« Roaring Back to Life | Main | That's Underground »
August 12, 2008
August Darnell August
August Darnell, clearly not sweating it.
I don't know if it's just me, but aside from a few scattered tracks (which I'll hopefully get to soon), the late summer has been kind of a wash for new music. Just little blips of interest, but nothing that's matched the compulsive need to listen and re-listen that Kala did a year ago. Fingers crossed that a timely leak of Of Montreal's Skeletal Lamping might provide a salve, but for the past few weeks in the desert I've been sustained by the water-filled cactus that is the work of August Darnell.
The main source of sustenance has been the exceptional Goin' Places: the August Darnell Years (1976-1983) compilation out earlier this year on Strut Records (seriously, buy it). Once that was assimilated, I scoured my CD racks to realize that ol' Kid Creole was one of the elite production geniuses of that genius crowded era, rubbing shoulders with Eno and Hannett and Moroder in creating a different, much less chilly, form of precision. So infatuated am I with his ridiculously goofy yet exceptionally tight disco oeuvre, that I'm declaring the remainder of this month, "August Darnell August." My late start is mitigated by the fact that I actually started it unwittingly in late July. But the proper launch comes with the song below, perhaps the catchiest, most ridiculous track I've stumbled upon in months.
Don Armando's 2nd Avenue Rhumba Band - "I'm an Indian Too" (12" version)
"I'm an Indian, Too" began its life as a Broadway show tune, written by Irving Berlin for his long-running western comedy Annie Get Your Gun and originally performed in 1946 by legendary battle-axe Ethel Merman. Thirty years later, the wide range of racial stereotypes on display didn't stop band leader Don Armando and production whizz Darnell from resurrecting it for a day-glo disco classic on Ze Records' vinyl. From the creeping strings that begin the track, everything is supercharged towards a cartoon representation of the rampaging Injun. The driving beat and silky singing from cult-diva Fonda Rae make the questionable content easy to swallow. Presented as a ridiculous dance-floor filler, the patronizing aspects of Berlin's original also lose a bit of their sting. In the song's world, the only thing keeping you from being an Indian is the appropriate wardrobe. Stock up on "moccasins, wampum beads, totem poles," and the like, and you're good to go. The sentiment feels strangely appropriate for the hedonistic reinvention rampant in the late 70s New York disco scene. Just change your look, make yourself into whatever lovely creature you'd like to be, and hope that's enough to get into Studio 54. One of the Village People seems to have taken the track's advice verbatim.
The unstoppable groove and subtle production twists (dig those warped string breaks!) will make sure that more time is spent shaking your ass than overthinking levels of cultural sensitivity. As the rest of the month's Darnell offerings will prove, ass-shaking was priority one and being gleefully offensive was just icing on the cake.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at August 12, 2008 10:35 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.merryswankster.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/1715
Comments
Wow - I am a total convert now. I thought it was pretty offensive at first, but in finding out it was from the 70s it made it seem ok (right?). Man the 70s must have been pretty good for being wonderfully offensive about stuff like this.
Posted by: pieter at August 12, 2008 10:55 AM
I mean, I conceded that Berlin's original song was questionable, I just think this version makes more sense in a camp/wish-fulfillment 70s disco context. As its played here, it almost seems more about someone drawing on really shallow understanding of another culture to reinvent themselves. It's still offensive I guess, but more about the ignorance of the play actor/narrator. And the production is immaculate...
Posted by: Jeff K at August 12, 2008 11:07 AM
In the '70s it was still acceptable to stereotype certain ethnicities. Native Americans and Asians still got the treatment and it was not seen as the big deal it would have been for Jews and blacks. Now you couldn't do it. I recently watched an interview on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and famous mad drummer Buddy Rich. When Buddy says he admires Bruce Lee, Carson can't resist doing a buck-toothed face and going "Bruce Ree, Bruce Ree" -- and he comes back to this several times, to the delight of his audience. It's an interesting snapshot of the times. I mean, you merely had to mention someone Asian and it could elicit this kind of reaction.
However, don't get me wrong--this song is rad. It's kind of a close cousin to "What Makes the Red Man Red?" from Disney's Peter Pan, which is equally offensive lyrically.
Posted by: david at August 12, 2008 11:36 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
