Billy Bayou and the American Frontier

          The song “Billy Bayou," released in late 1958, tells the story of a nineteenth century red-haired boy born and raised in Louisiana.  During his lifetime, Billy Bayou fights the Indians at Little Big Horn (when he was merely thirteen), and tangles with Geronimo, nearly losing his life, but coming through the incident unscathed, until in 1878 he marries “a pretty girl who walks through his front gate.”  The song was written by Roger Miller and released by Jim Reeves in October 1958 and being dubbed the Number One song on Country’s Billboard Charts for 1959.  It is interesting to see the utilization of an idealized “cowboy culture” in a country song that apparently resonated with a vast majority of the listening audience.  The song had mass appeal, displaying the model of the “American Frontier,” symbolizing freedom, defeating threatening enemies, and, of course, the standard way of life.  Billy Bayou was a model citizen, defending his country and then marrying a pretty girl and, we can guess, having a family of his own, furthering the cycle of American life.  In fact, Jim Reeves dedicated his September 9, 1958 television performance of “Billy Bayou” to the Boy Scouts of America, describing the Boy Scouts as the epitome of American values:

 My guests join me in saluting the Boys Scouts of America. More than five million Boy Scouts for over fifty years of service have written splendid pages in American history and have climbed the scouting trail to dedicated adult service. The character building and citizenship training program of the Boys Scouts has been a profound influence on our American way of life, and the home, and the church, and the nation.  Character counts. Their very own slogan “Be Prepared” is indicative of their contribution to character building and citizenship training.  Join with us in this salute to the Boy Scouts by helping the scouting program in your own hometown.  Better boys make a better America.  Scouts honor.  To the Boy Scouts everywhere.  Now a favorite of mine for my favorite boys  - the Boy Scouts:  “Billy Bayou.”

          This song, and the dedication by Jim Reeves who performed the popular 1958 version, reveal how the Cold War provided for a push for pride in America and democracy as opposed to the rivalry of Communism in China and the Soviet Union.  It comes as no surprise that the cowboy culture with its model of the American Frontier was a popular method of asserting Americanism on a public primed to engulf everything “American.”

Cold War Beginnings: Chuck Berry

Well, I'm so glad I'm living in the U.S.A.
Yes. I'm so glad I'm living in the U.S.A.
Anything you want, we got right here in the U.S.A.

           Chuck Berry, being an African American artist in the late 1950s and early 1960s defied the odds and made a mark on the music, and on the culture, of American life. In that, he truly appreciated life in the U.S. as revealed by his lyrics in "Back in the U.S.A." released in 1959. Chuck Berry was born in St. Louis in the late 1920’s and grew up in a lower middle class African American family. Although he escaped the rural poverty that was prevalent in the blues music of the black artists, he had a true love of this music. Berry wrote “Ida Red”, a “countrified blues song” and attempted to record it at the Chess brothers’ studio in Chicago. After reshaping this song into a “rhythmical rock and roll” style,” Maybelline” became a national hit reaching number five on the charts in 1955. Berry attempted to release a few other bluesy style songs, unsuccessfully, and he, therefore, began to write songs that appealed directly to the white teenage record-buying audience and became a very successful early rock and roller.

            Although Berry’s success in the late 1950’s was short lived due to his prison term, Berry broke ground in the rock and roll world, tearing down racial barriers and appealing to white audiences. Berry was the first African American rock and roller to get white airplay with “Maybelline” due to his carefully enunciated lyrics allowing him to pass for white in a strictly segregated society. Berry knew how to appeal to the white teenage world, and specifically targeted them in his music, making his appeal to a larger unsegregated audience. Berry’s musical style was also new, basically defining rock and roll with his unprecedented compositions of blues beats, country runs, and humorous lyrics. Berry’s influences can be heard in many artists who came after him, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.

           But our focus here is on the patriotism of the lyrics, of which Berry was an early example leading into the Vietnam conflict, when it seemed that most of the public supported any efforts the U.S. made in combating Communism. Chuck Berry's lyrics in "Back in the U.S.A." ooze with patriotism and pride for the United States. This is not surprising if we place Berry's song within the socio-political context in which it was written - The Cold War. In this context, America was competing with the Soviet Union in all aspects, and in that regard, America was encouraging its citizens to believe that the United States was the best in the world.  America offered be best of everything including the simple things, as Berry shows us, like drive-ins, jukeboxes, and sizzling hamburgers. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame credits Berry with appealing to the masses and appreciating life in the United States:

During this high-spirited decade [of the 1950s], Berry hailed America as a land of fun and opportunity. The mid-Fifties was a period of rising prosperity for the growing middle class, and the social landscape was slowly improving for African-Americans as the civil rights era dawned. In the lyrics for “Back in the U.S.A.,” written after returning from an Australian tour, Berry saluted such everyday pleasures as the drive-ins and corner cafes “where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day/Yeah, and a jukebox jumping with records like in the U.S.A.”

           Berry's lyrics are a perfect example of those that promoted Americanism and set up the United States citizens to fully back its country in all affairs both foreign and domestic, especially when these affairs furthered democratic ideologies by preventing the spread of the feared Communism that appeared to be taking over Asia. But not all songs penned during this time promoted American patriotism, which we shall explore further in our next post.

Soundtrack to the Vietnam War

       There was no time in American history where music played a more important role than during the Vietnam War era.  That era was wrought with social changes - the women's movement, black power, anti-war demonstrations, and youth empowerment in general as embodied by the counterculture.  Music is still associated with the counterculture, even today, but music also shaped the attitudes going into the war, both supportive of American involvement in Southeast Asia and in demonstrating anti-war attitudes.  Less well known is the “frontier myth” and its connection to support of the Vietnam War through country/western music, a genre that was rich with patriotism. This blog will explore music with a focus on the country/western contributions and attitudes in particular, as well as displaying both positive and negative attitudes about the Vietnam War through social shifts, consumerism, and the transition from manic post-World War II attitudes through the Vietnam War, creating a conversation between pro- and anti-war attitudes through music.