Song of the Day 11/21: Booker T. and the M.G.’s, “Hang ‘Em High”
Donald Trump’s filter, badly atrophied to begin with, appears to have disappeared entirely with his call for six Democrats in Congress to be hung as traitors. Their “crime”? They recorded a video reminded members of the armed forces of their Constitutional duty to disobey illegal orders. Somebody should tell him panicked screeching isn’t a good look for a supposed strongman.
The 1968 film “Hang ‘Em High” was disdained by critics for being a Hollywood imitation of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Westerns, right down to Clint Eastwood’s starring role, but the public gave it a big thumbs up. The movie’s theme was composed by Dominic Frontiere, best known for scoring several TV series in the ’60s, notably “The Outer Limits,” the creepier cousin to “The Twilight Zone.” In further imitation of the spaghetti Westerns, the music was recorded by Hugo Montenegro, but it took this R&B cover by Booker T. to turn it into a No. 9 Billboard hit.
What’s funny is that it was the entire premise of the “Oathkeeper” nitwits.
What’s funny about the Oath Keepers is that they’re so stupid they don’t realize they swore an oath to the Constitution, not the Klan.
Sister Charles Edward, the Sister of St. Joseph who taught me the seventh and eighth grades at St. Helena’s, once pointed out that when it comes to human beings, they are “hanged,” unlike, say, artworks, which are “hung.”
Thinking about it at this late remove, I suppose it’s because a person is hanged until they are dead, then taken down, while artworks are left up there.