Trump has turned the lyrics to this song into part of his hysterical anti-immigrant screed. Trump is not a deep thinker, let alone a nuanced thinker. He has no idea the song is about him.
My sense hearing “ The Snake” sung by these two male vocalists it that the intended meaning could be interpreted as a warning to women who fall for men who turn out to be abusive once they take them in because they feel sorry for them: “A tender-hearted woman saw a poor half frozen snake.” You can easily extend this into all relationships.
Taken as a parable it certainly is a warning to those who associate Trump can be destroyed by him. He is a snake who kills the soul. GOPers may wake up someday and realize that they were poisoned by him. On a larger and more profound scale, this goes for the cheering MAGA throngs. It should be a warning to voters who have, as the song says, held Trump to their breasts.
‘The Snake’: How Trump appropriated a radical black singer’s lyrics for refugee fearmongering
EXCERPT:
The lyrics were written by an outspoken black singer, songwriter, social activist and former Communist Party member from Chicago, Oscar Brown Jr., in the 1960s.
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Brown’s work has been described as a celebration of black culture and a repudiation of racism. He wrote the lyrics for drummer Max Roach’s 1960 album “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite,” one of the first jazz records to deal heavily with the growing civil rights movement. He directed stage shows that cast gang members and other teens from poor neighborhoods in Chicago. And he created the musical adaptation of a play about a black militant leader that made it to Broadway with Muhammad Ali as the lead.
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Brown, who
died at 78 in 2005, wrote “The Snake” during a time in which he was performing regularly in nightclubs and writing songs that used biblical references and animal allegories for stories whose simple tellings held deeper meanings, two of his daughters Maggie, 55, and Africa Brown, 48, said in an interview.
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“In African tradition, you would say a proverb and pass that down,” Africa said. “That’s the way you teach people to live.”
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Brown’s family has been harshly critical of the president’s appropriation of the song, and Maggie and Africa said they wished he would stop using it. In particular, they are upset by the fact that it has been re-purposed in the pursuit of prejudice, saying in flies in the face of their father’s work.
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“Of course it had nothing to do with prejudice or racist thoughts that he’s twisting it into,” Maggie said. “We always took it like if you lay down with dogs, don’t expect not to wake up with fleas.”
Here’s the upbeat Al Wilson version of the song:
Progressive Dan Lavorie writes:
Historians will view it as obvious that Trump was describing himself in "The Snake."His over-the-top recitation will be the narrative device for the first big post-Trump documentary.And they'll think we're all so dumb for not recognizing it in real-time.
This is what conservative Steve Schmidt has to say:
Trumps snake story is vicious, disgraceful, utterly racist and profoundly Un-American. That this is how an American President speaks of immigration is a tragedy. This crowd of cheering extremists are the heirs of the Know-Nothing’s and nativists that have always plagued us .
Bottom line: The verse Trump intends to warn about immigrants all of whom he wants us to believe are like members of MS-13 is really a dire warning about himself.
LYRICS
On her way to work one morning
Down the path along side the lake
A tender hearted woman saw a poor half frozen snake
His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew
"Oh well," she cried, "I'll take you in and I'll take care of you"
"Take me in oh tender woman
Take me in, for heaven's sake
Take me in oh tender woman, " sighed the snake
She wrapped him up all cozy in a curvature of silk
And then laid him by the fireside with some honey and some milk
Now she hurried home from work that night as soon as she arrived
She found that pretty snake she'd taking in had been revived
"Take me in, oh tender woman
Take me in, for heaven's sake
Take me in oh tender woman, " sighed the snake
Now she clutched him to her bosom, "You're so beautiful," she cried
"But if I hadn't brought you in by now you might have died"
Now she stroked his pretty skin and then she kissed and held him tight
But instead of saying thanks, that snake gave her a vicious bite
"Take me in, oh tender woman
Take me in, for heaven's sake
Take me in oh tender woman, " sighed the snake
"I saved you," cried that woman
"And you've bit me even, why?
You know your bite is poisonous and now I'm going to die"
"Oh shut up, silly woman," said the reptile with a grin
"You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in
"Take me in, oh tender woman
Take me in, for heaven's sake
Take me in oh tender woman, " sighed the snake
Songwriters: ROBERT S. KELLY, DARIAN MORGAN