Alternative Reason for Song's Rejection

A letter from David Berman to the editor of The Tennessean, 28th June 2002.

To the Editor:

In the rush to adopt poses of indignation and fury over the removal of Charlie Daniel’s song Another Fallen American Hero from PBS’s July 4 programming, one thing’s gone unmentioned: The song sucks.

With its schlocky arrangements and hamfisted lyrics, it’s a remarkably bad all-around performance. I suspect someone at PBS was trying to let Charlie down easy by telling him that it was too “angry” to be included. Now he’s gone and rationalized his song’s rejection as some sort of bizarre insult to the memory of the victims of the World Trade Center bombing.

Talk about opportunism. Even Lee Greenwood wouldn’t sink that low.

David Berman
Nashville 37212