Thursday 5 August 2010

Easy, Deasy

I found this little gem on another site (thank you so much Jukebox Mafia) and felt compelled to share it with you. After listening to Mike Deasy singing God Hates Queer (sic) I'm sure you'll understand why.

What I found most amazing, or possibly troubling, about the religious zealot's tirade was discovering the number of records in my own collection that the man who declares himself 'one of the most recorded guitarists in the history of music' has appeared on: virtually the entire Monkees' discography, classic albums by the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Tiny Tim, Ella Fitzgerald and others. Unsurprisingly God Hates Queer is notable for its absence from the god-bothering Mike Deasy's own discography (you'll find that here).

These days Mike makes most of his money from pandering to America's ever-growing Christian Music audience through touring, preaching the good word via his Mike Deasy Ministries programme and recording dreadfully anodyne paeans to the old man in the white beard who lives in the sky. Pleasingly, for fans of the ridiculous and for those of us who like our saviour supporters to have a bit of Jim and Tammy Bakker about them, the man is also running his own song-poem outfit. Saltmine records not only produce tracks by Mike and his missus Kathie but will, for a fee of $100, put your poem to music - and for a further $250 record a demo for you. How generous. I wonder how much of that ends up in the collection plate?

Unfortunately there is no composer credit on the label for God Hates Queer so we'll never know for sure if Mike wrote it himself or if it was submitted to his song sharking enterprise, although the latter is doubtful. Every other song-poem record which has ever been pressed credits the songwriter; what would be the point otherwise?

Mike, you may want to forget this little slice of bigotry, but I'm afraid the World's Worst Records feels obliged to out you.

Enjoy!

12 comments:

  1. The message/lyric is definitely ignorant and hateful, but the music itself is kinda "bouncy" and catchy. Sorry!

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  2. I agree. Catchy and bouncy bigotry is fine with me!

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  3. I think he was bold to sing the truth and on fire for God.

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  4. God hates Queer
    as the song says it doesn't say queers ..
    its the action that God Hates and is considered an abomination.

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    1. Dear Anonymous,

      I'm not really sure what your point is. Obviously I am aware of your Uncle's other work, as I've mentioned several of the artists he's worked with and , as a life-long Beatles fan, I know of Jim Horn...the man is a legend.

      But to call me small minded? Have you listed to the lyrics of this piece of trash? Probably not as your uncle is too ashamed of the record to include it in his own official discography. So, just for you, here is the first verse:

      God hates queer and so do I
      To say that’s the way you’re born is an alibi
      You’re going straight to hell and there you’ll fry
      Because God hates queers and so do I

      Incidentally this lovely little ditty ends with the line 'Hate the sin but love the sinner – but you know it ain’t the sin that’s gonna burn'. Delightful. I've apologised in the past for upsetting people, but, as a gay man who has spent a lifetime combatting this kind of garbage, I feel fully justified in being judgemental in this instance.

      I'm glad you idolise your uncle, but he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself for recording this disgusting, bigoted piece of hate-filled crap.

      Have a nice day!

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    2. Deasy's albums are wonderful and he is an exquisite guitarist, enough said.

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  5. Yes Merry, being gay, or 'queer' if you will, is no more of an abomination to God than eating shellfish, shaving your hair or wearing mixed fibres.

    The big problem I have with people who claim to be Christian (and hate is hardly a Christian emotion, is it?) is that they cherry pick the bits of the bible they like and beat people they don't like across the head with their bigotry.

    So, does your God also hate people who eat prawns or wear polycotton shirts and will he smite any man who shares a bed with his wife while she is having her period? Of course not. Otherwise we're all going to hell - you and Mike and me too!

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  6. Alas! Poor Merry...the Liberace of straights! Tune made want to tap dance on the coffe table...again!

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  7. I saw Mike and his wife Kathy in the early 80's at my local church. Absolutly wonderful guitar player with a fairly nice presentation of music. I didn't hear anything but mainstream middle of the road kind of views at that time. Sorry to hear about this other song. Hate damages everything, the hater and the hated. Hard to fight hate w/o being drawn into the middle of it, but I truly understand the need and appreciate the courage and effort. Thank you.

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  8. Probably late to the party but...
    As a teen, the Deasy family literally saved my life by taking me in and treating me as one of their own for many months.
    I fell deeply in love with this man, Kathie, Mikey and Shannon.
    This was not too long after his Manson run in and derp conversion and his was a home of warmth, love, and acceptance, along with a deep continuing study of Religious Science. To say I learned tons from these folks about love, honesty, humility, and sprituality would be a woeful understatement. As a young guitarist I was in awe, and absorbed every lesson I could, while meeting and being exposed to some the the world's greatest rock and roll legends.
    I lost track, but especially in the internet age would occasionally peek in and see what he was up to.
    I briefly reconnected with young Mike Jr. before his sad and untimely death, and was surprised by some of the more reactionary viewpoints Mike Sr. was now spieling.
    Flash forward again some years, and I found your blog and its link.
    Straight up, I can not for the life of me understand what could turn one if the sweetest people I've ever known, into this hate spewing, filth mongering purveyor of loathsome homophobia. This was NOT how he raised me.
    When I first came across your blog some years back, I downloaded and played that thing a bunch of times trying to convince myself that it might be a different Mike Deasy.
    Nope. It's him.
    It just makes me sad...

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    Replies
    1. Hi fromnabulax - thanks for sharing your story: that cannot have been easy for you and I really appreciate you taking time to comment.

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