Julie Brown sings prophetically...
I don't know why, but I woke up with this song in my head this morning. It's comedienne Julie Brown singing the mid 80s novelty hit, "The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun." I used to hear it on morning radio shows when I was about 13. Back then, it was a funny song because we didn't have school shootings all the time. Or, if we did, we never heard about them. This was a song I used to sing along to and knew all the words to. When it came on the radio, I would get excited because they didn't play it very often.
Although this song remains a guilty pleasure, I doubt it would be a hit today. It hits too close to home. It's like that old song by The Smiths, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore".
It's too close to home and too near the bone...
So now a funny song about a homecoming queen going crazy and killing people on a shooting spree at the homecoming dance suddenly seems especially tasteless.
Yesterday, there was yet another shooting, this time at Northern Arizona University. Only one person died this time... and yet I've found that this happens so often that I'm almost becoming desensitized to it. On the other hand, a song like this released nowadays would probably really upset some people.
Isn't it strange how a person can be desensitized to news about school shootings, yet be outraged about a silly novelty song about school shootings? I guess that joke really isn't funny anymore.
I'm curious. What did you think of the Dixie Chicks' song "Goodbye Earl"?
ReplyDeleteIt's not one of my favorites by them. Generally speaking, I don't think violence is the answer to a person's problems. Of course, I can understand the sentiment behind "Goodbye Earl", but I wonder how a song sung by a guy about an abusive woman who got blown away by his best friend would go over. Not too well is my guess.
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