Sandy Belle wants the troops home

April 14, 2007 11:43 PM

A song about bringing the soldiers home from Iraq. Defies commentary. YouTubers don't seem to get the joke. The Garance has background details.
posted by commander_cool (41 comments total)

Speaking as someone vehemently opposed to Bush, his Administration, and his foolish, fraudulent, incompetently mananged war, I have to say I find this song disgusting and disrespectful to our troops.

Let's support our troops by bringing them home. Let's show our disgust with Bush and the war while respecting our soldiers and their sacrifices. This war is a terrible tragedy for Iraq, for our troops, for our country. It's not something we should trivialize with smutty jokes.
posted by orthogonality at 12:05 AM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

I 'spect "Sandy" is addressing not just the grunts, but also the seamen:

Shoot me on my breasts,
Shoot me in my mouth,
Shoot me in my butt parts,
Fill me up down south.

posted by rob511 at 12:09 AM on April 15, 2007

open and shut (via orthogonality).
posted by progosk at 12:32 AM on April 15, 2007

Uh, hey, no comments please. The link defies commentary. Oh, wait, damn!!
posted by The Deej at 12:35 AM on April 15, 2007

"we'll be getting freaky like in Abu Ghraib"

pointed, but I was telling my college bud in June 2004 -- 3 years and 2000 KIA ago -- that what went down in AG had just lost us the war.

shorter: what ortho said above.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 12:44 AM on April 15, 2007

Heywood, me too. I said it the day the news broke, something to the effect of, "We could lose the war right here. If we handle it well, we could actually make a few points and gain a little ground, but if we blow it, we lose."

A day or so later, Bush 'addressed' the issue, and cared so little that he couldn't even be bothered to pronounce Abu Ghraib correctly.

That speech lost us the war. It's just a matter of how many body bags we want to fill before we slink home.
posted by Malor at 1:00 AM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thing is, this is a joke (according to the 3rd link) but it's one that I find distinctly unfunny. It's just too... creepy to be funny. Maybe the intention is not so much 'ha ha' funny as 'make you oddly uncomfortable and disgusted' funny. Anyway...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:41 AM on April 15, 2007

"I’m guessing someone first performed this number in a small gay nightclub somewhere in Manhattan, before sending it out to travel virally throughout the ether."

And I guess that the lyrics work better in the first context.
posted by Harry at 1:58 AM on April 15, 2007

I guess it's a joke. It's not simple enough to be a normal "haha" funny, but it's not outrageous enough to be a "omg-i-can't-believe-you-said-that" funny.

I guess it's kinda "haha" funny. sorta.
posted by bam at 1:59 AM on April 15, 2007

I live in SW MO.

Believe it or not, this is what the people that surround me actually think music sounds like.

I only wish they would swallow this as readily as they do Toby Keith.
posted by sourwookie at 1:59 AM on April 15, 2007

HI I'M ON METAFILTER AND I COUL
posted by bam at 1:59 AM on April 15, 2007

Using Abu Ghraib as a point of reference for "healthy" kink is genius .
posted by sourwookie at 2:04 AM on April 15, 2007

-D WIPE MYSELF IF I WERE SMART ENOUGH.
posted by sourwookie at 2:07 AM on April 15, 2007

It's tasteless, yes, but the joke is more on the vapid, faux-beautiful/faux-beauty videos on CMT and its ilk. Just try to watch CMT for an hour. I dare you.
posted by zardoz at 2:36 AM on April 15, 2007

"Using Abu Ghraib as a point of reference for "healthy" kink is genius."

sourwookie, I agree with you 100%. If you replace the word 'genius' with 'beyond the pale'. I guess I just can't get with torture and sexual humiliation of prisoners as a comic reference. And I've actually got a pretty dark sense of humor. Not that dark, though.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:37 AM on April 15, 2007

Yeah, it's funny, but what happened to the last 40 seconds? I feel ripped off.
posted by furiousthought at 2:50 AM on April 15, 2007

Ex-British territorial (like the National Guard) here. I'd imagine most soldiers (and certainly the ones I know well) would piss themselves laughing at this actually. But then, that probably says a lot about the kind of slightly twisted humour you get when you ship thousands of young people off somewhere hot and dusty to get shot at.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:54 AM on April 15, 2007

HI I'M ON METAFILTER AND I COULD WIPE MYSELF IF I WERE SMART ENOUGH.
posted by bam at 3:26 AM on April 15, 2007

Believe it or not, this is what the people that surround me actually think music sounds like.

no, it's what people in nyc think the people that surround you think music sounds like

phony accent ... phony "country" music

have a look at the real thing
posted by pyramid termite at 3:34 AM on April 15, 2007 [5 favorites]

*BAM*
posted by quonsar at 3:56 AM on April 15, 2007

Hey pyramid, thanks for the McMurtry link.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:03 AM on April 15, 2007

It's not something we should trivialize with smutty jokes.

Fine, then don't do it yourself let others do.

To some people there is nothing more interesting then the promise of a good 'ol fuck as the cherry on the pie of coming home where somebody is waiting for you, longing for your presence.

An interesting fact: if you are dead you can no longer fuck nor do anything good or bad.

Another fact is that, regardless of you spin it , soldiers are the person taking the greatest risks. Yet how do you make one person go willingly take the risks of being shot or ..far worse, being horribily mutilated (picture of a man with two prostectic legs) ?

Simple

1. the war is more important then yourself, there is an higher motive
2. whatever loss you incur , you did for the greater good
3. don't be so selfishing thinking about yourself all the time
4. this is for freedom, for whatever is good and against bad
5. if you do good, we will praise you and tell you you are good like mom and pop do.
6. if you don't do that, bad will happen to you, you will lose what you have.

These simplification are well understood by anybody , but they all make overlook another undenible fact that the person (soldier) no longer have his legs.

Obviously, in order to shield the soldier from the additional pain of thinking that he may have lost his legs or be horribly mutilated for nothing, the concept of "you did your duty" or "you did well ! " or "your effort was precious anyway" are introduced, but the effort may not be proportional to what was lost.

Similarly, you don't tell a kid that not obtaining an A grade for 8 hours of study a day _could be_ a sign that he is not performing well : you don't say that, as your risk depressing the kid too much, taking a momentary failure as a the entire collapse of the person.

You don't say the soldier his losing his legs was utterly useless to the war effort (his presence was useful to scare others away, NOT his being harmed) and that he now is a burden for the society, as the society needs to take care of him.

Indeed all the spin is concentrated to focus the soldier on the fact that he/she did GOOD... but again there is another undeniable truth : the soldier lost his legs , others were horribily mutilated, others were killed.

A combination of propaganda, indoctrination , carrot'n'stick is used to make the soldier overlook the factual risks, the reasons behind the war, the fact that it is a lot better not to fight.
posted by elpapacito at 4:07 AM on April 15, 2007

I prefer their other movie, The Christmas Tree.
posted by Toekneesan at 4:54 AM on April 15, 2007

It's got nothing on "Army Girls Gone Wild."
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:22 AM on April 15, 2007

I could see the Abu Ghraib line being too much...but honestly, I laughed my ass off.

My lady parts are developing a desert of their own..

hee. And yeah, I'm thinking a solider would find it pretty funny too.
posted by emjaybee at 5:52 AM on April 15, 2007

Abu Ghraib didn't lose us the war. Being wrong about WMDs lost us the war. Zero credibility, zero moral high ground and zero planning.
posted by DU at 6:11 AM on April 15, 2007

Nice career, Sandra.

*flush*
posted by phaedon at 6:40 AM on April 15, 2007

Then again, something similar worked 2500 years ago
posted by phaedon at 6:43 AM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's not disrespectful to be funny. And she _is_ funny. Would be nice if she could sing a bit better, though...
posted by JoddEHaa at 6:49 AM on April 15, 2007

I don't think that the war is funny. I think it's funny that someone made a fake country video about a fake country artist who would think that a song whose message is "Bring the troops home, I want to fuck them" would be a good idea.

I don't find this creepy or disrespectful to anyone, except maybe modern country artists.
posted by 23skidoo at 7:02 AM on April 15, 2007

> YouTubers don't seem to get the joke.

Were you not familiar with the reputation of YouTube users before this video, or is this some kind of humorous faux innocence?
posted by ardgedee at 7:03 AM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Here's the thing... despite what I may think of the war, I grew up in San Diego so I'm pretty familiar with soldiers and their mentality. And I have to agree with the people who say that many soldiers would probably find this hysterical. That said, Navy guys once forced me to sit through Space Jam, declaring it "awesome." Soooo, there ya go.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:31 AM on April 15, 2007

Abu Ghraib didn't lose us the war. Being wrong about WMDs lost us the war. Zero credibility, zero moral high ground and zero planning.

Do you seriously think that the Bush administration thought Saddam was hiding anything except precious, precious oil? Credibility wasn't the issue-- profits and muscle flexing were the issues.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:34 AM on April 15, 2007

HI I'M ON METAFILTER MY NAME IS GWEN, I'M HERE TO WAAAARSH YOUR VAGINA.
posted by hermitosis at 7:51 AM on April 15, 2007

Believe it or not, this is what the people that surround me actually think music sounds like.

no, it's what people in nyc think the people that surround you think music sounds like

phony accent ... phony "country" music

No, pyramid, sourwookie is right. I'm from his part of the country as well. It's not "phony country," it's modern country. I don't like it much either, but my country-living cousin who just got back from Iraq likes Toby Keith.
posted by Bookhouse at 7:54 AM on April 15, 2007

Wow. It's one thing to know that many people have a really hard time understanding satire, but another thing entirely to see it so clearly demonstrated.
posted by motty at 8:16 AM on April 15, 2007

many soldiers would probably find this hysterical.

Of course, that's part of the joke, yes?
posted by washburn at 8:59 AM on April 15, 2007

It's not "phony country," it's modern country.

sure is phony ... they're using string samples, an r&b beat and handclaps, and the melody sounds more like beyonce than country ... and there's NO GUITAR!

but my country-living cousin who just got back from Iraq likes Toby Keith.

he is real country ... never said he wasn't
posted by pyramid termite at 9:39 AM on April 15, 2007

Pyramid Termite: I love James Mcmurtry. Choctaw Bingo is one of the most played songs on my running playlist.

It also happens to be about a family reunion on the stretch of I-44 between St. Louis and Texas, the corridor I live smack-dab in the middle of.
posted by sourwookie at 9:58 AM on April 15, 2007

Post guitar tabs please!
posted by peeedro at 5:24 PM on April 15, 2007

This 'blog entry has some dish on the origins of this, as does Wonkette.
posted by pax digita at 9:34 AM on April 24, 2007