Harold Reid died last week at age 80 after a long battle with kidney failure. He was bass singer with “The Statler Brothers,” a country and gospel quartet that had many hits. Many were arranged to feature Harold’s bass voice, including “Flowers On The Wall” — their big breakout single.
Phil, Don, Jimmy behind Harold
The group appeared frequently on the Johnny Cash TV show and toured with The Man In Black. In fact, the group is most often associated with him in the mind of their public. They went so far as to write a tribute song, “We Got Paid by Cash.”
They are credited with merging gospel harmonies with country music. They certainly mainstreamed gospel, which has always been embraced by country and folk music.
What distinguished them and made them so lovable was their injection of humor. Not only did they do schtick (Harold and his brother Don were primarily the instigators) but they recorded a couple of comedy records as Lester “Roadhog” Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys, and one of their albums had a parody of small town radio stations local shows on the second side. (If you are too young to know what an “album” was and what it means that they had “sides,” ask your nearest senior citizen).
A dozen or so years ago, I met (through a Craigslist musician’s forum) a wonderful lady named Linda Loegel. She had a bunch of lyrics she’d written over the years and I picked out a few I thought were my style, and wrote some music with her. We did one called, “The Ride Of My Life” that was about a person taking a balloon ride, and using it as a metaphor for going to heaven. She said her own mother was one of those daring senior citizens who enjoyed things like ballooning and skydiving — and this was before people were talking about “bucket lists.”
She was thrilled when I decided to do the song in the style of The Statler Brothers. And, as ususal, I did all the instruments and harmonies. It was a challenge to be a gospel quartet on my own, and I didn’t have any electronic helpers like pitch-shifters and voice ding-dongs and whatever. I just sang. You can hear the song on my music page (here).
Here is the link to listen to “The Ride Of My Life.”
Another of the Statler Brothers, Lew DeWitt, predeceased Harold.
And I’ll leave you with a little trivia:
Only two of the Statler Brothers were siblings — Harold and Don Reid. And none were named Statler. The name came from a box of facial tissues they saw in a hotel room. The joked that they could have named themselves “the Kleenex Brothers.”
I’ll bet this has happened to you. It happens to everybody, I think.
You get a song that runs through your mind, and try as you might — you just can’t get it out of your head.
Shari Lewis and her lovable little puppet Lamb Chop had a running gag on her children’s TV show — “The Song That Never Ends.” Lamb Chop would start singing, causing the ventriloquist to moan and complain, “Oh No! Not that!”
A real life example would be the song (I hate to even mention it — you will curse me tonight when you go to bed and it has wormed its way into your brain)”It’s a Small World.” According to Time.com, the song by Richard and Robert Sherman is the most publicly performed song of all time. It lives in infamy (as FDR would say) in an attraction at Disneyland. I made the mistake of taking that boat ride with my loving wife once and I was MAD by the time we exited — I tell you MAD!!!
Whew … excuse me … I think I’m ok now.
But the song that runs through my head lately may not be as well known … or at least, not well remembered.
Folk music legend Pete Seeger wrote the song and it was a hit when he played it in concerts and finally recorded it on a album. However, he was censored when he was invited to perform the
tune on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (those radicals! Grrrr!!!!) but the hosts kept after CBS and were finally allowed to invite Seeger back to perform the show later (in 1968). The ironic fact is — Seeger recorded the album for CBS records.
The song needs historical context. It was similar to (if not based on) what became known as “The Ribbon Creek incident” in 1956. Marine Staff Sergeant and drill instructor Matthew McKeon marched his platoon into a swamp called Ribbon Creek and six US recruits died — drown. The sergeant was convicted for possession and use of an alcoholic beverage.
Seeger’s song is based in WWII but the situation is the same. Soldiers are ordered march into “The Big Muddy” by a captain, who is warned by a sergeant of the danger involved. “But the big fool said to push on.”
Each verse follows our loyal troops into the river farther and farther — as they get waist deep,knee deep, neck deep, …
Well, I don’t want to spoil it for you as I have reprinted the lyrics below and linked to a video of Seeger performing the song.
The controversy arose because Seeger used some of the very terms that Pres. Lyndon Johnson used to diss his critics of escalation of the war in Vietnam. “Nevous Nellies” the captain calls his men who are complaining about the march.
To quote Seeger —
But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We’re — waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
It isn’t Lyndon Johnson of whom I am thinking, though. I was in elementary school at the time and just beginning to be aware of the big old world out there.
Maybe I’m thinking of Brexit or a Mexican border wall or 17 years of war in Afghanistan or the invasion and occupation of Iraq or intervention in the Somali Civil War or Bosnian-Serbian-Kosovo war or reinstatement of the president of Haiti or insurgency in Pakistan or drone strikes in Somalia or anti-pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean or overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya or anti ISIS intervention in Syria or our role in the Yemeni Civil War or 50 years of a war on Drugs
or maybe — just a little — Vietnam
Are we victims of “confirmation bias?”
Maybe it is no wonder that I often feel like we are
Waist Deep In The Big Muddy
It was back in nineteen forty-two,
I was a member of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in-a Loozianna,
One night by the light of the moon.
The captain told us to ford a river,
That’s how it all begun.
We were — knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, “Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?”
“Sergeant, go on! I forded this river
‘Bout a mile above this place.
It’ll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We’ll soon be on dry ground.”
We were — waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, “Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim.”
“Sergeant, don’t be a Nervous Nellie,”
The Captain said to him.
“All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I’ll lead on.”
We were — neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
All at once, the moon clouded over,
We heard a gurgling cry.
A few seconds later, the captain’s helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said, “Turn around men!
I’m in charge from now on.”
And we just made it out of the Big Muddy
With the captain dead and gone.
We stripped and dived and found his body
Stuck in the old quicksand.
I guess he didn’t know that the water was deeper
Than the place he’d once before been.
Another stream had joined the Big Muddy
‘Bout a half mile from where we’d gone.
We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy
When the big fool said to push on.
Well, I’m not going to point any moral;
I’ll leave that for yourself
Maybe you’re still walking, you’re still talking
You’d like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We’re — waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep! Neck deep! Soon even a
Tall man’ll be over his head, we’re
Waist deep in the Big Muddy!
And the big fool says to push on!
