Thread: Local song swept up in immigration fireworks

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Local song swept up in immigration fireworks


Sunday, October 01, 2006

By Carl Hoover

Tribune-Herald entertainment editor

In music and politics, timing is almost everything.

Just ask Johnny Bradshaw and Mike and Rita Jones, whose humorous yet serious take on illegal immigration, “So Long, Texas — Hello Mexico!” has found fans from here to Canada to New Zealand.

The song imagines a Texas cowboy packing up to move south of the border after illegal immigration has transformed his home state.

Its creators also are learning just how controversial the illegal immigration issue remains, both in Central Texas and beyond. While the song has been embraced by such groups as the Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee, it has been lambasted in some Hispanic quarters.

The song’s creators are likewise learning firsthand the power of the Internet. Since its release last spring:

* “So Long, Texas” has aired on radio stations across Texas and in five other states, plus the Internet music sites www.texasreddirtmusic.com and http://www.radiofreetexas.org.

* Famed CNN commentator Lou Dobbs posted it on his Web site.

* The Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee put the song on its Web site, http://www.alipac.us.

* The San Antonio Express-News and San Antonio news-talk radio station WOAI-AM covered the song.

* A Web site to sell the song, http://www.johnnytex.com, had 30,000 hits in its first two weeks.

In the latest development, Dallas-Fort Worth television station KTVT-TV, Channel 11, will send a crew Tuesday night to Zack & Jim’s Hog Creek Ice House, 6900 State Highway 6 in Speegleville.

There they’ll film Johnny Tex and the Texicans — the ad hoc group formed by Bradshaw and the Joneses — performing their song, plus other numbers with Bradshaw’s band. The band will play from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Admission is free and the public invited.

“We thought if we could get some play in Texas, we’d have some fun with it, get a few sales and that’d be it,” said Bradshaw, who now finds himself the singer of a song with national potential. “The success of the song has sort of caught us unprepared.”

The longtime musician also finds himself in a new place with “So Long, Texas”: After decades of singing others’ cover tunes with his bands, he’s now attached to an original song.

“I find myself thinking, ‘They’d better do our song right if (others) play it,’” he said. “I wish they’d buy it rather than share it.”

The reaction to “So Long, Texas” has delighted Rita, who wrote it last spring.

“We’re just thrilled with the positive response we’ve had so far,” she said. “I would say 95 percent of the publicity we’ve had has been positive.”

But the remainder, she says, see the lyrics, in which the singer talks about crossing the border and living off the Mexican government, as employing ethnic stereotypes.

Ernesto Fraga, publisher of the local bilingual newspaper Tiempo, uses far stronger terms to describe the song. While he says few members of Waco’s Hispanic community have likely heard “So Long, Texas,” he has heard the song — and brands it racist.

“I talked with a DJ for a Tejano station and he played it, and some of the calls he got were from people who were quite offended by it,” Fraga said. “I personally am really offended by it. I think it’s very racist. Anytime somebody sings a song about how Texas no longer looks like Texas because there are too many Mexicans, that’s racist.”

Rita Jones says critics aren’t listening to the song and hearing its tongue-in-cheek tone.

“The bottom line is, this song is not about the legals,” she said. “It’s about the illegals.”

Fraga disagrees vehemently.

“The people who are airing it may claim it’s not against immigrants, it’s about illegal immigrants,” he said. “But it still boils down to how Texas is not what Texas used to be because it’s not as white as it used to be.”

He also says the song, through its protagonist’s decision to live off the Mexican government, implies that illegal immigrants in America are benefiting wholly from the U.S. welfare system, which Fraga claims is false.

Rita, a longtime Axtell songwriter retired after more than 20 years with the Waco-McLennan County Library, says she wrote “So Long, Texas” as a humorous take on illegal immigration but found no takers when she offered it to local musicians to record.

Bradshaw, a veteran musician and Central Texas music promoter, suggested he and the Joneses do it themselves. The three joined Temple audio engineer Steve Palousek, also a musician, and they recorded a CD single of it, naming themselves “Johnny Tex and the Texicans.”

Zack Owen, operations manager of Waco country radio station WACO-FM (100), and Jim Cody gave the single heavy airplay on their morning show this summer.

Local and state word-of-mouth, however, didn’t have the reach that comments on the Internet did. The Web connected radio stations in Canada, Australia and New Zealand to the Joneses and Bradshaw, asking to play the song.

The Internet also brought it to the attention of the Texas Minutemen, the Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee and Dobbs, a veteran newsman who has long been vocal on concerns over illegal immigration and its impact on the U.S. economy.

Country songs tied to events or political issues aren’t new — Owen recalls one such song about Osama bin Laden — but their lifespan generally parallels that of interest in the topic.

“As interest in a subject dies down, the song dies down,” Owen said. “But politicians are keeping this going.”

Capitol Hill is keeping the issue stirred up, especially with the U.S. House and Senate sparring over how tough to get on illegal immigrants. With the Nov. 7 election fast approaching, the Senate on Friday voted to build 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border but left other prickly immigration issues favored by the House leadership unaddressed.

Every time a candidate’s ad touches on the theme of immigration, Bradshaw says, “So Long, Texas — Hello, Mexico!” stays current a little longer.

“I think the situation won’t go away anytime soon,” Bradshaw said. “It’s going to take more dialogue. If people have a dialogue on it, maybe the problem can be solved. I think our song adds to that dialogue.”

As a journalist, Fraga agrees the song’s creators have a right to write, say and sing whatever they want. But he isn’t sure “So Long, Texas” is adding to constructive dialogue.

“I’m still offended by it,” he said.

choover@wacotrib.com

757-5749

Fraga, can either learn to like it, get over it or turn his radio off. There is one other option he can take. He can do like the guy in the song does

I am sooooooooooooo tired of people like Fragas using the race card.
I find his comment below very racist! Mr. Fragas there is nothing is our constitution or laws that quarantees you the right to not be offended. The only people that cry race are the pro-illegal open borders crowd because they cannot dispute facts!

(“The people who are airing it may claim it’s not against immigrants, it’s about illegal immigrants,” he said. “But it still boils down to how Texas is not what Texas used to be because it’s not as white as it used to be.” )

I'm with you Charles!

“I’m still offended by it,” he said.

Mr Fragas -

Are you also offended by the invasion?

Are you offended by the 1000's of Americans who have been killed as a direct result of II mainly from Mexico?

Are you offended at the brutality of gang rapes and other violent crimes as a direct result of II mainly from Mexico?

Are you offended by the total disregard for American law?

Are you offended by the radical change in many areas of American culture and the English language?

Are you offended by upside down American flags or subjugating the American flag to the Mexican flag?

Are you also offended byto name a few)
Academia Semillas del Pueblo school and its principal, Marcos Aguilar
Aztlan Academy in Tuscon,
Mexicayotl Academy in Nogales, Arizona.
The Dolores Huerta Preparatory High School in Pueblo, Colorado.
Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School in St. Paul, Minn. ????

I'm offended too!

TIEMPO
Ernesto Fraga
P.O. Box 1464
Waco, Texas 76703
254-752-7528
254-752-6715 fax
TIEMPO2020@aol.com

“I’m still offended by it,” he said.

Oh well......like what was said earlier.....there's no guarentee about not being offended. It's a far cry from re-writing a countrys anthem and singing it in a foreign language. Personally I think it's a great song and so glad it's being played in other countries. Great job guys! (and gals!)

Ernesto Fraga comes out swinging calling everyone a racist and then has the audacity to say "he isn’t sure “So Long, Texas” is adding to constructive dialogue"

In this article, the most destructive element to constructive dialogue is Ernesto Fraga.

W

added to homepage with a nasty note for Fraga

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=1547

BTT

About time they started telling the TRUE! story! As too Fragga comment I say TOUGH! it will get alot more nasty before it's done!