European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 30, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse . Minding its business in Gulf face Offik Troyko it s hard to prot list what Impact the Middle Mast crisis will have on stir National Economy Wall Street is twitching and hyperventilating. Or. Dow am or. Jones arc bouncing like Yoyos ant the Small investor is said to be stashing his wad under the mattress. Hut one area where the threat of War May bring an immediate profit a besides the Oil companies a is in tie country and Western music business. I Lank Williams jr., one of the leading country stars has come out with a Tough talking Chest thumping Camel kicking record really telling off Saddam i Hussein. Because the song lyrics arc among the worst in be Ever heard a a you can take your Poison Gas and stick in it your Sassafras a i omit the title. Now i be heard from another pair of country songwriters who Are Rushing their creation into the music stores. Because they approached me for publicity it is obvious that they arc not Only a embarrassed by their product but arc actually proud of it. That being the ease i shall name them word and music by Jan Buckingham and Eddie Ria Soner. The song is called a stand your ground a because in a not a country music scholar i m in Pamilar with Buckingham and reason or. However their publicity material says that Buckingham composed something that was nominated for a grammy called a i Don t mind the thorns Center piece the Odd looking com cd is a big part of desert life and culture. Vince Crawley reporting from the Sun and Sand of saudi Arabia discovers Why. Pages 6-7, when you re the and their publicist vows that the song will soon be playing just about everywhere. So if you want to get your patriotic juices flowing Here Are the lyrics. I can to Tell you How the Tunc goes but i m sure that if you just stomp your foot and kind of howl you la come up with something acceptable. Quot it took us years to get through Nam where we fought for Uncle Sam and i never really knew what we were there for. But this time i know we re right and ill defend the stars and stripes even if it Means we go to it goes on Quot it s not the Sand nor the soil not even for the Oil it s the principle that counts this time around. There s iraqis in Kuwait but Back Here in the states when you know you re right you stand your chorus Quot stand your ground when you know you re right j stand your ground even if you gotta fight. Like my daddy always told me son ainu to no War that a holy but when you re right you stand your let us Analyse this songs stirring message. It tells us that we Are there not for the Sand nor the soil. That a probably True. This country is richly endowed with Sand. We have our deserts beaches and dunes and there a no need for us to go All the Way to saudi Arabia to get Sand in our eyes and ears. But then the song tells us a not even for the if that a True in a really confused. If we re not contents there for the Oil what Are we there for a figs and dates of course we re there because of the Oil. As it happens Little Kuwait is sitting on one of the worlds biggest puddles. Saudi Arabia is sitting on another great puddle. And we want to keep those puddles flowing at prices that Are acceptable to our corporations and those in the rest of the industrialized world. The song asserts a a it a the principle that counts this time principle Kuwait was populated by a few Hundred thousand very Oil Rich self indulgent arabs who imported foreigners to do whatever dirty work was needed to give them the lifestyles of the Rich and bloated. And saudi Arabia has been run by a handful of enormously wealthy and selfish families who think nothing of jetting to Las vegas Monte Carlo or Baden Baden for the weekend to drop a few million in Oil profits at the Roulette tables. So i done to think Many americans believe we must stand our ground in a Distant desert to defend the principle that some Sheik should have Gold faucets in his John. However if the song had said a a principal instead of a principle a it might have made sense. The dictionary says the financial meaning of principal is a the amount of a debt investment etc., minus the interest or the amount on which interest is computed the face value of a Stock or Bond the main body of an estate a yes that a what we re there for to look out for the old principal. Our corporate principal Japan a Europe a Kuwait a the saudi sheiks and everybody else a who has a Finger in the big Oil puddle. So maybe the song was right after All and they just misspelled that one word in the lyrics. Principle forget it. A but principal that songwriters daddy knew what he was talking about. Probably reads the Wall Street journal. Tribune Media service Back home.2 they re singing the Gulf song wrong stateside views .3 Light look at what s almost news observations .4 the signs of pre Man Euver syndrome what do you ask for in care package trends .5 Campaign for Elvis stamp goes on How americans stand on Gulf standoff books. 8-9 one sequel Worth forgetting James j. Kilpatrick is tired of cliches science and the world 10 High tides May bring More than water at a glance Spain Odds amp ends.11 Mouthy to kids Are big turnoff genealogy and Horoscope last laugh .\2 Dave Barry cartoons from around the world newsman and writer John Chancellor has some Medicine for America. Page 8. Sunday is a weekly supplement of the stars and stripes. Editor John Taylor Art director Sharon Kilday production Lisa Williams Denise Adam sunday september 30, 1990
