“We’re Getting the Impression That You Think We Are Not Relevant to These Proceedings”

Filed under:Heh,Music,Politics — posted by Anwyn on January 8, 2010 @ 2:00 pm

You’ve peeved Ray Stevens now.

The man’s 70 years old and made this, and while I don’t know that he necessarily came out of retirement to do so ([to me it seems that way, but that might be just because] I haven’t followed him in a while, though when I was little, “Mississippi Squirrel Revival” was the funniest thing I had ever heard), I say … you go, Ray. I particularly like the embrace of the “yokel” image to make the point that the ones Obama et. al. would like to write off as “yokels” are quite capable of “yokeling” him et. al. right out of office. Seriously–I know a lot of people of my parents’ age who look a lot like the Ray playing the plunger, except they play real guitars–extremely well. His point is real and well made.

Next best line: “You might want to start looking for another line of work. How about the medical profession? Yeah, they’re going to need everybody they can get who will put up with the red tape and the pay cut.”

H/t See-Dubya.

7 comments »

  1. Ray never came out of retirement like a lot of the mainstream articles are making it out to be. He’s never actually officially retired. Ray’s been busy going about his business making comedy music videos and releasing music on his own label, Clyde Records, for the last several years in a low-key kind of way. Back in 2002 Ray had out a single that achieved Gold status, “Osama Yo’ Mama”, and that’s the last time the ‘mainstream’ was aware of any new material from Ray. Last year he had out a series of CD’s on his own label. One of the them was a truck driver’s CD called “One For the Road” and earlier in the year he released a salute to Frank Sinatra. Ray’s been quietly busy, that’s the way to describe it.

    A lot of his fans follow him on Facebook and on his own web-site plus You Tube.

    “We The People” struck a chord with the You Tube audience in a phenomenal way. As of now it’s been played/viewed more than 1.6 million times on You Tube without much support from radio. If anything, the song proves the unpopular opinion amongst radio people that a singer doesn’t need radio airplay to have an impact with music buyers.

    The song is ranked in the Top-5 of the most popular country MP3 digital singles on Amazon’s web-site but mainstream radio won’t touch the song even though it’s showing signs that it’s commercial enough for radio airplay.

    Comment by ACcountryFan — January 8, 2010 @ 4:06 pm

  2. Yeah, I meant that to me it seems like he came out of retirement, but that could be just because I haven’t kept up with him in a while. Post edited to reflect that.

    Comment by Anwyn — January 8, 2010 @ 5:00 pm

  3. I’m a big fan: http://junkyardblog.net/archives/2006/12/an-overlooked-b.php

    Comment by See-Dubya — January 8, 2010 @ 7:06 pm

  4. Yeah, I should have kept up. I loved his stuff when I was a kid/teenager and saw him live once at Beef & Boards in Indianapolis.

    Comment by Anwyn — January 8, 2010 @ 7:13 pm

  5. You saw him LIVE? I’m not worthy! Most nerds followed Weird Al Yankovic, but for rural nerds like me, Ray was the man.

    Comment by See-Dubya — January 8, 2010 @ 7:21 pm

  6. Well, I saw him live too. :)

    Comment by Anwyn — January 8, 2010 @ 7:25 pm

  7. Yeah, I’ve been jealous for many years that you and dad saw him live. I have the “Osama Yo’ Mama” CD at home. :-)

    Comment by Bumble — January 13, 2010 @ 12:43 pm

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