Hello once more!! I frequent social media sites a lot and within the last several days I've been seeing a lot of video sharing of a certain Ray Stevens music video from 2012 called "Grandpa Voted Democrat". This is one of numerous political comedy videos released by Ray Stevens during what I refer to as his 'political phase' for lack of a better description. It started out of the blue in the final months of 2009 when a video single titled "We The People" hit YouTube and from there it took off like a rocket, as the saying goes. Ray found himself performing in a number of high profile political rallies and events throughout 2010...even appearing on several cable news television programs and talk radio programs.
He found himself back in Branson, Missouri performing a series of concerts at The Welk Theater on the strength of the political music videos. The concerts were broken in two halves in which the first half was a traditional concert filled with Ray's numerous serious and novelty recordings while the second half was strictly a political show where he performed a number of songs that gained their popularity through YouTube.
This videography lists the politically themed music videos, their release date, and unique view count rounded to the nearest hundred thousand or million depending on the level of unique views. In case you were wondering the letter 'K' stands for thousand and the letter 'M' stands for million. As an example: 2010's "Caribou Barbie", a music video about Sarah Palin, has received an estimated 648,000 unique views. 2014's "If You Like Your Plan" has received an estimated 454,000. I'm not posting exact numbers. I've highlighted in bold the music videos that have gotten more than a million unique views and italicized those with more than two million.
1. We The People; 12/11/2009 5.6 M
2. Caribou Barbie; 3/11/2010 648 K
3. Throw the Bums Out; 3/22/2010 1.3 M
4. Come to the U.S.A.; 5/13/2010 10 M
5. The Global Warming Song; 6/29/2010 1.2 M
6. God Save Arizona; 8/4/2010 1.1 M
7. Obama Budget Plan; 4/25/2011 5.2 M
8. Mr. President - Mr. President; 9/27/2011 3.5 M
9. Obama Nation; 7/23/2012 1.4 M
10. Grandpa Voted Democrat; 11/3/2012 2.2 M
11. If You Like Your Plan; 9/22/2014 454 K
12. Nero Fiddled; 10/10/2014 62 K
13. You Didn't Build That; 5/19/2015 401 K
As you can see by looking at the list of Ray Stevens YouTube political comedy music videos almost all of them have well over 100,000 unique views and several more have over 1,000,000. The only politically themed music video to not reach 100,000 or more is 2014's "Nero Fiddled". It's a moving and powerful music video. I'm sure some may have thought it too dramatic or heavy handed and that may have played a role in it's on-line performance...but it's hard to really tell because Ray emerged with "Dear America" a couple of years later. That recording wasn't politically based but it was just as powerful as "Nero Fiddled" and "God Save Arizona". "Dear America", by the way, sits with a little over 363,000 unique views as of this writing. It hit YouTube on September 6, 2016...a couple of months before the Presidential election of Donald Trump. I didn't include it in the list of political music videos because it's a patriotic song. A lot of people want to blend patriotism with their political beliefs but in my opinion those are two separate things.
Anyway, as you can see, I decided to embed "Nero Fiddled" in this blog entry. Ray appears with his back to the camera...and that may have been another reason this particular video clip didn't break loose like the others did.
Now, then, in a much more lighter mood...here's the video clip that's found new life on social media...2012's "Grandpa Voted Democrat"...
Showing posts with label spirit of '76. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spirit of '76. Show all posts
July 3, 2016
Ray Stevens sings of America...
Hello to all the Ray Stevens fans out there. I hesitated, at first, to start my blog entry with one of the late Paul Harvey's catchphrases given this being 4th of July weekend but I didn't. Is it just me or does it feel a bit strange that a July 4th holiday falls on a Monday...it seems more at home on a Saturday or even a Sunday. It falling on a Monday, of course, extends the weekend for some people but not everyone.
Did anyone catch Ray Stevens on the Grand Ole Opry this past week, either in person or over the radio? He made a guest appearance during the final half hour portion back on Wednesday (June 29th) and sang several songs...he sang "Misty", "Safe at Home", and "The Streak". I listened to it on the radio as I made my way to my workplace.
He posted a video clip of his appearance and it's on his Facebook page. It isn't on YouTube. You can see the appearance by clicking HERE. Make sure you click the X next to the image of the speaker. For some reason the clip automatically starts playing in mute. You'll have to click the X to open up the speaker in order to hear the audio. I say that because there's going to be some people out there that click the video and wonder why they can't hear anything and then assume something's wrong with the upload.
This is just me but I prefer the YouTube style of embedded video clips that don't automatically start playing once they came into screen view. I prefer a person having to click the play arrow before a video begins to play but on Facebook, for some reason, if it isn't a video embed from YouTube then the video starts to automatically play when it comes in view...but on to the main theme of this blog entry...
Throughout the career of Ray Stevens he's recorded or performed several patriotic songs. If you're any kind of serious fan of Ray Stevens then you'll know that a majority of those America/patriotic songs have come within the last 6 years but if you take a glance at some of his albums over the decades you'll find some patriotic stand-alone songs hidden away on LP's. Can you guess what may have been Ray's first ever patriotic song? I'm sure he's recorded or wrote several that weren't released and so I'm only referring to songs that have been commercially released either on albums or as singles and in recent years, on-line video.
Independence Day, or the 4th of July, is largely a time of America celebration and of cook-outs and fireworks. Patriotic, pro-America songs are almost universally accepted as appropriate songs for July 4th. Although Ray has not recorded a song, to my knowledge, dealing in the actual events that led up to Independence Day (July 4, 1776) the fact remains that any song celebrating America's values and ideals or songs about the American flag are sort of lumped into the category of Independence Day songs even if they're not, technically, about the Revolutionary War.
During his involvement/association with Andy Williams (primarily 1969-1971) Ray performed several songs about America on Andy's television series and on the 1970 summer program that Ray hosted for Andy. Although the songs Ray performed were not necessarily dripping in pro-America fervor they were largely middle of the road and filled with the 'everyday person' point of view on the issues of the day (namely the Vietnam War) and they largely side-stepped the contempt and cynicism of the typical protest song of the era. The big song from Ray during this point in time dealing with the issues facing America is "America, Communicate with Me". It's such a great song...excellent recording...a lot of production went into it and it's a great middle of the road message decrying extreme points of view from both political parties and how the concept of one party trying to one-up the other is more or less going to be the nation's undoing.
The song attempted to bridge the gap between two extreme points of view
raging on in America. Protests of the Vietnam War had began during the
latter half of the Lyndon Johnson administration but it happened to be
the Richard Nixon administration that felt the brunt of the protests,
sit-in's, anti-war rallies, and the Assassinations of several political
figures. Ray Stevens made mention of those assassinations in his
recording...but didn't name the victims. As a listener we can safely assume that he's referring to John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.. Due to the song not taking a strong stance either for or against the Nixon Administration or the Vietnam War it didn't receive a lot of positive publicity among the Top-40 audience and radio disc jockeys of the era. In fact it didn't really receive that much publicity in the printed press...most of it's exposure came via his television performances and the support from Adult-Contemporary radio stations across the country. On the Hot 100 pop chart the single peaked a couple notches short of the Top-40 portion...but the Adult-Contemporary chart (called Easy-Listening in 1970) ranked the song in their Top-20. The song originally could be found on his studio album, Unreal, in which several other topical, social-commentary songs existed: this single's B-side, "Monkey See, Monkey Do", "Can We Get To That", "Come Around", "Loving You on Paper", and "Talking".
A performance by Ray Stevens from his 1970 summer program...he's singing "Save the Country" and is joined by some of his cast-members (namely Mama Cass and Lulu) and then, solo, he sings "America, Communicate with Me"...
The next major recording that Ray did involving America and it's politics and policies came at the end of the 1980s in a stirring performance called "There's a Star Spangled Banner". This is another one of those hidden away songs because the 1989 album it appeared on, Beside Myself, is largely remembered by Ray Stevens fans for the comical songs "I Saw Elvis in a U.F.O.", "I Used to Be Crazy", and "The Woogie Boogie". The album itself presented a blend of serious and comical songs from Ray. Side One consisted of serious ballads and Side Two consisted of comical songs. "There's a Star Spangled Banner" tells the story of an American P.O.W in Beirut and his optimism that he'll one day be free thanks to his faith in America, the meaning of the Flag, and our Military. Ray re-recorded "There's a Star Spangled Banner" during the Gulf War. The re-recorded version, keeping the same musical arrangement and chorus, features an entirely different set of verses. In the re-recorded version Ray sings about the American flag itself and describes, in song, various historical battles that have taken place. This special re-recording can be found on the 1991 compilation album from Curb Records titled Greatest Hits.
Ray returned to the American military theme for 2004's "Thank You". As you can tell from the year of release this patriotic song came during the early years of Operation Iraqi Freedom which got underway in early 2003 and it lasted until December 2011. Tied into the quest to at long last free Iraq from the Saddam Hussein regime on the belief he had an enormous supply of chemical/biological weapons that he would use on his people was Hussein's overall support of Terrorism (especially terrorism aimed at U.S. interests). The countries that support terrorists, largely in the Middle East, obviously became the target in the American-led coalition...but in the earliest months/years the prime target happened to be a fanatic named Osama bin Laden. Ray Stevens, in fact, satirized bin Laden in a couple of novelty songs...the first being December 2001's "Osama Yo' Mama" (a Gold selling single) and the next being it's sequel, "Hello Mama". "Thank You", in the meantime, honors all branches of the American military. The music video is emotional as one could expect. The song became the title track of a CD that Ray issued in 2004. Ray co-wrote the song with a man named Larry McCoy.
The CD contains a song that Ray wrote called "Let's Roll". The title was inspired by Todd Beamer...a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001 after it had been hijacked by four terrorists. Beamer had been in a conversation on a phone located in the airplane...telling a customer service representative about the hijacking taking place and that he and some other passengers were planning to overtake the hijackers but things ended tragically instead. The last words from Beamer heard by the representative happened to include the "Let's Roll" command to some of his fellow passengers. You can purchase the song as an Mp3 on Amazon by clicking HERE. The song has appeared on 2004's Thank You, 2005's Box Set, and 2010's We The People.
Speaking of that 2010 CD...as I mentioned earlier in this blog entry political songs that promote a Pro-America message tend to be lumped in with patriotic songs. In the latter half of 2009 and into the next several years the music of Ray Stevens received a tremendous boost via YouTube. The on-line popularity of a certain music video, "We the People", sent hundreds of thousands of people onto Ray's official website and onto his YouTube channel. Through on-line sharing the music video soon eclipsed a million unique views in a month's time. This kind of viral video experience literally changed the direction of Ray's career overnight. He happened to be winding down and reducing his workload by 2008 and in the pages of his 2014 memoir admitted that he had contemplated retiring altogether from concerts and other personal appearances around the time he sold his Branson, Missouri theater to RFD-TV in 2006. By 2006 his CD releases had also gotten sporadic. During the span of January 2000 to December 2006 Ray Stevens released a grand total of 3 studio albums in that 6 year time frame: 2000's Ear Candy, 2002's Osama Yo' Mama, and 2004's Thank You. One could argue that the 2002 CD wasn't necessarily a traditional studio album because it consisted largely of recordings that had already been released on the 2000 CD. The 2002 CD contained 7 songs that had appeared on Ear Candy in addition to 2001's single release, "Osama Yo' Mama" and it's B-side, "United We Stand". The one song on the 2002 not previously released happened to be "Freudian Slip". To date the 2002 CD is the only place to find that song.
After Ray's video had reached over a million unique views in a month's time he began making appearances on numerous high profile television programs that aired on the Fox News Channel. In the song he name drops personalities such as Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glen Beck. "We The People" spoke out against Obama-Care (the nickname for the President's health care plan). To show you the power of high profile publicity Ray's website crashed after O'Reilly mentioned Ray's video and played a short snippet of it in a broadcast. Several days later Ray appeared on the program, via video hook-up, and thanked O'Reilly for causing the site to crash because it was a sign of instant heavy traffic in search of Ray's recording/video. The video has gotten more than 5 million unique views.
Highly topical it visually presented itself comically but took aim at Congress very seriously by warning them that if they pass Obama's health care plan then they'll be voted out come the next election cycle. The prophetic lyrics rang true...the 2010 election season seen the rise of the Tea Party movement (a faction of voters fed up with both political parties but sided mostly with the Conservative wing of the Republican party). This movement ultimately led to a dramatic resurgence of Republicans being voted into Congress that November as a direct result of Obama and the Democrat-led Congress shoving Obama-Care down people's throats and voting the bill into law in the middle of the night. The Republican party took over the House of Representatives and nearly took over the Senate. A lot of vulnerable Democrats ended up either losing or deciding to not run or retire rather than face defeat. From 2010 until early 2013 Ray racked up some impressive numbers on the YouTube site...a lot of his older music videos that had nothing to do with patriotism or politics were being discovered by this newer audience that found Ray Stevens as a result of the "We The People" music video and other videos that followed...namely the enormously successful "Come to the U.S.A." which deals with the problems of illegal immigration. To date that video's been seen by more than 9 million!
2011 saw the release of the Spirit of '76. The CD, as you can see in the collage, features a photo of Ray superimposed into a Spirit of '76 painting. The project was largely built around a couple of songs that had become successful music videos on YouTube prior to the CD's release. "God Save Arizona" spoke out against Obama and Eric Holder in their lack of support of Arizona during a highly contentious period of time involving an unusually high number of illegal immigrants crossing into the country from Mexico. Not only did Obama and the Holder justice department refuse to offer support to the state's Governor and various local police departments but ultimately the Holder justice department sued the State of Arizona for not "following Federal law and it's mandates" when it comes to illegal immigration. The sorry state of events inspired "God Save Arizona". A clever tie-in to the U.S.S. Arizona battle ship provides a neat lead-off. One of the songs that didn't become a music video but it nevertheless is a good patriotic song is "My Uncle Sam". It's track five on the CD. It's a song which begins literally about an uncle named Sam in which Ray describes as set in his ways and can often be misunderstood but it turns into a testimonial about how America has grown, evolved, and is still the greatest nation on Earth in spite of flaws that pop up every so often.
Another popular music video, "Obama Budget Plan", hit big during the bitter battle between Obama and his opponents in the House of Representatives and the Senate over the ever increasing budget and federal deficit. The video has gotten more than 4 million views. The Spirit of '76 CD features 11 songs and of those recordings 5 are YouTube music video smash hits: "Obama Budget Plan", "Mr. President - Mr. President", "God Save Arizona", "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", and "Grandpa Voted Democrat". Song four is about airport security and the T.S.A. and song five is about voter fraud (it became a video right around the November 2012 election cycle).
Just recently Ray performed the National Anthem at the CMA Music Fest. I posted a video of his performance a couple of blogs ago but here's a LINK to the clip. The musical arrangement with the keyboard being the lead instrument is based on the recording he did for the 2010 We The People CD.
It's been a rather lengthy blog entry today but I wanted to try and touch base on nearly all of the major recordings from Ray Stevens that have a patriotic and political overtone. I think I succeeded but later today I'll more or less remember something that slipped my mind and I'll have to edit it into the text at a later date.
Did anyone catch Ray Stevens on the Grand Ole Opry this past week, either in person or over the radio? He made a guest appearance during the final half hour portion back on Wednesday (June 29th) and sang several songs...he sang "Misty", "Safe at Home", and "The Streak". I listened to it on the radio as I made my way to my workplace.
He posted a video clip of his appearance and it's on his Facebook page. It isn't on YouTube. You can see the appearance by clicking HERE. Make sure you click the X next to the image of the speaker. For some reason the clip automatically starts playing in mute. You'll have to click the X to open up the speaker in order to hear the audio. I say that because there's going to be some people out there that click the video and wonder why they can't hear anything and then assume something's wrong with the upload.
This is just me but I prefer the YouTube style of embedded video clips that don't automatically start playing once they came into screen view. I prefer a person having to click the play arrow before a video begins to play but on Facebook, for some reason, if it isn't a video embed from YouTube then the video starts to automatically play when it comes in view...but on to the main theme of this blog entry...
Throughout the career of Ray Stevens he's recorded or performed several patriotic songs. If you're any kind of serious fan of Ray Stevens then you'll know that a majority of those America/patriotic songs have come within the last 6 years but if you take a glance at some of his albums over the decades you'll find some patriotic stand-alone songs hidden away on LP's. Can you guess what may have been Ray's first ever patriotic song? I'm sure he's recorded or wrote several that weren't released and so I'm only referring to songs that have been commercially released either on albums or as singles and in recent years, on-line video.
Independence Day, or the 4th of July, is largely a time of America celebration and of cook-outs and fireworks. Patriotic, pro-America songs are almost universally accepted as appropriate songs for July 4th. Although Ray has not recorded a song, to my knowledge, dealing in the actual events that led up to Independence Day (July 4, 1776) the fact remains that any song celebrating America's values and ideals or songs about the American flag are sort of lumped into the category of Independence Day songs even if they're not, technically, about the Revolutionary War.
During his involvement/association with Andy Williams (primarily 1969-1971) Ray performed several songs about America on Andy's television series and on the 1970 summer program that Ray hosted for Andy. Although the songs Ray performed were not necessarily dripping in pro-America fervor they were largely middle of the road and filled with the 'everyday person' point of view on the issues of the day (namely the Vietnam War) and they largely side-stepped the contempt and cynicism of the typical protest song of the era. The big song from Ray during this point in time dealing with the issues facing America is "America, Communicate with Me". It's such a great song...excellent recording...a lot of production went into it and it's a great middle of the road message decrying extreme points of view from both political parties and how the concept of one party trying to one-up the other is more or less going to be the nation's undoing.
A performance by Ray Stevens from his 1970 summer program...he's singing "Save the Country" and is joined by some of his cast-members (namely Mama Cass and Lulu) and then, solo, he sings "America, Communicate with Me"...
The next major recording that Ray did involving America and it's politics and policies came at the end of the 1980s in a stirring performance called "There's a Star Spangled Banner". This is another one of those hidden away songs because the 1989 album it appeared on, Beside Myself, is largely remembered by Ray Stevens fans for the comical songs "I Saw Elvis in a U.F.O.", "I Used to Be Crazy", and "The Woogie Boogie". The album itself presented a blend of serious and comical songs from Ray. Side One consisted of serious ballads and Side Two consisted of comical songs. "There's a Star Spangled Banner" tells the story of an American P.O.W in Beirut and his optimism that he'll one day be free thanks to his faith in America, the meaning of the Flag, and our Military. Ray re-recorded "There's a Star Spangled Banner" during the Gulf War. The re-recorded version, keeping the same musical arrangement and chorus, features an entirely different set of verses. In the re-recorded version Ray sings about the American flag itself and describes, in song, various historical battles that have taken place. This special re-recording can be found on the 1991 compilation album from Curb Records titled Greatest Hits.
The CD contains a song that Ray wrote called "Let's Roll". The title was inspired by Todd Beamer...a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001 after it had been hijacked by four terrorists. Beamer had been in a conversation on a phone located in the airplane...telling a customer service representative about the hijacking taking place and that he and some other passengers were planning to overtake the hijackers but things ended tragically instead. The last words from Beamer heard by the representative happened to include the "Let's Roll" command to some of his fellow passengers. You can purchase the song as an Mp3 on Amazon by clicking HERE. The song has appeared on 2004's Thank You, 2005's Box Set, and 2010's We The People.
Speaking of that 2010 CD...as I mentioned earlier in this blog entry political songs that promote a Pro-America message tend to be lumped in with patriotic songs. In the latter half of 2009 and into the next several years the music of Ray Stevens received a tremendous boost via YouTube. The on-line popularity of a certain music video, "We the People", sent hundreds of thousands of people onto Ray's official website and onto his YouTube channel. Through on-line sharing the music video soon eclipsed a million unique views in a month's time. This kind of viral video experience literally changed the direction of Ray's career overnight. He happened to be winding down and reducing his workload by 2008 and in the pages of his 2014 memoir admitted that he had contemplated retiring altogether from concerts and other personal appearances around the time he sold his Branson, Missouri theater to RFD-TV in 2006. By 2006 his CD releases had also gotten sporadic. During the span of January 2000 to December 2006 Ray Stevens released a grand total of 3 studio albums in that 6 year time frame: 2000's Ear Candy, 2002's Osama Yo' Mama, and 2004's Thank You. One could argue that the 2002 CD wasn't necessarily a traditional studio album because it consisted largely of recordings that had already been released on the 2000 CD. The 2002 CD contained 7 songs that had appeared on Ear Candy in addition to 2001's single release, "Osama Yo' Mama" and it's B-side, "United We Stand". The one song on the 2002 not previously released happened to be "Freudian Slip". To date the 2002 CD is the only place to find that song.
After Ray's video had reached over a million unique views in a month's time he began making appearances on numerous high profile television programs that aired on the Fox News Channel. In the song he name drops personalities such as Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glen Beck. "We The People" spoke out against Obama-Care (the nickname for the President's health care plan). To show you the power of high profile publicity Ray's website crashed after O'Reilly mentioned Ray's video and played a short snippet of it in a broadcast. Several days later Ray appeared on the program, via video hook-up, and thanked O'Reilly for causing the site to crash because it was a sign of instant heavy traffic in search of Ray's recording/video. The video has gotten more than 5 million unique views.
Highly topical it visually presented itself comically but took aim at Congress very seriously by warning them that if they pass Obama's health care plan then they'll be voted out come the next election cycle. The prophetic lyrics rang true...the 2010 election season seen the rise of the Tea Party movement (a faction of voters fed up with both political parties but sided mostly with the Conservative wing of the Republican party). This movement ultimately led to a dramatic resurgence of Republicans being voted into Congress that November as a direct result of Obama and the Democrat-led Congress shoving Obama-Care down people's throats and voting the bill into law in the middle of the night. The Republican party took over the House of Representatives and nearly took over the Senate. A lot of vulnerable Democrats ended up either losing or deciding to not run or retire rather than face defeat. From 2010 until early 2013 Ray racked up some impressive numbers on the YouTube site...a lot of his older music videos that had nothing to do with patriotism or politics were being discovered by this newer audience that found Ray Stevens as a result of the "We The People" music video and other videos that followed...namely the enormously successful "Come to the U.S.A." which deals with the problems of illegal immigration. To date that video's been seen by more than 9 million!
2011 saw the release of the Spirit of '76. The CD, as you can see in the collage, features a photo of Ray superimposed into a Spirit of '76 painting. The project was largely built around a couple of songs that had become successful music videos on YouTube prior to the CD's release. "God Save Arizona" spoke out against Obama and Eric Holder in their lack of support of Arizona during a highly contentious period of time involving an unusually high number of illegal immigrants crossing into the country from Mexico. Not only did Obama and the Holder justice department refuse to offer support to the state's Governor and various local police departments but ultimately the Holder justice department sued the State of Arizona for not "following Federal law and it's mandates" when it comes to illegal immigration. The sorry state of events inspired "God Save Arizona". A clever tie-in to the U.S.S. Arizona battle ship provides a neat lead-off. One of the songs that didn't become a music video but it nevertheless is a good patriotic song is "My Uncle Sam". It's track five on the CD. It's a song which begins literally about an uncle named Sam in which Ray describes as set in his ways and can often be misunderstood but it turns into a testimonial about how America has grown, evolved, and is still the greatest nation on Earth in spite of flaws that pop up every so often.
Another popular music video, "Obama Budget Plan", hit big during the bitter battle between Obama and his opponents in the House of Representatives and the Senate over the ever increasing budget and federal deficit. The video has gotten more than 4 million views. The Spirit of '76 CD features 11 songs and of those recordings 5 are YouTube music video smash hits: "Obama Budget Plan", "Mr. President - Mr. President", "God Save Arizona", "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", and "Grandpa Voted Democrat". Song four is about airport security and the T.S.A. and song five is about voter fraud (it became a video right around the November 2012 election cycle).
Just recently Ray performed the National Anthem at the CMA Music Fest. I posted a video of his performance a couple of blogs ago but here's a LINK to the clip. The musical arrangement with the keyboard being the lead instrument is based on the recording he did for the 2010 We The People CD.
It's been a rather lengthy blog entry today but I wanted to try and touch base on nearly all of the major recordings from Ray Stevens that have a patriotic and political overtone. I think I succeeded but later today I'll more or less remember something that slipped my mind and I'll have to edit it into the text at a later date.
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| Have a Safe Fourth of July!!! |
July 4, 2015
Ray Stevens and the Spirit of '76, Part 11...
Happy 4th of July to all the fans of Ray Stevens! In April of 2011 a CD from Ray Stevens emerged and it immediately became a fan favorite. Spirit of '76 contains 11 recordings from Ray Stevens and each of them feature a topical and or political slant...some songs feature both. In the earliest years of the Obama Administration and the Tea Party movement it shouldn't be overlooked that our Ray Stevens happened to be one of the most vocal amongst the music acts. Criticizing the Obama Administration and embracing the ideals of the smaller Government Tea Party advocates had an impact in the 2010 midterm election cycle.
Combining topical humor, political commentary, and patriotism became the foundation for Spirit of '76. The project featured 5 songs that became music video hits on YouTube/social media...as such this could be interpreted as one of Ray's biggest successes if you factor in the amount of video popularity associated with the songs.
I purchased Spirit of '76 as an Mp3 in April of 2011. It remained an exclusive Mp3 release until the fall of 2011...it emerged in CD format at that point in time and so I purchased the CD counterpart, too. At the time of the CD's release only a couple of songs had become video hits and then throughout the rest of the year the remaining video releases soon emerged. If one happens to examine this era of Ray's career, in hindsight, it all appears perfectly timed but yet for those like myself we know that from day to day, week to week, month to month it was pretty much a roller coaster ride for as soon as you'd reach the height of a music video's initial popularity, it would reach a valley, and then when you're least expecting it the video would soar into popularity once again. Given the unpredictable nature of topicality a music video featuring political commentary/humor and those that center on topical events are largely at the mercy of the collective news cycle. If Obama and one of his machinations seems to be dominating the news cycle then more than likely a video by Ray about Obama gets a boost in unique views. The topic of the environment/Green Energy comes and goes...and on this CD there's "Cap'n Trade the Pirate"...a song mixing pirate lore and Green Energy that should have been made into a music video but it wasn't.
The very first release from this CD turned out to be the third track, "God Save Arizona", on August 4, 2010! That particular song in music video form emerged in the fall of 2010 during the peak of the controversies surrounding illegal immigration and the State's court battles with the Federal Government. Issued as a music video exclusive it struck the same kind of chord that a previous video about illegal immigration from Ray Stevens did. At the time of the release of "God Save Arizona" there was no talk of it being part of any upcoming CD. So, then, once Spirit of '76 became available fans noticed that "God Save Arizona" appeared as track 3 and so it retro-actively became the CD's first video release. This ballad has gotten 1,053,472 unique views. For those that may not be aware, this video created controversy during it's first day of release and was taken off-line after it had obtained nearly 100,000 discoveries. The issue surrounding the video apparently resolved itself because not long afterward the video re-emerged but the previous views had been erased and so it's rather appropriate if you want to add at least a hundred thousand to the current tally.
The CD's opening track, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", became a video in the early part of 2011 and ironically it, at the time, was being promoted as the first release from Spirit of '76. This amusing song/video has to do with the TSA at the airport and the body scans. The video hit in February 2011 and to date it's gotten a little more than half a million unique views at 555,404.
As mentioned previously the music videos are like roller coasters and those numbers for the video didn't come all at once. The video seen it's release a little less than 2 months before the Spirit of '76 became available.
The biggest successes from the CD centered around Obama. Several weeks after the Mp3 of Spirit of '76 became available "Obama Budget Plan" became his next video release on April 25th. The video, as one can guess from the song's title, is about the Federal budget (or lack thereof). The song comically tells the story of a man that comes up with an idea to print money from his basement. He figures if it's perfectly fine for the Government to print money and rack up trillions of dollars in debt then it shouldn't be illegal or unethical for the tax payer to get in on the money printing business. Currently sitting at 3,869,283 unique views it's the biggest hit from the CD.
The second biggest video hit from Spirit of '76 comes in the form of "Mr. President - Mr. President", a video that seen it's social media debut on September 27, 2011. In this video Ray portrays a fictional reporter stationed at the White House "asking" Obama a series of questions. The visual hook is that a video snippet of Obama appears at a podium as if Ray's really asking him questions. The song highlights the reputation Obama has of mixed up priorities. To date that particular video has gotten 1,632,890 unique views.
The fifth release from the CD came along more than a year later on November 3, 2012. "Grandpa Voted Democrat" was certainly a surprise release. It's not a surprise that it eventually became a music video but considering that more than a year had passed from the release of the previous video from the CD it wouldn't have been out of the ordinary to assume 2011's "Mr President - Mr. President" to be the CD's final video single...yet Ray emerged just prior to Election Day 2012 with the voter fraud satire "Grandpa Voted Democrat" and to date it's gotten 637,364 unique views. It's the fifth and final release from Spirit of '76 and you can purchase your copy HERE if you want to add it to your Ray Stevens collection.
Combining topical humor, political commentary, and patriotism became the foundation for Spirit of '76. The project featured 5 songs that became music video hits on YouTube/social media...as such this could be interpreted as one of Ray's biggest successes if you factor in the amount of video popularity associated with the songs.
The CD's opening track, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", became a video in the early part of 2011 and ironically it, at the time, was being promoted as the first release from Spirit of '76. This amusing song/video has to do with the TSA at the airport and the body scans. The video hit in February 2011 and to date it's gotten a little more than half a million unique views at 555,404.
As mentioned previously the music videos are like roller coasters and those numbers for the video didn't come all at once. The video seen it's release a little less than 2 months before the Spirit of '76 became available.
The biggest successes from the CD centered around Obama. Several weeks after the Mp3 of Spirit of '76 became available "Obama Budget Plan" became his next video release on April 25th. The video, as one can guess from the song's title, is about the Federal budget (or lack thereof). The song comically tells the story of a man that comes up with an idea to print money from his basement. He figures if it's perfectly fine for the Government to print money and rack up trillions of dollars in debt then it shouldn't be illegal or unethical for the tax payer to get in on the money printing business. Currently sitting at 3,869,283 unique views it's the biggest hit from the CD.
The second biggest video hit from Spirit of '76 comes in the form of "Mr. President - Mr. President", a video that seen it's social media debut on September 27, 2011. In this video Ray portrays a fictional reporter stationed at the White House "asking" Obama a series of questions. The visual hook is that a video snippet of Obama appears at a podium as if Ray's really asking him questions. The song highlights the reputation Obama has of mixed up priorities. To date that particular video has gotten 1,632,890 unique views.
The fifth release from the CD came along more than a year later on November 3, 2012. "Grandpa Voted Democrat" was certainly a surprise release. It's not a surprise that it eventually became a music video but considering that more than a year had passed from the release of the previous video from the CD it wouldn't have been out of the ordinary to assume 2011's "Mr President - Mr. President" to be the CD's final video single...yet Ray emerged just prior to Election Day 2012 with the voter fraud satire "Grandpa Voted Democrat" and to date it's gotten 637,364 unique views. It's the fifth and final release from Spirit of '76 and you can purchase your copy HERE if you want to add it to your Ray Stevens collection.
December 11, 2012
Ray Stevens: Golden LP Series, Part 40...
The 40th studio album from Ray Stevens arrived in 2011 and like several of his recent CD's it had two separate release times. The first release was in April 2011 as an exclusive offer at his web-store while the national release didn't happen until August 2011. This is why you'll come across bloggers writing of this CD in the spring of 2011 and other on-line sites commenting on the CD in the fall of 2011 and in either case the writers refer to it as a 'just released' CD and technically it's an accurate statement.
The title of the project, Spirit of '76, features a CD cover photo showing Ray's face super-imposed on a previously illustrated body from the famed painting of the same name. The project contains 11 songs and the first two single/video releases occurred months before the CD's actual release. The first single release came about in August 2010 titled "God Save Arizona". It was made into a music video as well. This was a departure from his recent video releases whereas this one features an all-serious approach vocally and visually. The song criticized the illegal immigration problem but it went even farther than that and criticized the Federal Government, too, specifically the Attorney General, for the passive and weak policies centering around the problem. The video's gotten more than 900,000 on-line views since it's release.
When the TSA was making national headlines in the latter part of 2010 and into early 2011 due to their aggressive and invasive security methods at airports all across the country Ray emerged with "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" in February 2011. In the song Ray sings about the goings-on at an airport where he and his fictional wife are groped and patted down by an employee of the TSA. In a comical twist, the wife can't get enough of the body screenings and pat downs. The topic was based on a heated issue that was one of the most talked about for a period of several months and the music video seemed to mirror the national shelf life of the topic as well as it's been in the mid 300,000 view total range for nearly a year. Then again the follow-up music video, released in April 2011, returned Ray to the arena of hard hitting politics and this could have played a factor in why the TSA video was ultimately overshadowed.
When the Spirit of '76 became available at Ray's web-store in April, a few weeks later a new music video emerged in the form of the "Obama Budget Plan". This song utilized some of the same melodies heard in the previous TSA recording and it told the further story of Ray, his fictional wife, and now a fictional son was brought into the picture. In the song Ray tells the story of emulating the massive printing of money in Washington, D.C. by operating his very own printing machine in his basement. The song points out all of the practices and policies currently in place under the umbrella of the Federal Government and how private citizens do not have the luxury of printing their money and having spending sprees like they do in Washington, D.C.
By video's end we see a sight gag where a newspaper headline shows that Ray and his family have been arrested for emulating the practices of the Federal Government...and yet lawmakers continue to go about their merry way authorizing and setting forth spending sprees in their own interests rather than in the interest of the nation as a whole. The budget heavy lyrics and catchphrases associated with the debt and deficit played a role in the video catching on with a debt/deficit weary public. A tie-in appearance on several programs on the Fox Business Network aided in the publicity of the video. As of now the video's gotten 1.9 million on-line views. The actual tally at last look is 1,998,556 total unique views and so it's close to 2,000,000 unique views at the moment. There has not been a budget passed in Congress during the entire first four years of the Obama Administration and who's to say that there's going to be one in the second four years?
In September 2011 Ray issued the "Mr. President - Mr. President" music video. Ray had previewed this song at a C-PAC event in February 2011 a few months before Spirit of '76 was released. I couldn't wait to get a copy of the song and when the Spirit of '76 became available in April I purchased it right away in it's Mp3 form since at the time the Mp3 was the only available format for purchase. I don't own the physical CD which is why you don't see a picture of me showing it off.
Anyway, "Mr. President - Mr. President" asks a series of questions of the President and we get fictionalized responses from Ray based upon how the President should answer but in reality never will. The video uses pics of Obama as well as a live action eye blinking Obama lifted from, I assume, one of the very few press conferences he's given. Ray incorporates some scat-singing in the middle of the song and at the end while the music video at various times uses camera tricks to show three separate images of Ray side by side. Ray is dressed up as the traditional news reporter with the suit and tie, fedora hat, and handy with the pen and paper. Total on-line views as of now sit at 810,752.
In part 39 of this series I commented that Ray went back and forth between his 2010 and 2011 projects for a few months. This scenario was first played out in late July of 2012 when a song from 2010's We the People became a new music video, "Obama Nation". In this song Ray explains the far left-of-center progressive direction that the President wants to take the country in with the aid of an unsuspecting and largely uninformed general public. The song's title is obviously based on the word, 'abomination', but a clever pun in the title of "Obama Nation" seems so natural. Total on-line views for the video as of now sit at 747,530.
The follow-up music video, this time from Spirit of '76, titled "Grandpa Voted Democrat", hit a day before the 2012 election this past November. The video, in hindsight, should have been issued a couple weeks earlier as a build-up to Election Day with this reminder of voter fraud but instead it became available on Election Eve 2012, November 3rd. The video has managed to obtain 163,763 unique views during it's first month of on-line availability but I don't look for this video to create a lot of media hype or any major increase in views until the next election cycle rolls around unless there's some kind of voter fraud story that breaks nationally.
Observant readers might be wondering why there was a nearly year long gap between music video releases by Ray Stevens during the latter half of 2011 into the late summer of 2012. "Mr. President - Mr. President" had been released as a music video in September 2011 but it didn't receive a follow-up until July 2012 with the release of "Obama Nation". You may be asking yourselves: what in the world was going on in the career of Ray Stevens from late 2011 through the first half of 2012? Well, in late 2011, Ray was in the final stages of an upcoming project that he had been working on since around 2009. The massive popularity of his political music videos from December 2009 onward had pretty much took priority with studio albums 39 and 40 devoted to political and social commentary songs but he remained working on this soon to be released project nevertheless. Finally, after a couple of years of brief mentions of the project in several interviews, this long-awaited project saw it's release in February 2012...and it was well worth the wait...an incredible project Ray referred to as a labor of love. Details will be forthcoming in my final installment of the Golden LP Series!
The title of the project, Spirit of '76, features a CD cover photo showing Ray's face super-imposed on a previously illustrated body from the famed painting of the same name. The project contains 11 songs and the first two single/video releases occurred months before the CD's actual release. The first single release came about in August 2010 titled "God Save Arizona". It was made into a music video as well. This was a departure from his recent video releases whereas this one features an all-serious approach vocally and visually. The song criticized the illegal immigration problem but it went even farther than that and criticized the Federal Government, too, specifically the Attorney General, for the passive and weak policies centering around the problem. The video's gotten more than 900,000 on-line views since it's release.
When the TSA was making national headlines in the latter part of 2010 and into early 2011 due to their aggressive and invasive security methods at airports all across the country Ray emerged with "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" in February 2011. In the song Ray sings about the goings-on at an airport where he and his fictional wife are groped and patted down by an employee of the TSA. In a comical twist, the wife can't get enough of the body screenings and pat downs. The topic was based on a heated issue that was one of the most talked about for a period of several months and the music video seemed to mirror the national shelf life of the topic as well as it's been in the mid 300,000 view total range for nearly a year. Then again the follow-up music video, released in April 2011, returned Ray to the arena of hard hitting politics and this could have played a factor in why the TSA video was ultimately overshadowed.
When the Spirit of '76 became available at Ray's web-store in April, a few weeks later a new music video emerged in the form of the "Obama Budget Plan". This song utilized some of the same melodies heard in the previous TSA recording and it told the further story of Ray, his fictional wife, and now a fictional son was brought into the picture. In the song Ray tells the story of emulating the massive printing of money in Washington, D.C. by operating his very own printing machine in his basement. The song points out all of the practices and policies currently in place under the umbrella of the Federal Government and how private citizens do not have the luxury of printing their money and having spending sprees like they do in Washington, D.C.
By video's end we see a sight gag where a newspaper headline shows that Ray and his family have been arrested for emulating the practices of the Federal Government...and yet lawmakers continue to go about their merry way authorizing and setting forth spending sprees in their own interests rather than in the interest of the nation as a whole. The budget heavy lyrics and catchphrases associated with the debt and deficit played a role in the video catching on with a debt/deficit weary public. A tie-in appearance on several programs on the Fox Business Network aided in the publicity of the video. As of now the video's gotten 1.9 million on-line views. The actual tally at last look is 1,998,556 total unique views and so it's close to 2,000,000 unique views at the moment. There has not been a budget passed in Congress during the entire first four years of the Obama Administration and who's to say that there's going to be one in the second four years?
In September 2011 Ray issued the "Mr. President - Mr. President" music video. Ray had previewed this song at a C-PAC event in February 2011 a few months before Spirit of '76 was released. I couldn't wait to get a copy of the song and when the Spirit of '76 became available in April I purchased it right away in it's Mp3 form since at the time the Mp3 was the only available format for purchase. I don't own the physical CD which is why you don't see a picture of me showing it off.
Anyway, "Mr. President - Mr. President" asks a series of questions of the President and we get fictionalized responses from Ray based upon how the President should answer but in reality never will. The video uses pics of Obama as well as a live action eye blinking Obama lifted from, I assume, one of the very few press conferences he's given. Ray incorporates some scat-singing in the middle of the song and at the end while the music video at various times uses camera tricks to show three separate images of Ray side by side. Ray is dressed up as the traditional news reporter with the suit and tie, fedora hat, and handy with the pen and paper. Total on-line views as of now sit at 810,752.
In part 39 of this series I commented that Ray went back and forth between his 2010 and 2011 projects for a few months. This scenario was first played out in late July of 2012 when a song from 2010's We the People became a new music video, "Obama Nation". In this song Ray explains the far left-of-center progressive direction that the President wants to take the country in with the aid of an unsuspecting and largely uninformed general public. The song's title is obviously based on the word, 'abomination', but a clever pun in the title of "Obama Nation" seems so natural. Total on-line views for the video as of now sit at 747,530.
The follow-up music video, this time from Spirit of '76, titled "Grandpa Voted Democrat", hit a day before the 2012 election this past November. The video, in hindsight, should have been issued a couple weeks earlier as a build-up to Election Day with this reminder of voter fraud but instead it became available on Election Eve 2012, November 3rd. The video has managed to obtain 163,763 unique views during it's first month of on-line availability but I don't look for this video to create a lot of media hype or any major increase in views until the next election cycle rolls around unless there's some kind of voter fraud story that breaks nationally.
Observant readers might be wondering why there was a nearly year long gap between music video releases by Ray Stevens during the latter half of 2011 into the late summer of 2012. "Mr. President - Mr. President" had been released as a music video in September 2011 but it didn't receive a follow-up until July 2012 with the release of "Obama Nation". You may be asking yourselves: what in the world was going on in the career of Ray Stevens from late 2011 through the first half of 2012? Well, in late 2011, Ray was in the final stages of an upcoming project that he had been working on since around 2009. The massive popularity of his political music videos from December 2009 onward had pretty much took priority with studio albums 39 and 40 devoted to political and social commentary songs but he remained working on this soon to be released project nevertheless. Finally, after a couple of years of brief mentions of the project in several interviews, this long-awaited project saw it's release in February 2012...and it was well worth the wait...an incredible project Ray referred to as a labor of love. Details will be forthcoming in my final installment of the Golden LP Series!
November 5, 2012
Ray Stevens and the politics of Humor...
I was debating whether or not to call this blog entry Ray Stevens and the politics of Humor or Ray Stevens and the humor of Politics. I decided to go with the former rather than the latter because I don't particularly find politics to be funny...but there are many ways to find humor within politics and that's what Ray's been doing the last three years. It all started in late November 2009 with the release of "We The People", a song that criticized the ObamaCare bill which hadn't been signed into law at that point. A music video emerged soon after in December 2009 on You Tube...and from that point forward Ray's mostly been issuing politically oriented music and videos. A 2010 CD/Mp3 release, We The People, arrived in the summer of 2010. Several music videos were put together from songs on the 2010 project...a project that features 22 songs.
Earlier this year Ray issued a book titled Let's Get Political which features political essays written by both Ray and his songwriter/business associate, Buddy Kalb. The book also contains the lyrics to all the songs on both his 2010 and 2011 projects. Unfortunately the book was never publicized too heavily and is mostly known to those who either visit this blog on a frequent basis or visit Ray's web-store and are familiar with their items. It isn't a book in the traditional sense where there's hundreds or thousands of pages and a million chapters...it's much like a standard 75-80 page paperback book one might pick up and read in one sitting in the waiting room at a hospital or in the lobby of an airport. The book's pages aren't numbered, though. His latest release, "Grandpa Voted Democrat", tells the story of how collecting the names of people no longer living were being used in numerous voter fraud scandals. If one looks at the song's title you'd think it would be a song about how a grandfather's staunch political views but when you hear the song you'll learn about this bizarre chain of events that saw a grandfather "vote" Democrat.
The Grandpa Voted Democrat Mp3 is available at Ray's web-store for 99 cents. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, the song comes from Spirit of '76 and it, too, can also be purchased in Mp3 format for those who don't want to have a CD copy. The songs from the 2011 CD that hadn't been made into music videos are: "Mi Casa Su Casa", "Cap'n Trade the Pirate", "News Machine", "November Storm", and "New Normal". The CD has 11 songs and so, of course, that means 6 of the 11 have been released on-line as music videos: "God Save Arizona", "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", "Obama Budget Plan", "Mr. President - Mr. President", "Obama Nation", and the just released "Grandpa Voted Democrat".
The Grandpa Voted Democrat Mp3 is available at Ray's web-store for 99 cents. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, the song comes from Spirit of '76 and it, too, can also be purchased in Mp3 format for those who don't want to have a CD copy. The songs from the 2011 CD that hadn't been made into music videos are: "Mi Casa Su Casa", "Cap'n Trade the Pirate", "News Machine", "November Storm", and "New Normal". The CD has 11 songs and so, of course, that means 6 of the 11 have been released on-line as music videos: "God Save Arizona", "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", "Obama Budget Plan", "Mr. President - Mr. President", "Obama Nation", and the just released "Grandpa Voted Democrat".
Ray Stevens addresses Voter Fraud...
Hello all the Ray Stevens fans...it's a very, very early Monday morning...one day before the big election of 2012. Now, of course, since all of us know that Ray's contemporary music has a political overtone and he has a brand new music video available as well, my blog entries will be decidedly political, too, leading up to the election tomorrow. After the election comes and goes I'll resume the Golden LP Series of blog entries I've been working on and pick up where I left off...but for now I've embedded "Grandpa Voted Democrat" once again...
The music video's obtained more than 45,000 views in less than 2 days time. The total so far is 45,856 views. For those familiar with You Tube you'll recall that the site was experiencing technical issues the very day that Ray's new music video was uploaded. It was described by some as an upload server issue of some sort. This no doubt effected the availability of many newly uploaded videos on Saturday and it also effected the unique views of videos, too, as the site was basically running slow (if connecting at all). When you do a video search at You Tube for Ray Stevens + Grandpa Voted Democrat the results page will show up and you'll see the most up to date unique view count for Ray's video. However, as of now, when you click the video and the video's page opens up, because You Tube was having server issues for so many hours on Saturday and into early Sunday morning, the view totals for this particular video were affected dramatically.
On the video's You Tube page it shows it has 17,496 views but yet when you do a site search for the video it shows the video has 45,856 views. That has me believing that more than 26,000 views had been obtained during You Tube's technical problems on Saturday but those numbers haven't been applied to the totals on the video's main page. It's the only way to explain such a dramatic discrepancy in the numbers. Since this kind of thing had never happened before with any of Ray's other music videos I wonder how long it'll be before the total number of views on the video's main page are brought up to date.
The music video's obtained more than 45,000 views in less than 2 days time. The total so far is 45,856 views. For those familiar with You Tube you'll recall that the site was experiencing technical issues the very day that Ray's new music video was uploaded. It was described by some as an upload server issue of some sort. This no doubt effected the availability of many newly uploaded videos on Saturday and it also effected the unique views of videos, too, as the site was basically running slow (if connecting at all). When you do a video search at You Tube for Ray Stevens + Grandpa Voted Democrat the results page will show up and you'll see the most up to date unique view count for Ray's video. However, as of now, when you click the video and the video's page opens up, because You Tube was having server issues for so many hours on Saturday and into early Sunday morning, the view totals for this particular video were affected dramatically.
On the video's You Tube page it shows it has 17,496 views but yet when you do a site search for the video it shows the video has 45,856 views. That has me believing that more than 26,000 views had been obtained during You Tube's technical problems on Saturday but those numbers haven't been applied to the totals on the video's main page. It's the only way to explain such a dramatic discrepancy in the numbers. Since this kind of thing had never happened before with any of Ray's other music videos I wonder how long it'll be before the total number of views on the video's main page are brought up to date.
November 3, 2012
Ray Stevens: Grandpa Voted Democrat...
Good Saturday evening Ray Stevens fans! As I was putting together the previous blog entry about his 1980 comedy album, Ray released a brand new music video on You Tube. The video's been available for a little more than an hour...released on a Saturday evening no less...but it's gotten more than 300 unique views in it's short time on the internet and I'm sure it'll garner thousands upon thousands of views in the hours and days leading up to Election Day 2012 this Tuesday. The brand new video, "Grandpa Voted Democrat", is embedded below. The song comes from Ray's Spirit of '76 CD. Spread the video around as you would his other music video releases. The message in the video revisits a voter fraud scandal where names of deceased people were credited as legitimate voters in an effort to falsify an election result.
Ray opens the video speaking directly to the viewer about the importance of voting. There have been rumblings here and there that Obama supporters are possibly going to use a voter fraud accusation or other similar tactics and make it appear that voters were "disenfranchised" in some way, a word that's grossly over-used by Democrat operatives to cast suspicion on any election whose results are not to their liking.
Ray opens the video speaking directly to the viewer about the importance of voting. There have been rumblings here and there that Obama supporters are possibly going to use a voter fraud accusation or other similar tactics and make it appear that voters were "disenfranchised" in some way, a word that's grossly over-used by Democrat operatives to cast suspicion on any election whose results are not to their liking.
September 28, 2012
Ray Stevens: Obama Nation, Part 19...
"Obama Nation" by Ray Stevens has increased by a total of 15,770 on-line views to bring it's total number of views to 623,409. The video, of course, is available on You Tube along with several other Ray Stevens music videos. The song, as I've mentioned before, comes from his We The People release. That particular CD, as well as Spirit of '76, both found Here, are a must-have for those who identify themselves as members of the Tea Party and those with conservative points of view. The link takes you to the store at Ray's web-site where both CD's, a flag lapel, and his Let's Get Political essay/opinion book are being sold together. The book and flag lapel come free and so you're actually only paying for the two CD's in that order. We The People contains 22 songs on one CD and 4 music videos on a bonus DVD. Spirit of '76 is a more conventional CD release with 11 songs. The book features the lyrics of all 33 songs on both releases as well as essay and commentary from Ray Stevens and his songwriter friend, Buddy Kalb.
It seems as if the current trend from the mainstream media is to play sour grapes when it comes to the Romney campaign...more so than in times past. A local radio personality gave an observation that I found to be 100% accurate when he stated that the mainstream media is hoping that the Romney-Ryan supporters will become discouraged from voting based upon first-glance "negative" polling numbers that the media is all too eager to highlight, emphasize, and promote. By my using the phrase first-glance, of course, it means that some people look only at the numbers and do not research and find out how the numbers were generated or who was polled and at what time of the day or which demographic was targeted for replies, etc. etc.
There is early voting going on in several states and it's the perfect opportunity for the Obama supporters in the mainstream media to create a cloud of discouragement for those who support Romney. I assume, as the radio personality said, the Obama backers hope to discourage the Romney supporters from voting early.
It's one of the oldest political tricks in the book and, in general, it works like this: create insecurity and discouragement in the opposition's voting base and attempt to plant the idea in their heads that there's no reason to show up to vote since their candidate "doesn't have a chance at winning".
Admittedly there may be some people who fall for this tactic and it's a shame if they do.
If voters stick to the facts and base Obama's time in the White House on their final decision this coming Election Day then he doesn't have a chance of re-election. You can't sweep away or hide reality...as much as Obama wants to...and as much as his supporters gallantly strive to keep the facts hidden under the surface.
This election, as it's been said by many others, mirrors the 1980 election campaigns between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan where Reagan was constantly losing in the polls and being painted as a long shot at becoming President by the mainstream media. It wasn't until the head-to-head debates that Reagan was able to strip away all the negatives heaped upon him by his opponents and those in the media. Once the people saw the contrast between Carter and Reagan it was obvious that Carter's policies and visions were Utopian based and not rooted in reality.
In my opinion, based on factual rather than revisionist history, Carter won the 1976 election because of the public sentiment about Watergate and you had the current President, Gerald Ford, voted out because of the scandal's impact on practically anybody associated with Nixon regardless whether the associates were directly involved or had any knowledge of the happenings. The Democrats also had what they may have considered an ace in the hole due to Ford's not having been "elected by the people" to either the Vice-Presidency or the Presidency. He was and still remains the only person to hold those positions without having been voted in by a national election. He was appointed Vice-President when Spiro Agnew resigned from office and then Ford became President when Richard Nixon resigned. Once Ford pardoned Nixon for any alleged crimes or other wrong doing, it pretty much doomed his Presidential election chances in 1976. History books often cite that the most positive thing that happened during Ford's presidency (1974-1976) was America's Bicentennial celebrations during the mid '70s leading up to July 4, 1976. The 2011 Ray Stevens CD, Spirit of '76, is named for the art work of the same name recalling the imagery of the Revolutionary War.
But let's fast-forward from Ford's defeat in 1976 to McCain's defeat in 2008. Obama becomes the President on the heels of
negative public sentiment surrounding the conflicts taking place in Iraq
and Afghanistan. The Democrats of 2008, much like those in 1976, used
the public sentiment to rally the voters to their side. John McCain lost
to Obama in 2008 based upon negative Republican sentiment across the
board. To this day many Obama supporters like to engage in the "blame
Bush" tactic in the hopes that it'll re-create in 2012 the sentiment it
had in 2008 when it worked against McCain. I don't feel it will work in 2012 because, mainly, Obama is an incumbent. He's the Incompetent Incumbent. The facts are simple: you don't blame a former President on your own failures after you've been President the last three and a half years. Obama tries to...his supporters try to...but you end up looking foolish and they've had a lot of practice at that. Obama has no victories that he can proudly tout and play up...any 'victory' he has enjoyed have long since proven to be detrimental to the American people either economically or socially. His Obamacare, strangely enough, hasn't been a focal point of the re-election commercials and neither has any of the pet projects with the EPA, etc. etc. In a twist of irony, Obama really can't campaign on any solid issue he holds near and dear to his heart because the general public, in reality, do not support those issues with the same kind of zeal that he does.
This leaves the Obama campaign to resemble more or less a long-running attack ad.
This Obama re-election campaign, the way I see it, is based pretty much on attacking Romney first and foremost and then filling the airwaves with more Utopian fantasies, flat out lies, and insidious goals for "the next four years" rather than telling the voters why he deserves "the next four years" in the first place. In my opinion you should get re-elected if you've done a good job and he certainly hasn't done so which is why he can't fill his re-election commercials with any positives that he's accomplished. It's all attack, attack, attack as he blames others for his own incompetence.
There is early voting going on in several states and it's the perfect opportunity for the Obama supporters in the mainstream media to create a cloud of discouragement for those who support Romney. I assume, as the radio personality said, the Obama backers hope to discourage the Romney supporters from voting early.
It's one of the oldest political tricks in the book and, in general, it works like this: create insecurity and discouragement in the opposition's voting base and attempt to plant the idea in their heads that there's no reason to show up to vote since their candidate "doesn't have a chance at winning".
Admittedly there may be some people who fall for this tactic and it's a shame if they do.
If voters stick to the facts and base Obama's time in the White House on their final decision this coming Election Day then he doesn't have a chance of re-election. You can't sweep away or hide reality...as much as Obama wants to...and as much as his supporters gallantly strive to keep the facts hidden under the surface.
This election, as it's been said by many others, mirrors the 1980 election campaigns between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan where Reagan was constantly losing in the polls and being painted as a long shot at becoming President by the mainstream media. It wasn't until the head-to-head debates that Reagan was able to strip away all the negatives heaped upon him by his opponents and those in the media. Once the people saw the contrast between Carter and Reagan it was obvious that Carter's policies and visions were Utopian based and not rooted in reality.
This leaves the Obama campaign to resemble more or less a long-running attack ad.
August 24, 2012
Ray Stevens: Obama Nation, Part 11...
By now you've probably long figured out that Obama's approach to his re-election is to demonize the wealthy, demonize those who don't need a Government handout and admonish them for not "giving back", and lastly he'll demonize those who have plans for saving Medicare and Social Security. If you notice, many of the TV commercials that run in support of Obama make no mention of his actual record. Instead what we see are divisive attack ads made against Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan based on lies and distortions of the truth. Obama and company would rather have people thinking about Romney's wealth and so-called "connections" instead of Obama's destructive domestic and foreign policies. Early commercials were fixated on Romney's personal finances...demonizing him on the grounds of simply being successful. Other commercials from the DNC as well as the Obama sponsored ads added more to the murky puddle.
Once the debates air and the public at large realizes that neither Obama nor Biden have any solutions but instead have a trunk full of personal insults they can throw Romney and Ryan's way the quicker the public will realize how petty, low down, and full of themselves that Obama and Biden truly are. The debates, from the Democrat's side of things, will be nothing more than a blame game and incoherency wrapped up in a Utopian fantasy narrative. Once Romney and Obama debate one another the Independent voters of 2008 will see what I'm talking about...for me there's no way that Obama can "win" the debate as long as the topics are rooted in facts. You see, based upon previous debates, Obama likes to change the facts and use a lot of what if's and maybe's in his reasoning...he often likes to belittle whoever he's debating with and ramble on and on until a person's ears fall asleep. That's just my experience during the few times I've attempted to stomach Obama's condescending style. I bet ear plug sales spike whenever word gets out that he's going to make a speech but that's just a guess.
Paul Ryan will do circles around Joe Biden, but that's just my theory...but I'm sure millions of other people agree. On the left there's Biden, on the right there's Ryan...we all know that Biden, based on history, is going to try and get cute and say some God awful things and attempt to make a point where there's no point to be made. The smirk filled Biden, I hope, is rendered speechless during the Vice Presidential debate.
May 13, 2012
Ray Stevens and Political Music...
I wrote about this a few blogs ago but I never wrote any follow-up blog entries due to the fact that The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music was brand new and that took up a lot of my blog entries the last several months. The 9-CD box set will reach 3 months old this coming May 28th. It has yet to appear for sale on Amazon but I have a feeling that it won't become available for purchase there anytime soon but then again it may show up for sale there sooner rather than later.
Anyway, the Ray Stevens Book that I wrote about a few blogs ago is titled Let's Get Political. The link will take you to the product page at Ray's web-site. He's advertising what he's calling a Tea Party Special which includes We The People, The Spirit of '76, and the Let's Get Political book. However, you can still purchase the items separately...and since I already have the CD's that are being offered I obviously purchased the book by itself. I highly recommend the book for those who already have the CD's. I also highly recommend the book for those who discovered Ray Stevens on You Tube and had no idea of who he was beforehand. The book will introduce you to the essays of Ray Stevens and Buddy Kalb as they offer commentary on the songs found on We The People and The Spirit of '76.
The CD's feature an abundance of political and patriotic songs. Before anyone can ask...Ray does realize that there are people who have not been too happy or supportive of his decision to incorporate political feelings into his music but those are the opinions of a minority. In fact, since December 2009, the response has actually been 90% positive. There's a small amount of criticism and flack that comes from a vocal 10% but the fact remains that a majority of Ray's fan-base either share similar feelings or have the exact same feelings about the issues of the day as he does. If anyone thought that Ray was a far-left liberal progressive at any point in time then you were mistaken and it's easy to see why.
You can be a conservative and still want peace, love, and prosperity...but the means in which to achieve it are vastly different based upon political ideology.
A song like "Everything Is Beautiful", released by Ray in 1970, has long been described as a song championing a liberal cause while a more recent song, such as "Thank You", honors the soldiers in the military who voluntarily join the Armed Forces without knowing if they will be sent overseas or not. Extremists on the left side of the political spectrum can say that the 1970 song fits their agenda while extremists on the right can latch onto the sentiments in "Thank You".
However, a general audience should be able to enjoy both songs for what they are...without having to apply a political undertone or overtone in their decisions to like or not like either song. I love a lot of the well-done protest songs of the late '60s but that doesn't make me some sort of anti-war zealot...I like a lot of military songs, too, but that doesn't make me some sort of military zealot. I like several styles of music but Ray Stevens is the one I'm the biggest fan of. Music critics and radio programmers, especially, love to pigeonhole radio listeners into only being tolerable of specific sounds or certain artists, which is why critics labeled Ray's "Everything Is Beautiful" as a sentiment for the liberal point of view...never realizing that anyone, of all political points of view, may enjoy the song as well.
Anyway, that sort of assumption by critics, for example, paved the way for the splintering of the Top-40 format in the 1980's as every musical style under the sun seemingly got it's own special popularity chart and radio frequency but that's an entirely different discussion!
Are you one of the more than half a million or so that have watched Ray's hilarious "Mr. President - Mr. President" music video? A recently updated total shows that 563,459 people have viewed the video. Multiple views aren't counted and so it's safe to say that the video's been watched over a million times because it's only natural that a music video that people like will be watched multiple times. Even if people only watch a video twice you can multiply the video's current unique view total by 2 and get an estimated total of real-time views. If all 563,459 people were to watch the video just 1 additional time the total would technically be 1.1 million real-time views. If all those people watch the video 6 times throughout the course of a week the total of real-time views would be 3.3 million, etc. etc.
So, yes, while You Tube prevents the tallying of multiple views when they report on a video's view count, in an effort to stop skewed numbers ratcheted up by rabid fan bases, the fact remains that a lot of times, especially for music-related video content, people watch a video more than once so the real-time numbers will never come to light since multiple views aren't counted. Enjoy this clever song and video...it speaks volumes...
Anyway, the Ray Stevens Book that I wrote about a few blogs ago is titled Let's Get Political. The link will take you to the product page at Ray's web-site. He's advertising what he's calling a Tea Party Special which includes We The People, The Spirit of '76, and the Let's Get Political book. However, you can still purchase the items separately...and since I already have the CD's that are being offered I obviously purchased the book by itself. I highly recommend the book for those who already have the CD's. I also highly recommend the book for those who discovered Ray Stevens on You Tube and had no idea of who he was beforehand. The book will introduce you to the essays of Ray Stevens and Buddy Kalb as they offer commentary on the songs found on We The People and The Spirit of '76.
The CD's feature an abundance of political and patriotic songs. Before anyone can ask...Ray does realize that there are people who have not been too happy or supportive of his decision to incorporate political feelings into his music but those are the opinions of a minority. In fact, since December 2009, the response has actually been 90% positive. There's a small amount of criticism and flack that comes from a vocal 10% but the fact remains that a majority of Ray's fan-base either share similar feelings or have the exact same feelings about the issues of the day as he does. If anyone thought that Ray was a far-left liberal progressive at any point in time then you were mistaken and it's easy to see why.
You can be a conservative and still want peace, love, and prosperity...but the means in which to achieve it are vastly different based upon political ideology.
A song like "Everything Is Beautiful", released by Ray in 1970, has long been described as a song championing a liberal cause while a more recent song, such as "Thank You", honors the soldiers in the military who voluntarily join the Armed Forces without knowing if they will be sent overseas or not. Extremists on the left side of the political spectrum can say that the 1970 song fits their agenda while extremists on the right can latch onto the sentiments in "Thank You".
However, a general audience should be able to enjoy both songs for what they are...without having to apply a political undertone or overtone in their decisions to like or not like either song. I love a lot of the well-done protest songs of the late '60s but that doesn't make me some sort of anti-war zealot...I like a lot of military songs, too, but that doesn't make me some sort of military zealot. I like several styles of music but Ray Stevens is the one I'm the biggest fan of. Music critics and radio programmers, especially, love to pigeonhole radio listeners into only being tolerable of specific sounds or certain artists, which is why critics labeled Ray's "Everything Is Beautiful" as a sentiment for the liberal point of view...never realizing that anyone, of all political points of view, may enjoy the song as well.
Anyway, that sort of assumption by critics, for example, paved the way for the splintering of the Top-40 format in the 1980's as every musical style under the sun seemingly got it's own special popularity chart and radio frequency but that's an entirely different discussion!
Are you one of the more than half a million or so that have watched Ray's hilarious "Mr. President - Mr. President" music video? A recently updated total shows that 563,459 people have viewed the video. Multiple views aren't counted and so it's safe to say that the video's been watched over a million times because it's only natural that a music video that people like will be watched multiple times. Even if people only watch a video twice you can multiply the video's current unique view total by 2 and get an estimated total of real-time views. If all 563,459 people were to watch the video just 1 additional time the total would technically be 1.1 million real-time views. If all those people watch the video 6 times throughout the course of a week the total of real-time views would be 3.3 million, etc. etc.
So, yes, while You Tube prevents the tallying of multiple views when they report on a video's view count, in an effort to stop skewed numbers ratcheted up by rabid fan bases, the fact remains that a lot of times, especially for music-related video content, people watch a video more than once so the real-time numbers will never come to light since multiple views aren't counted. Enjoy this clever song and video...it speaks volumes...
November 26, 2011
Ray Stevens and the Spirit of '76, Part 10...
Taking a look at Amazon this hour I find that the current Ray Stevens project, Spirit of '76, is ranked on two best seller lists that I have never known existed until today. A third list is the more familiar "Comedy" survey. The CD is ranked in the Top-50 on a list called "Poetry, Spoken Word, and Interviews" and one called "Radio Shows" while it ranks inside the Top-100 on the "Comedy" list. The CD's been available on Amazon since August while the Mp3 counterpart's been available on Amazon since April 1st.
The CD features "God Save Arizona", "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", "Obama Budget Plan", and "Mr. President - Mr. President". All of these songs have become hit on-line music videos. The most successful being "Obama Budget Plan" at just over 900,000 views and "God Save Arizona" racking up close to 830,000 on-line views. The current music video, "Mr. President - Mr. President", is nearing 350,000 views.
The conservative comedy videos continue to resonate with people...some, on the opposite end of the political spectrum, despise the videos while those who feel the mainstream media prop up a liberal point of view in their news reports appreciate the videos that Ray Stevens has put together the last two years.
The Spirit of '76 track-list is below. No Tea Party supporter or any conservative Republican should be without this CD, in my opinion:
1. The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore {music video available}
2. Mr. President - Mr. President {music video available}
3. God Save Arizona {music video available}
4. Cap'n Trade the Pirate
5. My Uncle Sam
6. November Storm
7. Mi Casa Su Casa
8. Grandpa Voted Democrat
9. Obama Budget Plan {music video available}
10. News Machine
11. New Normal
Spirit of '76 can be found at Amazon or by clicking the link to Ray's web-store.
The CD features "God Save Arizona", "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", "Obama Budget Plan", and "Mr. President - Mr. President". All of these songs have become hit on-line music videos. The most successful being "Obama Budget Plan" at just over 900,000 views and "God Save Arizona" racking up close to 830,000 on-line views. The current music video, "Mr. President - Mr. President", is nearing 350,000 views.
The conservative comedy videos continue to resonate with people...some, on the opposite end of the political spectrum, despise the videos while those who feel the mainstream media prop up a liberal point of view in their news reports appreciate the videos that Ray Stevens has put together the last two years.
The Spirit of '76 track-list is below. No Tea Party supporter or any conservative Republican should be without this CD, in my opinion:
1. The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore {music video available}
2. Mr. President - Mr. President {music video available}
3. God Save Arizona {music video available}
4. Cap'n Trade the Pirate
5. My Uncle Sam
6. November Storm
7. Mi Casa Su Casa
8. Grandpa Voted Democrat
9. Obama Budget Plan {music video available}
10. News Machine
11. New Normal
Spirit of '76 can be found at Amazon or by clicking the link to Ray's web-store.
October 16, 2011
Ray Stevens and the Spirit of '76, Part 9...
Good early Sunday morning all Ray Stevens fans! Yesterday the 1972 performance of "Along Came Jones" by Ray Stevens was uploaded on You Tube. The performance comes from his first appearance on Hee-Haw and it can be seen by clicking this link. Specifically, this was the second performance from Ray during the episode. His first performance was his current single at the time, "Turn Your Radio On". That performance is also on You Tube and I posted about it in my blog several months ago. Hee-Haw was a fun show to watch no matter who the special guests were. Whenever a singer that I was a fan of appeared as a guest then it made the show even more fun. The show currently airs on the RFD-TV network on Sunday nights at 8pm Eastern, the Sunday night episode re-airs Monday mornings at 10am Eastern, and then episodes typically pulled from 1969-1971 are shown Thursday evenings at 6pm Eastern.
For the curious, Ray's current music video titled "Mr. President - Mr. President" has gotten more than 240,000 on-line views in 2 weeks time. As of this writing Ray hasn't appeared on any TV or radio program to promote the video even though a part of it was played on a couple of Fox News programs: Fox and Friends along with The O'Reilly Factor. The song was played in it's entirety on Mark Levin's radio program a couple of Friday's ago while Tom Marr was a guest host. Ray's previous video, the "Obama Budget Plan", has 811,420 on-line views. That particular video was uploaded 5 months ago and it appears the current video will more than likely reach 300,000 within the upcoming week based upon the pace that it's on. By comparison, Ray's current video having more than 240,000 views in 2 weeks is higher than the total on-line views of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" released on You Tube by Ray 8 months ago. That particular video, as funny as can be, has 236,099 on-line views at the moment.
As I touched upon in earlier blogs during the spring of 2011 the big reason why, I think, that particular video hit real big in it's first couple of weeks and then faded was mostly due to the controversial full-body scans at airports being in the news nearly 24/7 for a couple of weeks and then other things came along to push it from the headlines. As most people realize topical songs are only as big as the topicality of the subject matter. Once the topic of a song gets pushed from the headlines then often what happens is any song, story, or commentary about that topic gets swept under a rug. Also, given that millions of people don't even step foot inside an airport it was perhaps difficult to translate to those who don't have experience with airport security procedures. Nevertheless the video hit a nerve at the right time as evidenced by it's meteoric rise in views during the spring of 2011. "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", "Obama Budget Plan", and "Mr. President - Mr. President" are on his Spirit of '76 CD. The CD also contains his emotional song, "God Save Arizona". A video of that song has more than 800,000 on-line views.
On the subject of Ray Stevens and his tour schedule...I'm a bit baffled that those who attended his concert in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina back on October 8th never wrote any blogs, posted on any message boards, or wrote on Ray's Facebook or Twitter page about their experience attending the show. The show took place at the Alabama Theater and I've periodically checked Facebook, Twitter, and Google's blog results but still there's not been any commentary/review of the concert from those who attended unless those who've written their reviews aren't using 'Ray Stevens' as a keyword in their tag box or label box. If this is the case their review(s) won't show up when people do searches for Ray Stevens on the internet. Anyway, like I said, I'm just a bit baffled why nobody's come forward (yet) about their time at Ray's concert.
Ray's next concert will be October 21st in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the Country Tonite Theatre. Ray will do two concerts that day. The first show will be at 3pm and the second at 8pm. According to a post on Ray's web-site back on October 10th, the 8pm concert was nearly sold-out...those who've not bought any tickets to the show yet and you're wanting to attend I'd suggest you call the venue and see if there's any tickets left for the 8pm show and obviously if it's sold-out get tickets to the 3pm show. Everything you want to know is located in the Event section of Ray's web-page located here. Ray's page gives what I assume to be the local number for the venue. At the Country Tonite page they also list an 800 number for tickets: 1-800-792-4308.
For the curious, Ray's current music video titled "Mr. President - Mr. President" has gotten more than 240,000 on-line views in 2 weeks time. As of this writing Ray hasn't appeared on any TV or radio program to promote the video even though a part of it was played on a couple of Fox News programs: Fox and Friends along with The O'Reilly Factor. The song was played in it's entirety on Mark Levin's radio program a couple of Friday's ago while Tom Marr was a guest host. Ray's previous video, the "Obama Budget Plan", has 811,420 on-line views. That particular video was uploaded 5 months ago and it appears the current video will more than likely reach 300,000 within the upcoming week based upon the pace that it's on. By comparison, Ray's current video having more than 240,000 views in 2 weeks is higher than the total on-line views of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" released on You Tube by Ray 8 months ago. That particular video, as funny as can be, has 236,099 on-line views at the moment.
As I touched upon in earlier blogs during the spring of 2011 the big reason why, I think, that particular video hit real big in it's first couple of weeks and then faded was mostly due to the controversial full-body scans at airports being in the news nearly 24/7 for a couple of weeks and then other things came along to push it from the headlines. As most people realize topical songs are only as big as the topicality of the subject matter. Once the topic of a song gets pushed from the headlines then often what happens is any song, story, or commentary about that topic gets swept under a rug. Also, given that millions of people don't even step foot inside an airport it was perhaps difficult to translate to those who don't have experience with airport security procedures. Nevertheless the video hit a nerve at the right time as evidenced by it's meteoric rise in views during the spring of 2011. "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", "Obama Budget Plan", and "Mr. President - Mr. President" are on his Spirit of '76 CD. The CD also contains his emotional song, "God Save Arizona". A video of that song has more than 800,000 on-line views.
On the subject of Ray Stevens and his tour schedule...I'm a bit baffled that those who attended his concert in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina back on October 8th never wrote any blogs, posted on any message boards, or wrote on Ray's Facebook or Twitter page about their experience attending the show. The show took place at the Alabama Theater and I've periodically checked Facebook, Twitter, and Google's blog results but still there's not been any commentary/review of the concert from those who attended unless those who've written their reviews aren't using 'Ray Stevens' as a keyword in their tag box or label box. If this is the case their review(s) won't show up when people do searches for Ray Stevens on the internet. Anyway, like I said, I'm just a bit baffled why nobody's come forward (yet) about their time at Ray's concert.
Ray's next concert will be October 21st in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the Country Tonite Theatre. Ray will do two concerts that day. The first show will be at 3pm and the second at 8pm. According to a post on Ray's web-site back on October 10th, the 8pm concert was nearly sold-out...those who've not bought any tickets to the show yet and you're wanting to attend I'd suggest you call the venue and see if there's any tickets left for the 8pm show and obviously if it's sold-out get tickets to the 3pm show. Everything you want to know is located in the Event section of Ray's web-page located here. Ray's page gives what I assume to be the local number for the venue. At the Country Tonite page they also list an 800 number for tickets: 1-800-792-4308.
September 11, 2011
Revisiting Ray Stevens, Part 12...
Osama Yo' Mama: The Album track list:
1. Osama Yo' Mama (2001; music video available)
2. Hang Up and Drive (2000)
3. Safe At Home (2000)
4. Freudian Slip**
5. Deerslayer (2000)
6. Bon Temps Roulette (2000)
7. The Hustler (2000)
8. The Lady on the Radio (2000)
9. Gone For Good (2000)
10. United We Stand (2001)
"Freudian Slip" made it's debut on this 2002 CD. However, I'm not sure when it was actually recorded. It could've been recorded in 2000 for the Ear Candy CD but cut out at the last minute but it also could've been recorded in 2001 prior to 9/11. It has a 2001 copyright date but that can be misleading due to the fact that "The Lady on the Radio", which appeared on the 2000 CD, shows a 2002 copyright date within the credits of the 2002 CD. A sequel to "Osama Yo' Mama" appeared in 2003, "Hello Mama". This song was available as a single only and a music video came along the same year.
We The People track list:
1. We The People (music video available)
2. Caribou Barbie (music video available)
3. Stand Up
4. Three Fractured Factions
5. Dear Andy Griffith
6. The Global Warming Song (music video available)
7. Let's Roll
8. Solar Powered Song
9. Fly Over Country
10. We Are the Government
11. The Fallen Ones
12. Come to the U.S.A. (music video available)
13. If 10% Is Good Enough For Jesus
14. Kings and Queens
15. Obama Nation
16. Throw the Bums Out! (music video available)
17. Sucking Sound
18. Safe at Home
19. Thank You (music video available)
20. Pledge of Allegiance/Star Spangled Banner
21. Mr. Businessman (live version)
22. Midnight in Baghdad
DVD videos:
1. We The People
2. Thank You
3. Caribou Barbie
4. Throw the Bums Out!
Spirit of '76 track list:
1. The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore (music video available)
2. Mr. President - Mr. President
3. God Save Arizona (music video available)
4. Cap'n Trade the Pirate
5. My Uncle Sam
6. November Storm
7. Mi Casa Su Casa
8. Grandpa Voted Democrat
9. Obama Budget Plan (music video available)
10. News Machine
11. New Normal
Revisiting Ray Stevens, Part 11...
It's an early Sunday morning...September 11, 2011...it's around 2:30am. I've always been somewhat of a night-owl. Having a third shift job through the week causes me to be wide awake during the overnight hours on the weekends. Today marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11 as everyone with any ounce of a brain should know. Yesterday I wrote a blog about Ray's song, music video, and CD lampooning Osama bin Laden. Earlier in the year bin Laden was captured and killed...but that obviously didn't mean that the country should go back to a September 10, 2001 mindset and for the most part it hasn't. Some on the far left of the political spectrum, judging by blog blurbs that I read and things I heard from liberals on talk shows, some of them actually felt like since bin Laden was captured and killed that the military should pack up and leave that region and put "all of this" behind us and focus on other things. Today, on the anniversary of 9/11, I wonder if those people will feel that same way or will they be overcome by the emotional displays that'll be upcoming throughout today and realize that 9/11 isn't just something that people can "get over" due to bin Laden's death. As some of the far left should know even those who didn't have family members or friends on those planes or in those buildings on 9/11 it still left an impact on people all across the country. As was stated by many journalists, reporters, bloggers, and commentators: September 11, 2001 will be a date that'll be remembered forever along side December 7, 1941 and July 4, 1776.
August 28, 2011
Revisiting Ray Stevens, Part 8...
Good Sunday afternoon! As August winds down it'll soon be September, of course, and in case you all hadn't stopped by I'm here to inform everyone that Ray Stevens' web-site has gotten a major overhaul as far as the design is concerned. Here's the link to the New Web Page. It's still raystevens.com but for those who frequently visited the site you'll notice the design change immediately. One of the additions to the page is what they're calling "Ray TV". This section of the site contains all of the music videos that he's uploaded onto You Tube over the last 2 years. This allows people to watch his videos on his own web-site without actually having to visit his You Tube channel. Another change is the Twitter feed. On the former web-page the tweets would be live and any tweet that mentioned 'Ray Stevens' would be visible on the Twitter feed. However, on the new page, only the recent tweets from Ray's account are shown. From the looks of it the Twitter box will feature just 4 updates at a time.
The Ray Stevens web-store has also been revamped. Also, it may just be my imagination, but it looks as if a lot of items that once were for sale are now unavailable. The background, which used to be a light blue, is now white which makes the lettering and graphics stand out a lot more and it makes things look sharp and more crisp. There are multiple tabs, just like on the previous web-page, indicating the various sections of the site. The tabs at his site are:
Home, About, News, Events, Ray TV, Music, and Store.
Obviously, "Store" is where you purchase his items. "Events" is the new tab name for the previously named "Tour" which lists the concerts Ray will be giving this year. The section will also, I assume, be used to promote TV or radio interviews that he'll participate in next year. Ray has four concerts scheduled for later this year...1 in October and 3 in November. Two of those November concerts will take place up in Canada. He is scheduled to appear in Florida in February 2012. When you visit his web-page and click "Events" you'll be able to see a more detailed over-view of where he'll be appearing. The home page contains a big banner advertising his current CD, Spirit of '76. Later this year he is suppose to release the much-anticipated novelty/comedy song salute which will feature at least 100 songs. The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music should be available soon. No release date's been announced but in a recent interview Ray listed quite a few songs that he recorded that'll be on the collection. Among those mentioned were "Mairzy Doats", "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah", "Haunted House", and "Dang Me" just to name a few. He's re-recorded a few of his own songs for this collection, too. In other interviews he mentioned "Open the Door, Richard", "Three Little Fishes", and "The King is Gone and So Are You" as songs that'll be on the Encyclopedia.
The current view count for the "Obama Budget Plan" music video is 584,041.
The Ray Stevens web-store has also been revamped. Also, it may just be my imagination, but it looks as if a lot of items that once were for sale are now unavailable. The background, which used to be a light blue, is now white which makes the lettering and graphics stand out a lot more and it makes things look sharp and more crisp. There are multiple tabs, just like on the previous web-page, indicating the various sections of the site. The tabs at his site are:
Home, About, News, Events, Ray TV, Music, and Store.
Obviously, "Store" is where you purchase his items. "Events" is the new tab name for the previously named "Tour" which lists the concerts Ray will be giving this year. The section will also, I assume, be used to promote TV or radio interviews that he'll participate in next year. Ray has four concerts scheduled for later this year...1 in October and 3 in November. Two of those November concerts will take place up in Canada. He is scheduled to appear in Florida in February 2012. When you visit his web-page and click "Events" you'll be able to see a more detailed over-view of where he'll be appearing. The home page contains a big banner advertising his current CD, Spirit of '76. Later this year he is suppose to release the much-anticipated novelty/comedy song salute which will feature at least 100 songs. The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music should be available soon. No release date's been announced but in a recent interview Ray listed quite a few songs that he recorded that'll be on the collection. Among those mentioned were "Mairzy Doats", "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah", "Haunted House", and "Dang Me" just to name a few. He's re-recorded a few of his own songs for this collection, too. In other interviews he mentioned "Open the Door, Richard", "Three Little Fishes", and "The King is Gone and So Are You" as songs that'll be on the Encyclopedia.
The current view count for the "Obama Budget Plan" music video is 584,041.
August 22, 2011
He's Still Ray Stevens To Us!!
If I were super-talented I'd write a song called "He's Still Ray Stevens To Us" because that's what I often feel like saying anytime I come across a blog or read a comment left on some social network site that doesn't have positive or flattering words to say about Ray or his music. Now, due to my not having the patience or the discipline to write a song with such a title I decided to use that for the name of this latest blog entry. He's still Ray Stevens to us...the fans...those who appreciate the music, the laughs, the concerts, the TV and radio appearances he's done in his career. A big reason why I say he's still Ray Stevens to us is because there's some who've made commentary over the course of the last several years suggesting that Ray's somehow changed and isn't the same anymore. I happen to feel that Ray's the same...only difference is he's more vocal about topical issues now than he ever was. Who's to say that Ray never held these same views years ago? Who's to say the Ray Stevens of 1980 didn't hold a lot of the same economic and social views he does today? The only difference, as I said, is he's more vocal about his viewpoints now than he was then.
Does that make his music no good because he's decided to incorporate a political element to his recordings now? He's still Ray Stevens to us...he's still funny, he can still sing, he still produces and arranges his own albums which obviously shows that he's still heavily involved in the making of his records whereas most of his peers (the ones who are still recording) don't get that involved. All of these things the long-time, hardcore Ray Stevens fans already know...but that can't be said for those who really aren't long-time fans but pretend they are just to either stir up trouble or to, well, stir up trouble. It exists mostly on social media sites and occasionally it bleeds over onto places like Amazon, too, where quite a few customer reviews turn much more into artist bashing than a legitimate review...and you guessed it...most of the "bashing" takes place from those who position themselves as "long-time fans". I've read plenty of comments from 'long-time Ray Stevens fans' who didn't really know much about Ray at all beyond a couple of songs. So, because of those experiences and several others through the years, I continue to doubt people's sincerity when they use the "I've been a long-time fan..." routine. In my way of thinking you can't possibly be a "long-time fan" of anybody or anything and not know quite a lot about whatever or whoever you're a fan of. It defies the entire concept of being a fan if you know very little about a singer or an actor/actress or athlete that you profess to be a "long-time fan" of.
He's Still Ray Stevens to Us...and with the release of this 22 song CD in 2010 Ray Stevens cemented his new-found reputation as a political entertainer and the numbers speak for themselves. Two of his politically themed music videos have gotten more than 3 million on-line views. "Come to the U.S.A." satirizes the illegal immigration problem in America by sarcastically welcoming illegals to the country because once they get in they'll have a great ol' time. This particular music video has it's share of critics...it's a highly emotional topic...and so far it's gotten 5,463,343 on-line views. The video hit in the summer of 2010. "We The People", on the other hand, is the video that launched Ray's journey into political entertainment. The song emerged late in 2009 followed soon after by a music video. The song's lyrics deal with opposing Obama Care. The critics tried to marginalize the song and it's video but when that wasn't working they tried to make Ray out to be some sort of "right wing kook" and when that didn't work they finally moved on. Interestingly, when "Come to the U.S.A." was issued as a video the critics tried and tried to label Ray as a right-wing zealot but that accusation fell on deaf ear's too, just as it should. "We The People" so far has gotten 4,499,002 on-line views.
He's still Ray Stevens to us!! This is his most recent release...it's the Spirit of '76. The CD contains "God Save Arizona" in which the music video has gotten 792,233 on-line views which is quite amazing when you consider the video's uniquely topical in that it deals with the Federal Government's lawsuit of Arizona over it's illegal immigration policies. So it was more about a specific court action rather than something political...even though politics is never far away when it comes to these kinds of things. In my opinion the far-left political stance of the Attorney General and Obama ignited a lot of the turmoil for their out-right refusal to respect Arizona's law and I put the blame on those two for the drama that followed. For those who yet haven't heard the song it's a serious performance...it's not funny or remotely humorous. The song gives his serious side a chance to shine for one of the few times in a music video. Illegal immigration has always been a hot topic but among the mainstream media it became a top news story throughout much of the summer and early fall in 2010 and as a result this music video and "Come to the U.S.A." musically commented on the activity.
Elsewhere on the CD there's "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" which also deals with a topic that was hot and seemingly on everyone's minds for a period of a couple of months but then the topic suddenly vanished. By that account it's a novelty song in the truest sense of the word! The song/video spoofs the TSA's airport security procedures. The video is quite comical and it takes some jabs at some political figures along the way. The video was going along great (earlier in the year) but then, as the topic started to fade from attention, the same thing happened with the video's impact as it currently sits just below the 200,000 mark in on-line views. The exact number is 199,857. He 'bounced back' with the following video aimed at the Federal budget. The "Obama Budget Plan" has gotten more than half a million on-line views so far...it's current total is 558,490. The video's been on-line since late April and so it's not like it's brand new but it's the most recent one he's uploaded. A lot of the reason why that video got much more on-line activity than the TSA song is because the budget and the deficit is something that affects everyone in some way or another. The economic/fiscal policies of the Obama Administration impact all Americans and the "Obama Budget Plan" humorously skewers the mishandling of the economy. On the other hand not everyone's had an experience with the TSA...and for some segments of the public the humorous song wasn't connecting with them as much.
Starting with 1957's "Silver Bracelet" and going through his most recent recordings in 2011 no matter what comes and goes and no matter which music style he's singing you're bound to be entertained by Ray Stevens. No matter what a hip music critic might say or what some far left political blogger might say, deep down, He's Still Ray Stevens To Us!!
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