Stand by Your Horse
November 2016. I find this song by Qowboy Vern: Stand by Your Horse. A parody, he notes. I needn’t share the lyrics as it’s easy enough to guess their nature. The point is you gotta stand by your horse, be proud of him and take the best care of him cuz after all he’s just a horse.
Tammy Wynette and her producer wrote the real thing and it became Wynette’s signature song, pushing her toward superstar status. It was even selected by the library of congress because of its cultural, historical and aesthetic significance. Feminists were not impressed. Nor was Hilary Clinton and when she dared to speak out, saying I’m not some little woman standing by her man like Tammy Wynette, she was punished. Chances are she lost this last election due to her impulsive remark.
Because of their great significance I really should pass these lyrics along: Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman/Giving all your love to just one man./You’ll have bad times/And he’ll have good times, /Doin’ things that you don’t understand. /But if you love him you’ll forgive him, /Even though he’s hard to understand./And if you love him/Oh be proud of him,/Cause after all he’s just a man. /Stand By Your Man,/Give him two arms to cling to, and/Something warm to come to/When nights are cold and lonely./Stand By Your Man,/And tell the world you love him./Giving all the love you can./Stand By Your Man.
I’m dubious about the song’s merits but it does seem to have mileage. Apparently it’s the title song for the German comedy Dittsche: Das wirklich wahre Leben ( the really true life). According to Wikipedia the story line goes like this. The unemployed Dittsche frequents a local fast food diner and converses with the proprietor about current events, drawing heavily on bizarre tabloid headlines to formulate perplexingly insane theories about their background. Schildkröte (German word for turtle), a bar regular, looks on mostly passively in the background. The show is unscripted and broadcast live from a real fast food diner in Hamburg.
I tune in to one episode and sure enough. There’s Tammy Wynette singing her little heart out. But why Tammy? Why Stand by Your Man?
A man with the name Dittsche is at an automatic disadvantage. The name apparently creates an overly sensitive nature which causes the man to sense and feel far more than he can understand or put into words. His feelings tend to build up within him and if he cannot release them through a creative, constructive channel, he suffers with frustration, moods and much inner turmoil. The name causes tension in the region of the solar plexus, heart and lungs. Others find it difficult to understand him.
Learning this, I begin to understand. Who better than Tammy to implore the audience to try to understand, forgive, and love Dittsche and his buddies as well as the comedy series. They’re just men after all. And one of them so very unfortunate in his name.
What I fail to understand is the recurring theme. As some guy responds when asked about the meaning of the song: even if a man hurts you from time to time he can’t help himself because he’s only a man. Okay. But why does the sentiment come up repeatedly? Without really looking, I find a quote of writer Ralph Ellison’s: He’s only a man. Remember that. He’s only a man. Jesus Christ Superstar’s ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’ lyrics: He’s a man. He’s just a man. Vanda, a country singer, records a tune called ‘Just a Man’. Author Rebecca Warner writes a book with the same title. I suppose it’s not surprising. The fallen or tragic hero theme has been around forever. For some reason it persists. And for some reason our hero must be stood by as opposed to stood up.
With some relief I return to the horses, finding only one with the name Dittsche. Perhaps Qowboy Vern’s horse. If it is, I truly hope Vern continues to stand by.