U2: Vertigo -- Originally a Gun Control Tune

[AZRickD]

Nightfall:

influence American gun control policies.

The use of the term "gun control" by a gunnie means that the gunnie has accepted the language of the gun grabbers. Don't say "gun control." Say "gun rights."

Alan Korwin's Politically Corrected Glossary of Terms

Rick

 

[Gordon Fink]

Guns don’t have rights.

~G. Fink

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

And since when do the Irish get to lecture anyone about having a peaceful, stable society?

At it's peak, the violence associated with the "troubles" in N. Ireland has never approached the much higher background level of violent crime here in the US. You would have stood a much higher chance of a violent death in NYC, DC, Detriot, Chicago, etc., then you ever would have in Belfast, Derry, etc.

Check out the crime rate in the Republic some time, it's much lower than ours and in some areas is the lowest in the developed world.

Ireland's government in Dublin is a model of a stable democratic system.

 

[Sawdust]

PaleRyder sez:

I liked U2 until I heard about Bono's anti-gun stance...I'll just go off and listen to Skynyrd.

Have you never listened closely to the lyrics of Skynyrd's "Saturday Night Special". If you base your music likings on the a musician's opinion of gun control, then you may have to cross Skynyrd off of your playlist.

Sawdust
(diehard Lynyrd Skynyrd fan who's thankful to have seen the original line-up live, 'cause the band that tours today can't hold a candle to the original members...)

 

[Zundfolge]

Have you never listened closely to the lyrics of Skynyrd's "Saturday Night Special".

There has been no Skynyrd for me since then.

Handguns are made for killin'

Ain't no good for nothin' else

And if you like your whiskey

You might even shoot yourself

So why don't we dump 'em people

To the bottom of the sea

Before some fool come around here

Wanna shoot either you or me

 

[Geech]

Is that were the term for inexpensive handguns came from or did it inspire the song title, too?

 

[Joe Demko]

The term was originally an expression of racial prejudice. The full term was "niggertown Saturday night special." Presumably the antis who continue to use the term are unaware of that.

 

[Geech]

Yeah, I've heard that before but only secondhand. Anyone have any good sources that back that up?

 

[PaleRyder]

Well, by the same token, I can overlook Johnny Cash being anti. He wrote such good music IMO I care less about his politics either.

U2 on the other hand for me, is so-so. But then again, as I get older I like most rock music less and less.

I still listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd, old and new, the Outlaws, the Rolling Stones, Beatles, the Who, but that's pretty much it as far as rock goes.

 

[Art Eatman]

Geech, "Saturday Night Special" sorta went along with "Hotter'n a two-dollar pistol". I grew up "just sorta knowing" that these terms basically referred to pistols used by blacks. I guess it came from the grownups around me who probably learned them in the same manner--so the terms have been around the best part of 100 years or more. (I'm only 70, though...)

, Art

 

[Daedalus]

I like the tune "Copperhead Road" but won't buy Steve Earle's CD because the next track is "Devil's Right Hand"

 

[AZRickD]

Saturday Night Special came from the combination of two phrases...

"Niggertown Saturday Night" referring to violence in certain sections of Name Your Town and...

"Suicide Special" referring to any low-price, low-quality gun.

I did a google on "Cottrol" +"Saturday Night Special" to find a snippet of a book on my book shelf

"The Second Amendment: Toward an Afro-Americanist Reconsideration," Robert Cottrol and Raymond Diamond, 1991, p. 331)]

http://www.lizmichael.com/racistgc.htm

Diamond and Cottrol are noted "Black Legal Historians" whose opinions you'll likely enjoy.

Rick

 

[JohnBT]

U2 - Are they still together?

My father still says he'd rather have a Saturday Night Special or a Suicide Special than a Throwin' Gun. The TG is one that's so bad you don't even bother to pull the trigger - you just throw it at 'em and run. He was a state trooper and he'll be 83 next month.

John

 

[Geech]

Thanks for the info, Art and Rick.

 

[Kamicosmos]

I'm sick of all celebrities thinking they need to push their political agenda on us.

I second that! They are entertainers, not politicians! If they want to preach their politics, they should try and run for office!


(Just don't run for office in Kali, since they'd obviously win out there.... )

((No Offense to our Trapped in Kali voting THR members, of course))

 

[AZRickD]

Successful entertainers have the funds and the exposure at their disposal.

They also tend to have strong political beliefs.

It's difficult for them to avoid combining the two.

Those of us who care must punish them by keeping our money out of their hands since they will use our money against us.

Rick
END

 

[PaleRyder]

Some of them are just songs. I used to have some trepidation listening to Sat Night Special, because it's obviously an anti-gun song.
The new version of the band does a song that's very good however called Dead Man Walking about a guy wrongly convicted of murder for shooting someone who harms his daughter.
It's definitely not an anti-gun song in my opinion, so I tend to tell myself Skynyrd's song is just that, a song.
Blackfoot, with original and once again Skynyrd member Rickey Medlocke, did a song called Fox Chase, where the first verse is "I keep in my pickup, a loaded .44".

So I don't really think the LS guys are too anti-gun. I could be wrong.

 

[12-34hom]

U2

Hey, give Bono a break, it ain't easy pulling off the second coming of Potsi Webber.

12-34hom.

 

[AZRickD]

the first verse is "I keep in my pickup, a loaded .44".

Song writers use .44 because it sounds cool to them when they say, "fotie-fo."

Potzi Webber

I estimate that Bono jumped the shark with "Zooropa."

Rick

 

[PaleRyder]

That's true, they would think saying 'fotie fo' sounds cool, but I wouldn't think too many Southern Rockers are anti-gun. It just doesn't fit the image.

 

[confinedbythecurtain]

Im Glad

Political agendas and opinions were dropped on this song. Such things can ruin good music.