| |
| The
Marine Corps Association |
|
For all who have earned and worn the eagle, globe, and anchor, the Marine
Corps Association is the professional organization for all Marines --
active duty,
Reserve, retired, and Marine veterans. The MCA understands and identifies
with
the sacrifices made and the services rendered as a Marine to this great
country.
We strive to keep our members informed of developments and future plans,
while
emphasizing the rich history of the Marine Corps and keeping everyone
abreast of current operations.
CMC has determined that Leatherneck magazine and the Marine Corps Gazette
are mission essential
to help promote professional growth and distribute troop information
[Letter of instruction 1560 / MRV / 30SEPT04.]
These two great publications foster the spirit and traditions of our Corps.
Search the magazine archives back to their
very first issue. Demonstrate your
commitment to the
Marine Corps and join the professional association for all Marines today.
Join, subscribe or give-a-gift of 2 or more years and receive an exclusive
MCA Mission Essential Coin FREE with your paid membership/subscription.
Offer valid through 30 June 2005. (Please reference key code NIMCOM05).
Semper Fidelis!
Leatherneck
Article Index
Printer-Friendly
Format
|
|
|
|
Story by John Hoellwarth
Chely Wright has played to military audiences
throughout her career. Her work with Stars for Stripes has taken
her to venues such as Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan.
(Photo by Sgt Colin Wyers) |
It started with the licking of an envelope and the placing of a stamp.
Gunnery Sergeant Christopher Wright was on his way to Iraq
for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi
Freedom and had enclosed a Marine
Corps sticker for delivery to his sister, Chely, in Nashville,
Tenn.
The sticker, the same ubiquitous round seal of the Corps handed out
by recruiting stations across America, was destined for national notoriety.
"I got the envelope and there was no letter. But there was simply
a little round sticker that said U.S. Marine Corps. So, I went downstairs
and I slapped it on the back of my vehicle and I didn't think much
more about it," said Chely, standing center stage behind a microphone
at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
Chely Wright has been a country music singer and songwriter since
moving to Nashville at 18 to pursue her dream. Her move, although
separating her geographically, has never kept her heart far from her
family, which cherishes its history of military service. Because of
this, Chely was eager to support the troops during the onset of Operation
Iraqi Freedom.
In 2003, she joined a group of celebrities traveling to Baghdad with
an organization called Stars for Stripes. She had worked with the
organization for years to support deployed troops, but the Baghdad
trip was her first to a war zone.
When she returned to Nashville, she did so with a new respect for
her brother, the men and women she met and the sticker on the back
of her sport utility vehicle. Unfortunately, Chely soon found out
her support of the troops at war was a conviction not shared by everyone.
"I was driving down a road here in Nashville called West End. It's
kind of the 'shi-shi, ha-ha' part of town. It's where the rich people
live. I don't live there, but that's how I get home," she said. "I
was driving down the road there and something important happened."
A woman driving near Chely had noticed her sticker, pulled up alongside
Chely's vehicle and yelled some choice words about the war, which
were accompanied with a manual gesture by the most infamous of digits.
"It took me a second to realize what she was talking about," Chely
said. "I went straight home and wrote a song about it."
The song, "Bumper of My SUV," was a catharsis for Chely. It was something
she simply had to get off her chest. The incident had wounded the
spot in her heart reserved for those who, like her brother, were risking
their lives to protect the same streets on which this unknown woman
was driving.
The problem was not that Chely took the incident personally, but that
her experiences performing for the troops abroad made it impossible
for her to disregard the insult such an act posed to those whose personal
contributions to freedom she discovered to be unfathomable.
The song wrote itself, as is evidenced by its lyrics. Completely devoid
of the contrived metaphors and heavy-handed attempts at depth that
characterize much of popular music, its power is in its simplicity.
Lyrically, it speaks like an intensely personal journal entry that
has found the pretension-free voice of self-dialogue.
As she would later explain, "[The song] is the absolute truth, no
exaggerations, no poetic license. I had no intentions of ever playing
it for anyone."
Accordingly, the song's "demo" spent 16 forgotten months on Chely's
home computer. Then, in September 2004, Chely was again slated to
perform for the troops in Kuwait and Iraq. In preparing for the trip,
she rediscovered the song and thought she might give it a try.
"Truthfully, I had forgotten about it, but was curious. So I burned
a copy from the hard drive of my home studio," she said. "I played
it for a couple of guys in my crew and a couple of other friends.
They all commented that I must perform this song in the Middle East."
About 20 minutes before the first show of the tour, Chely sat down
with her bandleader and mapped out the song's progression.
"I just said, 'Have this ready to do ... just you and I onstage,'
" she recalled. "Well, we did it. And we continued to do it on every
show. I had three- to four-hour autograph signings after each show,
and I'll bet seven out of 10 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, reservists
and such asked me, 'Please record the "Bumper of My SUV" song. It
would mean so much to us if you would. Thank you for that song and
for acknowledging that we're not a bunch of warmongers. Many of us
believe that we are doing great things. And furthermore, we're just
doing our jobs.' "
Chely thanked them for their sentiments, promising to record a proper
version of the song and send it back to the Armed Forces Radio and
Television Network, which had already begun playing the demo she had
brought with her.
"The buzz started while she was still over there. We started getting
tons of e-mails about the song, just based on the live performances
overseas," said Katie Gillon, Chely's personal manager. "She had left
the demo with the Armed Forces Network when she came home, and it
managed to get back to radio stations in the States before she could
even get the final recording finished. The stations said their phones
were ringing off the hook. Cleveland, Daytona, San Diego … it just
started from there."
|
It wasn't long before the song appeared on
the charts due to its success on the radio, a noteworthy accomplishment
given Chely's complete lack of the record label affiliation that is
closely guarded within the industry as the only avenue to commercial
success.
In an industry where the lifeblood of success is often the exposure
only money and back-alley handshakes can procure, Chely Wright has
managed to rise up the charts by keeping her mind on the troops and
her words on the Corps. The success of her song cannot be credited
to extensive marketing campaigns or well-funded attempts at dictating
media exposure.
Instead, "Bumper of My SUV" stands on a foundation of grass-roots
support, propped up by fans with whom the song has struck a chord.
An anthem for Americans whose vehicles proudly bear the same sticker,
Chely's words speak directly to that portion of the country that feels
there never need be a situation in which they are compelled to justify
their support for the armed forces.
Chely sings, "I guess I want to 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 SUV/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/That's why I've got a sticker
for the U.S. Marines on the bumper of my SUV."
Since rerecording the song, Chely has enjoyed a success she is quick to dismiss as simply keeping a promise to the troops. She insists she never intended to capitalize on the war in Iraq and has always been a staunch supporter of America's armed forces.
Having since caught the ear of Nashville's Dualtone Records, Chely plans to accompany the recent release of her new album "The Metropolitan Hotel," on which "Bumper of My SUV" can be found, with performances at various military installations, to include the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C.
"It's just amazing that one small action can affect so many people, that just throwing a sticker in the mail could generate so much support," GySgt Wright mused about his sister's impact on the morale of Marines and their families. "People should not underestimate the importance of their actions. It's like voting. Every vote counts. I put a sticker in the mail. Look what happened."
© 2005 Leatherneck Magazine. All rights reserved.
|
