{"id":26265,"date":"2017-11-22T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T04:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?p=26265"},"modified":"2017-11-27T10:13:15","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T14:13:15","slug":"take-indian-lunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2017\/11\/take-indian-lunch\/","title":{"rendered":"“Take an Indian to Lunch”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There\u2019s nothing like a good satire to interrogate complex historical legacies. On this day before Thanksgiving, I encourage you to listen to \u201cTake an Indian to Lunch\u201d<\/a> and to read my tribute to satirist Stan Freberg upon his death two years ago. \u2013David<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I cringe a bit when my children break into show tunes while in public. Selections from Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat<\/em> are fine (though they\u2019re still stumbling through the \u201cred and yellow and green and brown\/And scarlet and black and ochre and peach\/And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve . . .\u201d part). My worry is whether they\u2019re going to sing \u201cTake an Indian to Lunch.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a catchy song with impolitic title. The words, which point to the racism embedded in American history, are rather subversive. But sometimes the subversion is not always apparent to others when the kids bounce down the hiking path singing the following words at the top of their lungs:<\/p>\n

Take an Indian to lunch this week
\nShow him we\u2019re a regular bunch this week
\nShow him we\u2019re as liberal as can be
\nLet him know he\u2019s almost as good as we . . .<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s give in and all do the brotherhood bit
\nJust make sure we don\u2019t make a habit of it
\nTake an Indian to dine this week
\nShow him we don\u2019t draw the line this week
\nWe know everyone can\u2019t be
\nAs American as we<\/p>\n

After all, we came over on the Mayflower!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Stan
Stan Freberg \u2014 Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The song is the product of Stan Freberg (1926-2015), a self-described \u201cguerilla satirist\u201d who died last week. The New York Times<\/em> did a nice write-up<\/a> of Freberg\u2019s legacy, which mostly had to do with advertising. He won the top industry award 21 times and had an exceptionally eclectic clientele that included General Motors, the United States Army and the Presbyterian Church. In 1958 he opened his own agency with the following slogan: \u201cMore Honesty Than the Client Had in Mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freberg\u2019s genius was to insert a self-deprecating humor into commercials. He especially liked, as the Times<\/em> put it, \u201clampooning the deficiencies of a paying client\u2019s own products.\u201d In Pacific Airlines advertisements, he confronted people\u2019s fear of flying by telling people that even the pilots were afraid. As part of the campaign, flight attendants passed out \u201csurvival kits\u201d that included security blankets, a lucky rabbit\u2019s foot and fortune cookies bearing the slogan \u201cIt could be worse.\u201dUpon landing, the attendants were encouraged to exclaim: \u201cWe made it! How about that!\u201d<\/p>\n

As most satirists do, this mocker of modern consumerism had a serious side. Freberg was a social prophet. After being chosen to succeed Jack Benny on CBS radio, he got fired after refusing tobacco advertisements and joking about the proliferation of the hydrogen bomb. The son of a Baptist minister and vacuum-cleaner salesman, he also took satirical aim at American history. This was reflected in my favorite album, \u201cThe United States of America, Volume One: The Early Years\u201d (1961), the one my children have memorized because of its witty dialogue and catchy show tunes.<\/p>\n

In this beautifully produced album, Freberg uses historical anachronism to brilliant effect. He describes how therapists used sublimation to relieve the anxiety of early American explorers. He explains that Columbus came to America on a Fulbright. The Europeans that followed him were drawn by the bounty of organically grown fruits and vegetables. And that Columbus wanted to get a loan to open an Italian restaurant in the New World but can\u2019t because the banks were closed for the Columbus Day holiday.<\/p>\n

He also uses historical absurdity. In \u201cTake an Indian to Lunch,\u201d Freberg sings about an early Puritan politician who strategically takes an Indian out to eat in order to secure the Native American vote. In a song about the first Thanksgiving, the bald eagle displaces the wild turkey as the national bird\u2014because they cooked the wrong bird. Columbus has to leave the Spanish palace by a balcony because King Ferdinand finds him with Queen Isabella. Betsy Ross complains that George Washington tracked snow all over her early American rug. And Washington complains that Ross used red, white, blue, stars, and stripes in her design of the flag. \u201cWhy couldn\u2019t it have been puce\u2014or lavender over chartreuse?\u201d he laments.<\/p>\n

\"\"In the context of a pervasive jingoism in the wake of WWII, this affectionate but irreverent recitation of American foibles was a helpful antidote to a mean McCarthyism during the Cold War. In the song \u201cDeclaration of Independence,\u201d Freberg plays Benjamin Franklin and sings, \u201cYou sign a harmless petition and forget all about it. Ten years later, you get hauled up before a committee.\u201d Freberg reminded Americans that the founders, in their \u201cpurfuit of happineff,\u201d had clay feet and that their documents were (and are) imperfect. In fact, the founding fathers were not conservative themselves, despite the insistence of their biggest modern-day conservative boosters. In the revolutionary context, they were \u201cprofessional liberals\u201d and \u201cwild-eyed radicals.\u201d<\/p>\n

As you might expect, Freberg provoked immoderate reactions. Lots of famous people\u2014including Paul McCartney, Stephen King, \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic, and David Mamet\u2014loved him. So did lots of not-famous people, like many conservative Mennonites I grew up with. But, of course, like many prophets, Freberg was not always welcome in his hometown. Cold War hawks thought it was Freberg who was the \u201cwild-eyed radical.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Freberg didn\u2019t care. In the final scene of \u201cUSA, Volume 1,\u201d a grouchy lady confronts him and announces, \u201cI\u2019m from the Daughters of the American Revolu-\u201c Freberg slams the door as bombastic patriotic music closes the album.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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