Opinion

CHARLIE’S SONG – DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY

THERE stood Charlie Daniels at 48th Street and Sixth Avenue Friday night, a man with a message.

A message that needs hearing.

Charlie’s a country fiddler, mostly, and up on stage he looks the part: A great shaggy bear of a fellow with his cowboy hat and intricately engraved, hugely oversized belt buckle.

Regarding 9/11, the first anniversary of which looms, Charlie Daniels gets it.

This speaks to why he was at 48th and 6th Friday, outside the headquarters of Fox News Channel, performing his current hit – the proudly patriotic, overtly political “The Last Fallen Hero.”

Fox intends to broadcast it as part of a 9/11 anniversary special – and good for Fox, for this is a song that speaks directly, and appropriately, to the events of Sept. 11, 2001:

Oh the cowards came by morning and attacked without a warning;

Leaving flames and death and chaos in our streets;

In the middle of this fiery hell – brave heroes fell . . .”

Indeed they did.

But this song is only tangentially about those who died. It is also about those who fought back:

. . . In the skies of Pennsylvania, on a plane bound for destruction;

With the devil and his angels at the wheel;

They never reached their target on the ground – brave heroes brought it down . . .”

You see, there are no victims in this marvelous little poem. And while it takes due note of heroism, and heros, it is mostly about reponsibility:

* The responsibility of individuals to their nation in times of crisis:

. . . This is a righteous cause, so without doubt or pause;

I will do what my country asks of me;

Make any sacrifice;

We’ll pay whatever price;

So the children of tomorrow can be free . . .”

* And the responsibility of a great nation to its citizens – to extract justice for the innocents, but also to move expeditiously and unambiguously in defense of critical interests in a dangerous and uncertain world:

“. . . Lead on red, white and blue;

And we will follow you until we win the final victory;

God help us do our best we will not slack or rest;

Till the last fallen hero rests in peace . . .”

And the song is quite clear about the difficulties, and uncertainties, that attend war – and equally explicit concerning the wages of evasion, irresolution and cowardice:

“. . . Now the winds of war are blowing and there’s no way of knowing;

Where this bloody path we’re traveling will lead;

We must follow till the end – or face it all again. . .”

In the end, Charlie Daniels sings of duty:

“. . . And make no mistake about it, write it, preach it, talk it, shout it

Across the mountains and the deserts and the seas;

The blood of innocence and shame;

will not be shed in vain.”

This is a muscular song, wholly devoid of pretense and euphemism – and it is more than the sum of its words.

That is, while it is moving on the printed page, it is simply stunning when performed.

Stunning – and, to some, unsettling.

Public television, for reasons best known to its executives, refused to allow Daniels to sing the song on its July 4th special.

That’s not surprising, of course, because there are some pretty substantial challenges to 21st century American values in “The Last Fallen Hero.”

Certainly it speaks directly to the relevant issues, and in this respect it is nearly unique.

Go out to Yankee Stadium, of all places, and listen to the otherwise estimable Bob Shepard introduce that day’s seventh-inning rendition of “God Bless America” by referring to “the tragic occurance of last Sept. 11” – as if it had been an automobile accident, or an earthquake.

It was not.

It was premeditated murder, undertaken by representatives of hateful, twisted culture in pursuit of specific political objectives – and just a little bit for the hell of it, too.

Those who did it need to die, and the movement they serve needs to be eradicated, if America ever again is to be safe.

In this respect, Charlie Daniels speaks a truth too harsh for the dominant social culture – as represented so shamefully by PBS on America’s national holiday.

But it’s not just PBS.

In Washington, the politicians manuever for personal advantage while the White House permits the debate to drift toward irrelevance.

Here in New York, pity and personal advantage prepares to trump patriotism and duty as the 9/11 anniversary approaches.

There is a place for the memorial quilts, and the trial lawyers will always be with us – but who is to speak to the need for a robust and sustained response to murder in the morning?

Charlie Daniels does, God bless him.

Catch him on Fox, 9/11.