Music Video Hell #2: Ray Stevens
Now that MTV has about as much to do with music as KFC has to do with Kentucky, the Internet has become our primary source for music videos. With the Internet, though, there is no filter. It’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Well here, dear friends, is the chaff. It’s your penance for a lifetime of sins: Music Video Hell.
In last week’s article, I was pretty harsh on Owl City. I believe I may have even said that Adam Young’s music was the worst thing to ever happen to humanity, putting it above famine, plague and pestilence. It’s pretty terrible, yes, but at least it’s not racist, xenophobic garbage like Ray Stevens’ “Come to the USA.” Owl City is, for the most part, harmlessly awful. No one’s going to listen to it and feel inspired to go punch a Mexican in the face. At worst, it might inspire someone to punch Adam Young in the face.
Ray Stevens is a different sort of awful, though. I’m talking Glenn Beck or Ann Coulter awful. The kind of awful that markets itself to a hateful, racist, sexist, homophobic audience. In other words: he’s appealing to the Fox News crowd. In fact, he has even logged some appearances on the network, undoubtedly for his highly sophisticated and nuanced views on politics. Ahem.
The video for Stevens’ “Come to the USA” opens with Stevens himself portraying an effeminate telephone operator for the “Illegal Immigration Assistance Program.” He’s situated in front of the UN, of course, because the UN is here to take away our freedom and institute a one-world government to be ruled over by the Antichrist. On the other end of the telephone is Ray Stevens again, but this time it’s red-blooded American Ray Stevens, standing in front of the Statue of Liberty and looking appalled at the multitude of language options being offered to him. This is America, after all. Speak American or get out!
Stevens, patriot that he is, goes on to talk about how other countries have better policies towards illegal immigrants than the U.S. The countries in question? China, Sudan, Iran, Mexico, and North Korea. Apparently if you sneak into Mexico they’ll execute you with a firing squad? I don’t have time to fact check that, so I’ll have to take Stevens at his word. Then there’s Obama’s USA, though, letting illegal immigrants in left and right and not executing them.
“Come to the USA,” Stevens sings while dressed in goofy, foreign-looking outfits. “It will be your lucky day, ‘cause when you get in there’s lots of goodies waitin’.” He goes on to list said goodies: healthcare (gasp!), welfare (no!), free education (damn those socialists!), and… well, some of the rest is just too awful to mention. Did you know that you are given a free car when you come to the US, though? How about cable TV and help establishing a prostitution business? YOU EVEN GET CHEESE!
The implication of “Come to the USA” and its accompanying video is that illegal immigrants are at best freeloaders looking to take advantage of us hard-working, tax-paying Americans and at worst are terrorists taking advantage of lax enforcement to enter our country with the intent to murder us. Stevens doesn’t seem to get that the vast majority of illegal immigrants in the United States live here in pretty bad conditions, and only do so because conditions were many times worse at home. They’re not sitting in mansions laughing at Joe Blue-Collar; they’re putting in long hours at jobs that usually pay less than minimum wage just to survive. Why should he get that, though? It’s much easier to get a cheap laugh off of dressing up like an ethnic stereotype and exploiting right-wing paranoia.
Stevens dedicates the song and video to “all the hard-working American citizens who were born in other countries and chose to come to the U. S. A. the right way!” That’s a nice thought. Good for those who have made it through the rigorous process of legal immigration. The “right way” sure is easier said than done, though, especially if you’re dirt poor and trying to get out of a bad situation. Stevens doesn’t have to think about that, though, because he’s relatively affluent white guy who was lucky enough to be born in our fair country. How did he attain his affluence? By writing tripe like “Ahab the Arab,” about as potent a distillation of Arab stereotyping as you are likely to find in musical form.
But hey, I’m not here to talk politics. I’m here to talk about awful music videos. In addition to being xenophobic, the video for “Come to the USA” is also jaw-droppingly unfunny. The sight of Ray Stevens mugging in outlandish foreigner costumes in front of a green screen will most likely make you want to gouge your eyes out with a rusty spork, regardless of your personal politics. If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself below.
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About the Author
Jeremy Clymer lives in Michigan with his wife and kid. He shoots his writings out into the ethers of the Internet in the hopes that someone will pick up on his transmissions and shower him with money and/or praise.Email this Author | All posts by Jeremy Clymer
Yup. *mentally writing in pain*
-I remember Ahab the Arab. It was very popular with my dad’s favorite radio station during Desert Storm. Ugh.
WRITHING!!! DAMN IT!