I Hear A New World

Lately I have been finding all sorts of weird mp3s on my hard drive that I have never gotten around to listening to. Tonight I decided to listen to some of them, and I stumbled upon a single called "Union Man" by a group called the Cate Brothers. The blog that posted this track did not provide much information about it... so, for whatever reason, I had the idea that it was that rarest of all entities, a 70s soul single that directly references trade unions or the labor movement.

The music is really pretty awesome-- its layered textures remind me a little of the Ohio Players, and the guitar playing is impressively unhinged. The lyrics voice a protest against a "union man" who is calling for a strike, when the singer wants to earn some money and pay the bills. I was disappointed that this one rare union-related track was not more pro-labor; on the other hand, I totally understand the frustrations of workers who try to make ends meet on strike pay, and African Americans especially have good reason to be totally frustrated with the American labor movement. Especially during the George Meany/Lane Kirkland years, the AFL-CIO was a pretty awful institution, so a critique of the "union man" is not without its merits... especially if that "union man" is the satin-baseball-jacket-and-pinky- ring wearing local boss, rather than the rank-and-file worker seeking a measure of workplace democracy and maybe a little job security or health insurance. Most men and women in American still want to be that kind of "union man" or "union woman" and many more would no doubt join them in that aspiration if the corporate anti-labor propaganda machine wasn't so well-funded and tenacious.

But, as it turned out, the Cate Brothers were not an African American group, but a white soul/funk combo from Fayetteville, Arkansas. That town has the dubious honor of sitting at the epicenter of contemporary American union busting: Wal-Mart HQ is in nearby Bentonville, and Wal-Mart cofounder Bud Walton used to live there. Is this a cosmic coincidence? Or something more sinister. I am going to try to find out.

The Cate Brothers are no longer very active. But Wal-Mart has moved on in its search for musical compradors, anyways. Now, before I go on, I urge you to have a seat. You should definitely take a moment to prepare yourself for the unfathomable ickyness of what I am about to tell you. Wal-Mart has signed a one-year contract to be the exclusive distributor of Don Henley and The Eagles' next album. I don't even know how to grasp the extreme yuck... ecch... Wal-Mart... Eagles... Wal-Mart... Eagles... Could anything be worse? Maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Mike and the Mechanics? But let it be known that Henley is fighting mad about folks questioning his decision to team up with enviro-criminals Wal-Mart. And Glenn Frey, is, if I remember the video for "The Heat Is On" correctly, totally ripped. He could kick your ass. Henley you could probably take, but as soon as he started singing "The Boys of Summer" you would be mortally weakened... and then he would start crooning that "End of the Innocence" song and you would be dead. Like some mystical Bruce Lee chi-ball action. Mark my words. The Eagles will fuck you up.