audience.” ‘Nonetheless, as Worley’s opening lines reveal, “Have You Forgotten?” is clearly indebted to songs like Halls "What We'e Fighting For": “Have you forgotten?” © 127 hear people saying we don’t need this war. T say there's some things worth fighting for... ‘They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in. Before you start your preaching, Let me ask you this my friend: Have you forgotten? ‘These lines set the hortatory tone from the outset, as they coerce the listener to become part of the (American) collective. “Have You Forgotten?” was hawked by DreamWorks Records Nashville as “A song you'll always remember about an event ye can never forget,” another conflation of “you” and “we,” in which the individual reader can only gain entry into the group by listening to (and purchasing) Worley’s anthem. Worley’ song performed the same function as the ubiquitous bumper stickers proclaiming “Support Our Troops” that sprouted on cars in the fall of 2004 in the lead-up to that year’s presidential election, reminders of the more spontaneous proliferation of flags fluttering from car windows in the fll of 2001 after the September 11 attacks." Unlike Jackson's narrative persona in “Where Were You?” Worley’s did not ‘want to hear your response; he assumed that you had forgotten and was trying to assail your guilty conscience. Like World War I posters com- ‘memorating Pearl Harbor, the song could plausibly have been called “Remember September 11!” (Toby Keith's, on the other hand, would have been its partner: “Avenge September I1!")® By framing his title as ‘question, Worley achieved better sales: apparently guilt works better than a command. In the first verse of Worley’s song the addressee is unclear: What people were “preaching” to him? Though there had been large protests in October 2002 and January. 2003 (only a week after Worley’ first public performances of his song), the biggest day of protesting against the war came well after the song was written, on Saturday, February 15, 2003, when millions of protestors took to the streets in cities across the United States and across the globe.» But Worley’s opening targets might have been more imagined than rea, straw men conjured by the insecurities of the soldiers he met in Afghanistan as a USO (United Service Organization) performer over the Christmas 2002 holiday (from December 18-24, 2002) Here chronology becomes important, for the creation and reception of Worley’ song and its video are best ead in counterpoint with the political and military actions of_late 2002 and early 2003 (see Appendix 1). According to Worley’s Web site: