NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

<EM>Tracey Barnett:</EM> Them's fightin' words

7 May, 2006 10:56 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

Opinion by

Politics and music have always had a happy marriage, but today, musical in-laws are spitting venom in America, headed straight for divorce.

What country music may lack in subtlety, it makes up for in stomach punches. These days, the punches are hitting very different targets. Clint Black sings about Saddam
Hussein as "the devil" in I Raq and Roll:

But we can't ignore the devil
He'll keep coming back for more
If they won't show us their weapons
We might have to show them ours
It might be a smart bomb
They find stupid people, too
And if you stand with the likes of Saddam
One just might find you
Now you can come along
Or you can stay behind
Or you can get out of the way
But our troops take out the garbage
For the good old USA


Makes one's achy-breaky heart cry out for the bygone innocence of titles such as I'd Rather Pass A Kidney Stone Than Another Night with You.

Bruce Springsteen sang the Edwin Starr classic War (What is it good for?) at a Melbourne concert the day the US invaded Iraq.

Greenday, the Beastie Boys, Rickie Lee Jones, Public Enemy and many others have all penned anti-Bush songs with sentiments like Spearhead's Bomb The World:

... military madness
The smell of flesh and burning pain
So I sing out to the masses
Stand up if you're still sane
To all of us gone crazy
Sing this one refrain
We can chase down all our enemies
Bring them to their knees
We can bomb the world to pieces
But we can't bomb it into peace


Senior citizen rockers the Rolling Stones are weighing in next month with a new track called Sweet Neo Con. They sing to Bush and his neoconservatives:

You call yourself a Christian
I call you a hypocrite
You call yourself a patriot
Well, I think you're full of shit
How come you're so wrong, my sweet neo-con?


It is no great surprise that political music is echoing a split political nation. What is surprising is that country music, the bastion of a conservative fan base, is showing signs of splintering into a diverse political cacophony.

Two years ago, the Dixie Chicks withstood death threats and playlist boycotts after they told a London audience: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas".

But last Christmas Willie Nelson got next to no press over his song, How Much Oil is One Human Life Worth?, in which he sang:

But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on Earth?


Jason Cother's country Haiku poem perfectly nails the growing divide:

Two countries: red, blue
Dixie Chicks or Toby Keith
So, which one are you?


The politically quiet and ever-savvy Dolly Parton has just recorded Bob Dylan's anti-war anthem, Blowin' In The Wind and John Lennon's Imagine to be released this October.

At a concert last week at Radio City Music Hall, Salon's Rebecca Traister reports Parton highlighted particular verses as she sang:

How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?
And how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?


The audience, who listened in perfect silence, stood up for a huge ovation by the song's end, Traister said. This reaction from a Dolly Parton audience? Perhaps the times are indeed a-changin'.

* Tracey Barnett is an American journalist based in Auckland.

All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save
    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Spicy kimchi noodles: A comforting twist for chilly days

Lifestyle

Why Kiwis are hooked on the air fryer - and what they’re cooking

Premium
Lifestyle

He wanted a fuller head of hair. He got a lower sperm count


Sponsored

Sponsored: 50 shades of beige

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Samoa closes schools as fight against dengue ramps up after second child dies
Talanoa

Samoa closes schools as fight against dengue ramps up after second child dies

Four jockeys taken to hospital after nasty fall at Te Rapa race meet
Racing

Four jockeys taken to hospital after nasty fall at Te Rapa race meet

Spicy kimchi noodles: A comforting twist for chilly days
Lifestyle

Spicy kimchi noodles: A comforting twist for chilly days

Bottom-of-the-table Titans hold slim halftime lead over Warriors
Warriors

Bottom-of-the-table Titans hold slim halftime lead over Warriors

Why Auckland's new hysteroscopy service is a game changer for women
New Zealand

Why Auckland's new hysteroscopy service is a game changer for women

Warriors Women dealt third loss of season after strong Titans showing
Warriors

Warriors Women dealt third loss of season after strong Titans showing



Latest from Lifestyle

Spicy kimchi noodles: A comforting twist for chilly days
Lifestyle

Spicy kimchi noodles: A comforting twist for chilly days

Sometimes, all you need is a bowl of delicious spicy noodles.

26 Jul 05:00 AM
Why Kiwis are hooked on the air fryer - and what they’re cooking
Lifestyle

Why Kiwis are hooked on the air fryer - and what they’re cooking

26 Jul 12:01 AM
Premium
Premium
He wanted a fuller head of hair. He got a lower sperm count
Lifestyle

He wanted a fuller head of hair. He got a lower sperm count

25 Jul 06:00 AM


Sponsored: 50 shades of beige
Sponsored

Sponsored: 50 shades of beige

21 Jul 07:08 AM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search