God Bless America for What
1971 · Elektra EKS 74089 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Swamp Dogg
- Title
- God Bless America for What
- Release
- Rat On
- Year
- 1971
- Label
- Elektra # EKS 74089
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · Soul · Funk
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Soul singer Swamp Dogg, born Jerry Williams, Jr. in 1942 in Portsmouth, Virginia, across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk - a navy seaside town in which the 'Norfolk Sound' soul music developed in the early 1960s. He also recorded under the name Little Jerry Williams. He adopted the name Swamp Dogg in 1970: "I became Swamp Dogg in 1970 in order to have an alter-ego and someone to occupy the body while the search party was out looking for Jerry Williams, who was mentally missing in action due to certain pressures, mal-treatments and failure to get paid royalties" - from the linear notes of the 2005 compilation The Best of 25 Years of Swamp Dogg. Note that in 1972 he released the single Sam Stone (Cream # 1021), a cover of the John Prine song about the plight of a Vietnam veteran.The album Rat On! (Elektra Records # EKS 74089) included many references to the social-political issues of the time, such as Civil Rights, war, and religion. The front cover also strangely featured Williams sitting on a rat. He later wrote that: "I turned out to be everything that Elektra didn't want - Anti-War, Pro-Black, Peace movement participant and very candid. As if this was not enough I designed the…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Born 14 July 1942, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA
Themes
In collections
Civil Rights Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs