Ex-Soul Cougher Mike Doughty’s “Fort Hood” is a bouncy singalong with a chorus ripped from The Fifth Dimension and a shoutout to Young Jeezy. The song’s brand new video, directed on a shoestring in Lefferts Gardens, features brightly-attired young Brooklynites bopping around and shedding their clothes. But lest you mistake the tune for a shiny-happy-people singalong, let’s clarify: “Fort Hood” was inspired by soldiers’ post-traumatic stress disorder, as witnessed by Mike, whose dad’s a Vietnam vet. We’ll let the songwriter go into more detail. He sent along this note.
I wouldn’t call this an anti-war song, because I’m not gonna rail about who lied about what. Too late for that. I’m concerned about lost innocence, and damaged young bodies and minds. I think I say it most directly in the bridge: “You should be getting stoned with a prom dress girl…You should blast Young Jeezy with your friends in a parking lot.”
Not to mention my own guilt at being able to live a normal life while that nightmare is going on over there.
The USO invited me to Walter Reed a couple years back; I met a bunch of guys who had lost their limbs. Young guys. But I know that you don’t have to be wounded to be scarred by war.
My Dad was in the Army, and I grew up in the 70s on Army bases; he, and basically all the adult men around, had been in Vietnam. There was a lot of weird, angry behavior that was baffling to me as a kid, but now I recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder. That’s what I wonder about when I see guys in uniform coming back from the war, sitting around an airport; what’s in this guy’s head? What has he witnessed? What kind of terrible images is he burdened with?
It’s oddball in indie-rock-land to steal a chorus and repurpose it; I grew up with house and hiphop music, so sampling seems very natural to me, the only difference is that I’m actually singing it. Actually, I downloaded (OK, stole) an MP3 of the Japanese cast of Hair. The verses were hilarious and strange, of course, but when the chorus came in, it suddenly switched to English: let the sunshine in, let the sunshine in. I was listening to it on the D train over the Manhattan bridge and suddenly I found myself tearing up, extremely moved.
Mike
Golden Delicious is out now on ATO Records.
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Mike Doughty, I know you will read this.
yawn
hey mike, you should consider not being such an asshole to your fans all the time. Its becoming common knowledge that you’re a self-important arrogant prick in sheep’s clothing.
love it. amazing!
love it. amazing.
hooray for mike doughty!
Rad. Rad. Rad.
I’m all for dancin’ on the roof!
Mike Doughty is the coolest. The show he played in Austin was awesome.
Doughty really excels at writing protest songs in a well-thought out manner. This track, as well as “Move On,” ring much more true to me than rock singers just bitching mindlessly about the war with empty screeds.
TC I totally agree. I think Mike should do a small album of anti-war songs and let the truth ring beautifully.
TC, I totally agree. I think Mike should do a small album of anti-war songs and let the truth ring beautifully. And it would sell like hotcakes.
i agree with the dude who said mike should stop being a prick. i was probably as big a fan as could be until i met the guy in orlando. real asshole. not cool. i pretty much stopped listening to his music and definetly wont be buying golden delicious. I may throw produce at him at the music festival hes playing at in troy new york next month…. still undecided and still very disappointed.