A great Southern Classic gets the axe for absolutely no reason whatsoever. More government stupidity.
When C.D. Hylton High School’s marching band performs during Friday night’s football game, they will be playing a different tune.
This year, the marching band is performing a Georgia-themed halftime show, to celebrate their upcoming trip to perform at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta in December, band director Dennis Brown said.
Until recently, the Charlie Daniels Band song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” was in the marching band’s line up of Georgia-themed music.
“We did play the song at one game, because our theme was ‘Georgia on my Mind,’ ” Brown said in a phone interview Tuesday. “Then we read Mr. [Robert] McLean’s letter to the editor and we have since dropped it from the show.”
In the letter, McLean wrote, “A high school band director would be fired for playing ‘Amazing Grace’ but no one bats an eye for the playing of a song about the devil … [H]ow can one mention the devil, and not be able to mention a Christian God?”
Charlie Daniels Responds: [here]
The original letter to the editor: [here]
Having been involved with one, I can state that no other elected body can be as ridiculous as a local school board. Most of the time these are individuals with no other qualifications than having children and a bit of extra time. They seem to consistently under or over react to situations. If you attend enough of these meetings you’ll get the urge to move far away. Your greatest fear is that they do reflect community values.
The story even gets a bit sillier. According to the , Robert McLean’s kids don’t even attend public school. He only attends public high school football games for entertainment (and, apparently, to root out satanic southern rock tunes).
Find me a band director fired for playing Amazing Grace! Just another urban legend perpetuated by the superstitious and paranoid.
Mr. McLean is a fool. The school is being ran by fools, and I am ashamed to be a part of the same nation with this inbred backwood pukes.
What’s good for the goose… is good for gander, or ACLU that is?
While I see NOTHING wrong with the song, or the song in that setting I love the guy writing the letter. When you live on egg shells of being sued and making sure that you are sensitive (which is a political mindset of crap!) to EVERY WHIM OF SOCIETY (except Christians of course…) you open yourself up to ridicule.
Chris Vaughn
http://blowupmycar.com
Although the decision was made for the wrong reason, I think their entire community should be thankful they won’t have to suffer through a marching band version of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” I threw up in mouth a little just thinking about that.
“what government are you talking about? there was nothing in the article that even referenced government.”
Paul Theodoropoulos, you’re kidding, right?
The band director should stand his ground. No way he should drop the song because of ONE complaint in the many years the song had been played.
Ah, of all the things to whine about. Methinks someone has a bit too much time on their hands.
Not only does “good” triumph over “evil” in the song, neither is to be taken terribly seriously. It’s a song, and a funny one at that. I suppose you could have written the song so that a bully and a little picked on kid duel, but it wouldn’t be nearly as effective, or funny.
Artistic license is the thing. Hymns are different. They are written by religion, for religion, and about religion. Thus they fall under the heading of “church”.
No one is singing the Devil Went Down to Georgia as a religious piece. (Of course, if they are, I’d like to meet them. They sound most entertaining..)
Obviously keeping the song is an endorsement of religion.
While on the subject of education, this may be worthy of a blog entry of it’s own: state scores for math and reading.
http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2005/s0006.asp?printver=
I live in California, and I am extremely liberal. But our education sucks. We are ranked 51 out of 52 states in our ability to teach how to read! Our schools are a disaster.
So what do we do? We give tenure (job for life) after 2 years of teaching experience. Ridiculous. We buy expensive computers and e-books expecting students to improve because our teachers are incapable of teaching. Stupid. And we obsess about our school’s teams sports performance, many times above academic skills.
I for one am sick and tired of these overbearing self-serving unions of incompetent hacks, and intend to vote ‘yes’ on increasing tenure to 5 years… as far as I’m concerned it should be time plus achievement… top 10% of teachers get tenure, list reviewed every year as people retire or workforce increases.
First of all, Mr. McLean chose a poor example because “Amazing Grace” is one of the few hymns that never mentions God by name. Other than that, however, I agree with the point he was trying to make, and after reading his letter, I see that that’s all he was trying to do: make a point. I didn’t get the impression that he was outraged or demanding that the song be removed. It was just something he noticed and decided to comment on using his First Amendment right to free speech.
But, as usual, it’s all been blown out of proportion. I notice that almost all the news reports I’ve read quote his letter in such a way as to make him sound like an outraged right-wing zealot, and imply that he single-handedly got the song dropped from the program. Typical.
Really, the band leader had no reason to pull the song (except for reasons of aesthetic concerns, as I believe someone else mentioned above). I think in general America has moved well past the point of being “tolerant” to being total pushovers scared of offending anyone’s “delicate sensibilities.” I’m reminded of William Daniel’s line in the musical 1776, “It’s a revolution, damn it. We’re going to have to offend somebody!”
this accomodation for minorities is getting out of control – next, gays will insist on having their own toilets and giving whatnots to atheists – and politicians can only cower in fear of being politically incorrect. The law should serve the good of the majority not the whims of the influetial few.
I think the point of his letter has been missed. While he does go on to winge a bit later in the letter he’s basically saying that while people can not pray in groups at school without being ridiculed or told to stop, the worship of the devil (lets remember that the devil and the christian god go together, there can not be one without the other) is ok. He has, however, used a stupid example to make his point, his point being that religion of all kinds should be worshiped freely and openly by all who want to. Maybe he should have just said that and cut out the stupidity. I’m not sure that he wanted the song to be stopped, it was more that he wanted equallity. Let them play what ever damn song they want, its just a school band, i don’t think they’re out to change anyone’s religion.
I have yet to hear any High School Marching Band sing any song. It would be the lyrics that are offensive, not the tune. While Amazing Grace also might have offensive lyrics, the tune is very soothing and quite nice.
I too though, have a difficult time imagining “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” being performed by a Marching Band. I don’t think Amazing Grace would be the same either.
Awake,
I think you are oversimplifying academic scores. Any output depends upon the quality of its inputs. For example, if you make a cake using the finest ingredients available along with some sour milk, then your cake will be sub-par. A classroom’s achievement can be no different. Its output will be influenced by the separate parts. How many students are English as a Second Language? How many students will have a dinner when they get home? How many classrooms have enough books for every student? How many classrooms have physical problems? How many classrooms are overcrowded? How many schools are over run by gangs operating inside and outside? How many students come from single parent families?
Blaming the teachers for the school system’s failures is exactly the same as happened 25 years ago when the major manufactures blamed their workers for their failures. Forgetting that the management designed, bought the components, hired the workers, bought / built the machines, instructed the workers how to do their jobs, decided the Quality Control levels, marketed the product, and highly rewarded its CEO. The teachers have little input into what they teach. State managers have decided the curriculum and manner in which to teach it. They decide which books may be used. All the teachers can do is try to teach their subjects.
Yes there will be bad teachers, and there will be some good teachers too. It is unfair however, to paint all teachers with the same brush for the system’s failure.
your song is sweet no one but me in my school likes it but me
I like the song censored or uncensored. It should be played over and over again.