Awww, “Puff the Magic Dwagon” composew Petew Yarrow is vewy angwy. The über-socialist and peacenik is perturbed at the parody “Barack the Magic Negro,” produced under the auspices of Rush Limbaugh and played all summer long on his radio show.
Mr. Yarrow says at the Huffington Post:
The sending of a Christmas greeting by Chip Saltsman to the members of the Republican National Committee that includes a recording of the so-called parody, “Barack the Magic Negro” is not only offensive, it is shocking and saddening in the extreme. It flies in the face of America’s deeply held hope for a new era in which common ground and mutual respect characterize the exchanges between our national leaders.
I and my co-writer of “Puff,” Lenny Lipton, have been eagerly awaiting an end to the mean-spiritedness, outright disrespect and bigotry that was commonplace prior to this last presidential election. What might have been wearily accepted as “the way it was” in the campaign, is now unacceptable. Obama is not a candidate. He is the President-Elect, and this song insults the office of the Presidency, the people who voted for him, as well as those who did not—and taking a children’s song and twisting it in such vulgar, mean-spirited way, is a slur to our entire country and our common agreement to move beyond racism.
It is almost unimaginable to me that Chip Saltzman who sent the CD, would seriously be considered for the top post of the Republican National Committee. Puff, himself, if asked, would certainly agree.
Oh, puh-lease.
I actually got to share a stage once with Mr. Yarrow. Well, I was actually getting on the stage at the same time he was getting off, but for a few seconds we were on the same stage at the same time! It was at a national Jewish educator conference, and he was just finishing a rehearsal of his evening extravaganza, and I was just coming on to rehearse my slightly less adverstized set.
Anyway ... Problem is, Mr. Yarrow and Ms. Huffington, the song wasn’t making fun of Barack Obama or his blackness. He was making fun of a March, 2007, Los Angeles Times article by liberal columnist David Ehrenstein called … um … wait a minute, I have it here somewhere … oh, yeah, here it is: Obama the ‘Magic Negro’!
If you read Mr. Ehrenstein’s piece (which I won’t reprint any of here; I just had breakfast), you can almost see where the puddles of drool dropped. Seriously, the man must have had to change his pants three times before he completed writing it.
So what are conservative commentators supposed to do when such a sycophantic, um, “puff” piece is written about the Golden Calf and is given such a telling title? You write a freaking parody, of course! And that’s exactly what Rush Limbaugh got his parody peeps to do.
In other words, the parody isn’t a reflection of alleged conservative mean-spiritedness. It was a musical illustration of liberal intolerance and hypocrisy, namely, columnist Ehrenstein’s infatuation with Barack Obama’s race!
But neither Yarrow, nor Ariana Huffington who gave him a forum to express his repulsion, nor the HuffPo commentors whose posts I perused, seem to realize this.
Mr. Yarrow, it seems the person you should be angry with is not Rush Limbaugh, or the RNC who used this song on a CD they’ve been distributing; instead you should be angry at L.A. Times columnist David Ehrenstein. After all, he’s the one who, clearly with your song in mind, bastardized your precious song title.
By the way, here are the lyrics to the song. The whole thing is based on quotes about Obama by the L.A. Times article, Sharpton himself, and guilty white liberals (who, since that March 2007 article, Rush correctly predicted would prop Obama up to Messiah-hood and get him elected president.)
(As if sung by Al Sharpton)
Refrain:
Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s not authentic like me.
Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper [See, it’s right in the song, and Yarrow and the HuffPo still don’t have a clue]
Said he makes guilty whites feel good
They’ll vote for him, and not for me
‘Cause he’s not from the hood.
See, real black men, like Snoop Dog,
Or me, or Farrakhan
Have talked the talk, and walked the walk.
Not come in late and won!
Refrain
Some say Barack’s “articulate”
And bright and new and “clean” [That would be VP-elect Joe Biden who said that, by the way. Oh, the freaking irony!]
The media sure loves this guy,
A white interloper’s dream! [That’s the only racist comment in the entire song—and it was uttered by a black person about white people!]
But, when you vote for president,
Watch out, and don’t be fooled!
Don’t vote the Magic Negro in
‘Cause...
(Music stops, Sharpton rants, music returns)
Sounds like good old-fashioned humous parody to me. Say what you will about whether the song is vulgar or mean-spirited, but the lyrics are 1000% true. And that’s most likely why the left-o-sphere is so angry.
In conclusion, my advice to the “so-called” songwriter Peter Yarrow:
First, get the facts straight before you start yet another rant about the alleged racism of the Republican Party.
I know, I know. You’re a liberal. When have the facts ever stopped you from thinking the worst about anything? Republicans are racist. America is evil. Man-made carbon emissions is going to fry the planet. What else does anyone really need to know, right?
Second, get a backbone: It’s a free country and if you really want people to believe you are the tolerant, open-minded, and free-speech-loving liberal you claim to be, then you shouldn’t have a problem with someone making a parody of your song—even if you don’t approve of the content. So man up.
And besides, what would you have done if someone wrote a “Puff” parody bashing Sarah Palin? I’ll tell you what you would have done: Stood up and cheered, you little hypocrite.
And lastly, get over yourself.
There. Was that vulgar, offensive, and mean-spirited enough?
Recent Comments