If It's New To You? A Blog and a Song

I would like to thank Cao for stopping by today and raising my curiosity enough to go and visit Cao's Blog. Upon visiting I found much that I liked. Number one of which is an intelligent, opinionated, strong willed woman. She has an honest expression of her views and represents herself well.

During this visit I was drawn to a piece she had up about Chely Wright and her song The Bumper of My S.U.V. I had not heard this song and went to Chely's site to check it out. It turns out that the song is based in fact. Chely wrote it, then later put in the shows she did for the troops in Iraq. The song got great reception and the men and women in uniform encouraged her to take this homespun story and release it nation wide.

Chely decided to honor their request and go a step further, 50% of the proceeds are donated to Stars for Stripes.

Stars for Stripes, working in conjunction with Armed Forces Entertainment (AFE), strives to take quality, celebrity entertainment into the remote sites where the troops need the moral boost the most. Entertainers who participate in the tours experience military life first-hand as they live and eat where the troops live and eat, are transported in military vehicles, and perform for the most appreciative audiences they will ever entertain. Following every performance, entertainers sign autographs for everyone, no matter how long the line or how many hours it takes for everyone to get an autograph and have their photo made with the celebrity.

Below is the album cover, lyrics and a short audio clip.

The Bumper of My S.U.V. by Chely Wright

I’ve got a bright red sticker on the back of my car says “United States Marines”
And yesterday a lady in a minivan held up a middle finger at me.
Does she think she knows what I stand for?
Or the things that I believe?
Just by looking at a sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my S.U.V.

See my brother Chris he’s been in for more than fourteen years now.
Our dad was in the Navy during Viet Nam
Did his duty then he got out.
And my grandpa earned his Purple Heart
On the beach of Normandy.
That’s why I’ve got a sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my S.U.V.

But that doesn’t mean that I want war
I’m not Republican or Democrat.
But I’ve gone all around this crazy world
Just to try to better understand.
Yes, I do have questions
I get to ask them because I’m free.
That’s why I got a sticker for the U.S Marines
On the bumper of my S.U.V.

‘Cause I’ve been to Hiroshima
And I’ve been to the DMZ
I’ve walked on the sand in Baghdad
Still don’t have all of the answers I need.
But I guess that I wanna know where she’s been
Before she judges and gestures to me
‘Cause she don’t like my sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my S.U.V.

So I hope that lady in her minivan
Turns on her radio and hears this from me
As she picks up her kids from their private school
And drives home safely on our city streets
Or to the building where her church group meets.
Yeah.

That’s why I’ve got a sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my S.U.V.